5 Features You Need In A Recruitment Software System

Adrian Dixon

March 24, 2017

Recruiters aren’t just people experts these days, they’re software and tech experts too. This is because success depends a lot on having the right recruitment software system in place.

But with thousands of recruiting software tools out there, it can be hard to narrow down what you really need to make your job easier.

To help figure it out, here are 5 features that you need for a great recruitment software system.

1. Automating time-consuming tasks

An Aberdeen Group report found 59% of recruiters said that they don’t have the manpower or time to review all of the applications they receive for a job posting.

recruitment software systems help time-constrained recruiters

Recruiters are going to be even more strapped for time this year as LinkedIn reports hiring volume is up.

That’s why the option to automate time-consuming, repetitive tasks is a major relief. Tools that automate resume screening, sourcing, candidate outreach, and interview scheduling are now all available.

It’s just a matter of deciding which tasks are sucking up too much of your time and that you’d rather offload to your recruitment software system instead.

2. Easy software integrations

The recruiting people have spoken: they want quick and easy integration for their software tools.

Software companies have responded with open APIs and partner marketplaces full of complementary software tools organized by recruiting function (e.g., Greenhouse, SmartRecruiters).

These partner marketplaces reduce both the time and friction it takes to find software that fits your specific need.

If you’re looking for an AI recruiting tool, for example, you don’t need to start your research from scratch. You can check out your ATS’s partner marketplace and compare tools that already play nice with your existing recruitment software system.

3. Passive candidate management

The ATS – the mainstay of recruiting software – is a great tool for inbound candidates but can sometimes fall short with passive candidate management.

Passive candidates matter: Lever’s data show 30% of hires are sourced candidates – the second most common origin of hire after applicants.

a recruitment software system helps with passive candidates

Your recruitment software system should be able to help you find, organize, and contact passive candidates whether they’re sourced externally or internally from your own ATS database.

4. User-friendly and intuitive interface

One of the biggest complaints about legacy software systems is how clunky and ugly they can be.

Having learned from these mistakes, modern versions of recruiting software tend to be more user-friendly, intuitive, and have a more attractive user interface.

These user interface features include unlimited customizations, a drag-and-drop function, and data entry that’s automated as much as possible.

5. Recruitment analytics dashboard and reporting

Recruiting is now a data-driven function which means you need to quickly see and make sense of your data.

To understand how well your recruitment software system is functioning you need to know information such as the source of your candidates, your hiring velocity (e.g., time to fill), the cost per hire, and the health of your recruiting funnel (e.g., applicant-to-screen conversion rates).

This data can help you understand what’s going well and what could be better. This allows you to know where to make process improvements and helps you justify investing in better software tools for an underperforming recruiting function.

Summary of the 5 features you need in a recruitment software system

  1. Automating time-consuming tasks: Whether it’s sourcing, screening, or interview scheduling, figure out which tasks are wasting too much of your time that you’d rather offload to technology instead.
  2. Easy software integrations: Creating a recruitment software system that integrates well with each other is easy these days with ATS and HRM partner marketplaces of complementary software tools.
  3. Passive candidate management: Your recruitment software system should help you find, organize, and contact passive candidates whether they’re sourced externally or internally from your existing ATS database.
  4. User-friendly and intuitive interface: A great recruitment software system includes unlimited customizations, a drag-and-drop function, and data entry that’s automated as much as possible.
  5. Recruitment analytics dashboard and reporting: Understanding your recruiting data allows you to know where to make process improvements and helps you justify investing in better software tools.