10+ Best Staffing Agency Software for Recruitment Firms (2024)
What is the best recruitment agency software for staffing firms? We’re glad you asked.
Best Recruiting Agency Software
Staffing agency software assists agencies in recruiting, tracking, and managing employees and job placements. Common use cases include candidate database building, collaborative hiring, client relationship management, and billing and payroll.
Many HR leaders mistakenly believe that any solid recruiting tool can double up as excellent recruitment agency software. Adding to the confusion, lots of vendors don’t mind overselling their products, claiming they cater perfectly to both corporates and staffing firms.
Let’s not fall for this trap! In this guide, we've compiled some of the best staffing agency software solutions and put in the work behind the scenes to compare and contrast them.
After carefully considering multiple product features, we found that the best recruiting agency software stands out in candidate organization, sourcing capabilities, and analytics. Our selection process involved attending numerous demos, personally testing the software, and consulting industry experts. Let's delve deeper into each aspect:
- Candidate organization: Staffing agencies deal with tons of applications for different jobs. Without proper organization, things can quickly turn into a messy maze. That’s why we looked for tools with excellent candidate organization capabilities. They let your agency easily search and filter candidate profiles, track progress, and streamline the hiring process for better placements and efficiency.
- Sourcing capabilities: Your staffing firm will gain a competitive edge when delivering qualified candidates faster than your rivals. That's where robust sourcing features like job posting, resume parsing, job board integrations, advanced search filters, and candidate matching algorithms come in handy.
- Analytics: Staffing businesses typically get to handle much more diverse job requirements compared to corporate hiring. Knowing which channels work best for certain types of vacancies is critical for them to stay competitive. Real-time analytics is the source of this knowledge. Armed with robust analytics capabilities, your staffing firm can allocate resources, invest wisely, and optimize recruitment strategies for better outcomes.
Want to learn more about our vetting process? Our HR software evaluation guidelines break it all down.
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Manatal
Manatal is an excellent pick for both in-house recruiters and staffing agencies, as other than just being a straightforward ATS, the tool provides advanced recruitment features like AI-powered recommendations, automation, and access management—all at an SMB-friendly rate.
PROS
- Affordable pricing, has a 14-day free trial.
- User-friendly interface with drag-and-drop pipelines.
- Automatic candidate profile updates from social media.
- Referral program for candidate recommendations.
- Multi-language support on careers pages.
- AI-powered recommendations based on job descriptions.
- Customizable automated post-referral and post-application emails.
- Ability to grant clients and team members access to the data you want to share (salary, contact details, social media, resumes, etc.) and interact with them through Manatal.
- Ability to attach documents to clients without any storage limitations.
- Available on mobile through a progressive mobile application.
- Manatal is quite affordable and offers a 15-day free trial for users to test it out before making commitments.
- Manatal is fairly easy to use. It features drag-and-drop enabled pipelines for candidate organization.
- Manatal’s AI-based recommendations feature can save hiring managers quite a bit of time. It’s able to scan job descriptions then search a users talent pool and bring up candidates most suited for the job.
CONS
- AI recommendations work best with English resumes.
- No email scheduling, limit to 1000 emails to send per month.
- No free plan available.
- API and custom integrations for highest-tiered plan customers only.
- Limited technical support.
- No back-office management tools.
- The AI recommendations feature works best with resumes that are in English, and doesn’t work as accurately with other languages according to several users’ feedback. Several users have also complained about Manatal’s interface only being available in English and that career pages cannot be published in languages other than English and Spanish.
- Manatal doesn’t offer a free plan. We mention this as a con as several SMB-geared ATSs do offer a free-forever verison, and that puts Manatal slightly behind competition.
- Manatal doesn’t offer prebuilt integration modules. They do have an open API that allows users to plug in third-party products and custom tools, but that required a bit more time and technical knowledge to accomplish. It’s also worth mentioning that only Custom plan customers can access Manatal’s API and Zapier integration. Customers on the Professional and Enterprise plan cannot.
