When it comes to choosing new recruitment software for your business, the most important thing is that you ask all the right questions and gather all the necessary information so you can make the most informed choice possible.
Buying recruitment software is a long-term investment - hopping between software providers isn't a scalable or reliable solution. This is why you need to be evaluating the software provider as well, not just the software.
Does this company have a convincing road map? What improvements have they got lined up? Have they delivered on promised innovations in the past?
Think about how the software will integrate into your recruitment agency: Go into the specifics and imagine what it would look like day in, day out. What are the pros and cons? Dig deep here and consider every potential application for the software.
With this in mind, we've put together a concise guide covering all the main questions you should be thinking about whilst you shop around so nothing goes unconsidered.
What's their expertise?
There are plenty of software solutions for the recruitment marketplace, but not all of them are designed with recruiters in mind.
When researching a potential provider, ask yourself: Who designed the solution? Do they have relevant expertise? What do their current clients say about the software? Determine the credibility of the provider early on, and if in doubt, book a demo with them to see first hand what the software can do.
Are they offering SaaS?
It’s important to make sure the company you select will work alongside you and help you use the software effectively. The support they offer is perhaps one of the most important things to evaluate when considering partnering up with a software company - this is the whole essence of a SAAS business model: it's software as a service, not just selling software as a product.
At Firefish Software, 1 in 5 questions that come through to the support desk are technical. The other four? They’re all recruitment related!
So, it’s important to find a software company that knows the recruitment industry well. This is especially true when it comes to future developments. The software has to remain relevant to the ever-changing recruitment industry.
How scalable is the solution?
Don't just buy a recruitment software solution with your current needs in mind. You need to do a little bit of future gazing, otherwise you could be stuck with software that no longer fits as your recruitment agency grows.
Does the product have an upgrade path that provides you with any extra functionality you may need in the future?
Most recruiters will want software that's as easily accessible as possible. So, when they are out of the office or at a conference, or they need to call a candidate out of hours, they are always just a click away from the information they need. Make sure you pick software that's 100% cloud based.
What does the contract look like?
Most software providers expect a minimum commitment of a one-year contract, but some will give a little flexibility to let you work with a monthly rolling contract.
If you're in the process of scaling your agency, or your team numbers tend to fluctuate a lot, the length of contract is definitely worth bearing in mind. As your agency grows, recruiters will come and go, and if you get caught in an annual contract you could end up paying for software licences you no longer need.
And if you do decide to end a contract with your recruitment software provider...
How do you get your data back?
Sadly, there might come a point where you and your recruitment software provider go separate ways. Read your contract carefully before you sign anything, as some software providers will opt you in to another annual subscription automatically without discussing with your first.
And then there's data to think about, and whether there's a fee for getting your data back when you leave your provider. We know your database is the lifeblood of your business, so don't get caught up in a contract that's hard to get your data out of!
The key to buying into any recruitment SaaS business is to ask lots of questions so you're sure, before you sign or agree to anything, that it's the right choice for your business now and is likely to still be the best choice well into the future.
If you'd like to take a swim around Firefish, click below to book a demo with a member of our team.
