Did you know that the right recruitment CRM can increase your revenue by as much as 29%?
In the fast-paced world of recruitment, harnessing the power of technology is no longer a luxury but a necessity. A comprehensive recruitment software solution has the potential to revolutionize your agency's performance, drive revenue growth, enhance operational efficiency, and harness the full potential of your recruiters.
But with so many different options on the market, how do you make the final decision?
Think About the Product Itself
It’s no secret that the first thing you should look into when choosing a CRM is the software itself – all the functionalities, built-in functions, ad-ons, and integrations it offers. As much as it shouldn’t be the only thing that drives your decision, it definitely is crucial. So what features is it smart to look out for?
Game-Changing Automation Features
A major consideration when looking at a CRM is choosing one that will work as hard for you as your recruiters do. This is done through utilising automation and AI to take over repetitive admin tasks and free up time for your recruiters to do what they do best - recruit. Some great examples of time-saving automation include:
- Candidate Adding Plugins
- Bulk Database Management Tools for deleting/merging records
- CV Formatting
Another category of automation features is allowing your recruitment CRM to enhance your process and help you make more placements, which may include:
- Talent Pools
- AI Candidate Matching
The Core Functionality That Doesn’t Need Integrations to Work
Recruitment Software is an ever-changing landscape and adding 3rd party integrations to your core recruitment CRM is vital to gain a competitive edge. However, having multiple additional vendors comes with risks and hassle. Who fixes the integration when it breaks? How does it integrate with your core features? And how much more expensive does your recruitment tech stack become?
A surefire way to limit the questions and the potential issues is to ensure that the CRM you choose comes equipped with strong ‘built-in’ core functionality. For example, whilst any good CRM will come with a built-in ATS and likely some marketing capabilities, this only covers half of what your agency will likely need to thrive. You can take this to the next level by choosing a CRM that already offers website building and job multiposting. This not only provides you control of your CMS from within your recruitment software but also means that your ads only need to be posted once and your applications will all come straight back into your CRM. Who needs to remember 15 logins to job boards or spend hours posting new roles? Not you!
Real-Time Reporting
Did you know that access to improved data can reduce the entire sales cycle by 8-14%?
Reporting is essential in any business but even more so when it comes to recruitment - and there are a number of exceptional tools out there. However, with a powerful built-in reporting suite, you and your recruiters will have instant access to live information from every corner of your recruitment database. This can transform your KPI tracking and management, provide strategy-defining market insights, and inspire your teams through competition – something most recruiters live for. Tracking your team’s KPIs allows you to readjust your goals and revenue expectations accordingly to real data – and implement strategy changes quickly, the minute you see something is getting off track. It’s easy to get lost in the day-to-day and forget to look at the mile-long spreadsheets – so having a ready, clear view of all your recent data can save you not only time but also money.
But Not Just the Product…
Now that you know exactly what functionalities the CRM offers, it’s time to take a broader look. Product features shouldn’t be the only thing that matters – after all, there are many more seemingly smaller factors that will make your new CRM a hit (or a flop).
A Strong Set of Support Features
It goes without saying that when you buy a recruitment software you also enter a relationship with the company or provider. This brings a variety of new considerations that need to be addressed in order to ensure a return on your investment. After all, your recruitment software is only as good as its adoption rates. Some of the most important things to consider are:
Is there a migration and onboarding plan to get your recruiters up to speed?
After all, adoption is the most crucial part of getting a good ROI on your CRM. With over 41% of the biggest issues when introducing new technology is employee resistance, it’s important that you know exactly how the software will be introduced to your team – and whether the onboarding process is constructed in a way that will engage your recruiters.
Is the support team available during my working hours?
It’s not uncommon to use CRM providers that are located in different time zones – especially if you’ve adopted a hybrid-working model within your agency. Knowing where your provider’s headquarters are and making sure their support team is on call during your specific working hours is key to having any possible issues resolved smoothly instead of dragging them for days or weeks.
Can I speak to a human to solve my problems quickly and efficiently?
It doesn’t surprise anyone these days that a lot of the support features in place for a number of software providers (or any other businesses, for that matter) are based on chatbots or AI solutions. But we all know that more often than not, those don’t solve your issues – and only make us annoyed. If you have a problem with the CRM that you can’t solve yourself, most likely you’ve already checked any FAQ pages before reaching out for support – which means you need an actual human being to help you. Checking if your new provider has a great, on-call team is key to being calm about any possible problems that might arise.