- Users can search for candidates via Boolean Search or Advanced Search, but cannot combine the two search methods together. E.g users cannot use the Boolean search operators (AND, OR and NOT) within Manatal’s Advanced Search tab.
Manatal’s client portal is powerful. It gives clients free access to submitted candidate profiles where they can leave reviews and notes and even communicate directly with the agency on each opening.
As an agency, you decide what stage of the talent pipeline clients can see, what candidate info they can view, and what actions they can take. The arrival of scorecards also makes the candidate review process more consistent and efficient and is an excellent replacement for back-and-forth email exchanges.
As expected from a robust ATS, Manatal can connect with many free and paid job boards. We also found no issue customizing and integrating the career page with our website. The only thing we didn’t like here was that we couldn’t add more than one location to the same job—quite an inconvenience, considering clients often have the same openings at multiple branches.
We tried uploading an Excel file of 50 candidates to the system, and everything went smoothly. However, if you have a few hundred or more, you’d better contact Manatal’s support. While the platform claims it can handle 1,000 resumes at a time, some enterprise users we spoke to experienced hiccups and data format errors during migrations.
Candidate searching is also really nice. Recommendations sort candidates from your existing database and provide potential ones. There’s also a search bar for quick search, along with Boolean and advanced filters that are combinable to identify top candidates in seconds.
Manatal’s in-app tutorials and documentation are solid. However, seeking technical support via live chat was a big disappointment. The vendor can take days to get back to queries!
Engagement is another area Manatal struggles with. There's no email scheduling, and its free monthly email credits may not be enough for many agencies—200 for Professional and 1,000 for Enterprise.
Although Manatal’s starting price is low, given its limited native integrations (6 HRMS and 1 assessment tool) and API and Zapier integrations reserved for highest-tiered plan users, connecting it with existing recruiting systems can really push the cost up.
10,000+ companies, including Unilever, Coca-Cola, Panasonic, Ogilvy, and Toyota.
Manatal has four plans with options for monthly and annual billing. When billed annually:
- Professional: $15/user/month, unlimited guests, 15 jobs per account, and 10,000 candidates.
- Enterprise: $35/user/month, unlimited jobs, candidates, and guests.
- Enterprise Plus: $55/user/month and includes Enterprise features plus user groups, open API access, SSO log-in, priority support, and access to Beta features.
- Custom: Custom pricing, tailor functionalities and support per user request.
Best For
Manatal can be an excellent staffing agency software solution for small recruitment agencies.
Ceipal
Ceipal stands out as a cost-efficient staffing ATS, equipped with customizable dashboards, AI capabilities, and a healthy number of integrations.
PROS
- All-in-one platform for ATS, interview scheduling, workforce, and vendor management.
- Native passive candidate sourcing tool.
- Chatbot automates candidate outreach.
- Multiple communication channels: email, voice, video, text, WhatsApp.
- Over 155 integrations with staffing ecosystem tools.
- Affordable, transparent pricing with a 14-day free trial.
- Discounts for nonprofits, educational institutions, and large enterprises.
- All-in-one platform for ATS, interview scheduling, workforce, and vendor management.
- Native passive candidate sourcing tool.
- Chatbot automates candidate outreach.
- Multiple communication channels: email, voice, video, text, WhatsApp.
- Over 155 integrations with staffing ecosystem tools.
- Affordable, transparent pricing with a 14-day free trial.
- Discounts for nonprofits, educational institutions, and large enterprises.
CONS
- Search engines sometimes provide inaccurate profiles.
- All plans come with minimum seats and term requirements.
- Costs extra for candidate sourcing, text recruiting, and client portal.
- Occasional platform slowness.
Ceipal’s ATS exceeded our expectations. It’s very handy for posting jobs across various job boards, locating applicants, scheduling candidate interviews, and onboarding new hires. What's more, it's user-friendly—we actually skipped reading the knowledge base (though we recommend you don’t do the same to be aware of all features) and could still use it right away. This is a huge plus, especially if your staffing firm has members who may not be the most savvy with HR and recruitment tools.
Ceipal’s integration capabilities are, by far, the most comprehensive we’ve seen in this software category. This tool seamlessly integrates with over 155 HR systems, covering a wide range from popular paid job boards and free ones to VMS, social media, background check apps, video interview tech, and communication platforms.
Ceipal’s Engage feature is also quite impressive! Serving as a centralized communication hub, you can nurture candidates and prospective clients in bulk with built-in outreach templates and triggerable workflows while monitoring the progress of these relationships with real-time data and analytics.
Ad spend management is another of this recruiting solution’s specialties. The fact that you are allocated a certain amount of credits within a set timeline not only helps you stay on budget but also ensures your recruitment efforts don’t rely solely on ads.
However, after chatting with other recruiting folks, we realized we weren’t the only ones who found it frustrating with Ceipal’s service uptime. There are instances where the platform takes time to load when switching between job boards, and occasional session expirations occur.
We also expected a better performance from Ceipal’s AI tools. Though it doesn’t happen often, we still find it a pain that the current algorithms sometimes recommend profiles with outdated contacts or ones that don't align well with job requirements.
Despite the seemingly affordable price of $24 per user per month, this vendor locks many prominent features for staffing agencies, such as the client portal and candidate sourcing, as add-ons. You should also be aware that you’ll have to purchase at least five user seats to use Ceipal.
The Agency and Quality Staffing of America are some of the 2,500+ companies that have used CEIPAL.
CEIPAL has three plans, each comes with a free trial you can opt for after getting on a demo with its Sales team.
- Ceipal ATS is $24 per user per month with a 5-user minimum
- Ceipal Advanced Automation Bundle is $48 per user per month with a 5-user minimum
- Ceipal Workforce Management is $4 per user per month with a 25-user minimum
CEIPAL charges for migration from native drives, WhatsApp account/phone number and message credits.
Best For
Ceipal works best for recruiting agencies having between five and a few hundred employees to source passive candidates, track applicants, and work with clients in a unified platform.
Bullhorn
Bullhorn is an all-encompassing staffing solution, from applicant tracking to onboarding to back-end recruiter management.
PROS
- SourceBreaker provides productive automation for candidate search and business development.
- End-to-end solution: ATS, interview scheduling, talent engagements, onboarding, and invoicing.
- Easy implementation and transition from existing ATS.
- 40+ native VMS integrations.
- SourceBreaker provides productive automation for candidate search and business development.
- End-to-end solution: ATS, interview scheduling, talent engagements, onboarding, and invoicing.
- Easy implementation and transition from existing ATS.
- 40+ native VMS integrations.
CONS
- The UI is not very user-friendly, and the system can be slow at times.
- Customer support service isn’t very responsive.
- The UI is not very user-friendly, and the system can be slow at times.
- Customer support service isn’t very responsive.
Bullhorn has earned a strong reputation in the staffing agency software domain for its comprehensive suite that covers everything from candidate sourcing to onboarding and back-office duties. What's cool is the flexibility it offers—you get to pick and pay for only the additional modules you truly need, like timesheet management, expense tracking, and invoicing. It’s a relief knowing you won’t be burdened with unnecessary expenses, isn’t it?
One thing that caught our attention is how Bullhorn rolls out the red carpet for Salesforce users. The integration is smooth as butter, making it a powerhouse staffing solution. They also acquired Mployee in January 2024 to boost their capabilities on the Salesforce platform.
We love Bullhorn’s SourceBreaker too. This feature lets you kill two birds with one stone. On one hand, it provides search technology that makes the talent search easier with an array of filters: thousands of job titles, keyword variants, and company lists. On the other, it acts as a sales intelligence suite that knows exactly what to do to discover new leads for users to target.
However, the abundance of features in Bullhorn comes with a trade-off: a less-than-ideal user experience. We've had our patience tested dealing with frequent crashes, especially when trying to view candidate profiles or run searches. It became a routine to log out and log back in just to keep things moving.
Bullhorn’s reporting is also quite disappointing. We went ahead and customized our workflows, only to find out that the standard reports track just default steps. To get insights into our custom workflow steps we're left with no choice but to opt for Bullhorn's custom reports, and unfortunately, those aren't on the house.
Bullhorn has four price plans: Team, Corporate, Enterprise, and Enterprise Plus. Contact Bullhorn’s sales team for a quote.
Best For
Bullhorn is best for large staffing firms that can make use of its entire product suite.
I primarily used Bullhorn as an ATS for managing all new and existing applicants. It housed resumes and contact information for potential candidates for staffing firm submissions. This ATS helped track outreach to current and potential applicants for open requisitions, assisting in filling vacancies. It was also useful for creating tear sheets, which improved time management and allowed me to prioritize daily tasks. I used Bullhorn for about a year and a half until I switched jobs that used a different ATS. Bullhorn was particularly easy to conduct Boolean searches on.
I liked using tear sheets to prioritize my daily tasks and maintain good time management. Bullhorn was one of the easiest ATS systems for conducting Boolean searches. I also found it easier to connect with my phone and emails.
Bullhorn was used as our primary ATS to track all new and existing applicants. One aspect I liked was the ability to track previous outreach efforts and schedule future ones easily. Many other ATS systems lack this functionality, particularly in aligning with email calendar functions.
However, I found the frequent occurrence of duplicate applicants for various roles to be a significant issue. Minimizing these duplicates would make the ATS more organized and improve alignment with open requisitions.
I used Bullhorn for about a year and a half. While it isn’t my favorite ATS, it gets the job done. I’m not aware of the pricing for our office, but it is a solid option for Talent Acquisition purposes. It may be somewhat outdated compared to 2024 models, but it was paired with Salesforce for recruitment.
Additionally, depending on the resume format, there were issues with extracting the correct information when uploading resumes. Another downside was customer support—our team dreaded calling in because it was so difficult to reach someone. A dashboard function like the one in TalentReef, which I used previously, would be a great improvement, as it allowed customization and easy access to needed information.
I disliked the frequent duplicate candidate profiles when searching for candidates. Customer support was almost non-existent, making it difficult to meet deadlines in the recruiting field. Uploading resumes was inconsistent—sometimes the system would fail to extract the correct information, costing time to correct these issues.
I prefer TalentReef out of all the ATS systems I have used, but I wish I could incorporate Bullhorn's Boolean search function and tear sheets into TalentReef. In my experience, Bullhorn hasn’t seen significant updates compared to newer ATS systems.
Review your budget to ensure it aligns with your organization’s needs. Make sure your team can easily learn and navigate the user interface.
I haven’t used Bullhorn recently, so I can’t provide proper feedback on this question.
Bullhorn is ideal for recruiters, especially those in agency recruiting. It helps manage the high volume of tasks dealt with daily.
A smaller organization might not need Bullhorn until it grows larger, as the cost can be quite high.
Zoho Recruit
Zoho Recruit is an easy-to-use recruiting agency software solution that offers a user interface that is infinitely customizable, plus a free-forever version.
PROS
- ATS + CRM in one platform.
- Built-in resume parser and resume extractor extension.
- AI-based chatbot Zia automatically responds to frequently asked questions, updates about job availability, and the current status of candidate applications.
- Good customer support.
- Supports multiple languages.
- Transparent pricing structure. Has a free version and a free trial.
- ATS + CRM in one platform
- Backed by a company like Zoho, notable for reliability and good customer service.
- 24/5 support
- Priced quite modestly after the free version
- Certain features like video interviews are available as optional add-ons.
CONS
- The free plan has limited storage (256MB).
- Client portal, mass email, workflow alerts, and API calls cost extra.
- Integrations don’t work properly at times.
- The career site is not fully customizable on lower-tier plans.
- The free plan only allows 256MB of storage.
- Additional features, such as the client portal, mass email, workflow alerts, and API calls cost extra.
- Some users have complained about the quality of some of the integrations.
- The career site is not fully customizable until past a certain paid plan.
We demoed Zoho Recruit and were drawn to its visual hiring pipeline. It’s customizable—you can add, remove, edit stages, and even color code them to your liking. You can also have a holistic view of applicants' progress right from your dashboard.
When it comes to job posting, while JobAdder lets you post on over 200 job sites, Zoho Recruit lets you share your post on more than 3,000 job boards worldwide. Creating a careers page using the customizable templates on Zoho Recruit is simple and functional. It's not super visually aesthetic, but it gets the job done in terms of promoting the brand: it presents all vacancies, the company profile, and an overview of its culture.
We’re also glad we gave Zia, Zoho’s native AI-based chatbot, a try. This chatbot has a knack for providing prompt support to applicants, whether they have questions about placements, application status, or anything else related. Zoho Recruit doesn’t lag behind in talent matching capability either. When we created a new job with the desired skills, the system efficiently ran the evaluation and presented us with the best matches whose resumes and cover letters aligned with our set requirements.
You might have already realized that it’s hard to find another staffing agency software that offers an entirely free plan like Zoho Recruit. This free version, though coming with a couple of limitations on customization level and storage (256MB), should be good enough for staffing firms just starting out.
However, it’s a shame that Zoho Recruit charges separately for its client portal and mass email, considering several staffing agency software vendors include these two features within their base plans. Things didn’t turn out very well either when we explored Zoho’s mobile apps. Both the iOS and Android versions let us down with constant crashes, even after clearing all caches and reinstalling the apps.
Bosch, Deloitte, Saint-Gobain, PWC, Allianz.
Zoho Recruit provides four plans with free trials and add-ons:
- Free plan allows 1 active job at a time.
- Standard is $25 per user per month, billed annually.
- Professional is $50 per user per month, billed annually.
- Enterprise is $75 per user per month, billed annually.
- Available add-ons: Client portal and video interview modules.
Best For
Small and mid-sized staffing agencies as well as those who already use other Zoho products will find Zoho Recruit a great addition to their recruitment tech stacks.
At my organization, we use Zoho Recruit as our primary applicant tracking system (ATS) to manage our recruitment process. We use it on a daily basis to streamline our workflows and improve our recruitment efficiency.
One of the key workflows we use Zoho Recruit for is managing job postings. Zoho Recruit allows us to create job postings and post them on various job boards and social media platforms, all from within the tool. This saves us time and effort and helps us to reach a wider pool of candidates.
- Customizable workflows: Zoho Recruit provides customizable workflows that allow organizations to create tailored recruitment processes that match their specific needs.
- Integrations with other Zoho applications: Zoho Recruit is part of the larger Zoho suite of business applications, and it can integrate with other Zoho applications such as Zoho CRM and Zoho People, which can help streamline overall business processes.
- Collaborative recruiting: Zoho Recruit allows for collaboration between team members, making it easier to work together during the recruitment process.
- Candidate tracking: Zoho Recruit provides tools for tracking candidate progress throughout the hiring process, including interview scheduling and email communication.
Zoho Recruit helps my organization manage job postings, applications, and candidate information in a single platform. This streamlines the recruitment process and helps my HR team save time and effort. Zoho Recruit allows my organization to centralize all candidate data in one location, which can make it easier to manage and track candidate progress throughout the hiring process. It also provides features for collaboration between team members, which can help improve communication and coordination during the recruitment process. I've been using Zoho Recruit for the last 2 years.
- While Zoho Recruit offers integrations with other Zoho applications, it has limited integrations with other third-party applications, which may limit its functionality and usability for some organizations.
- While Zoho Recruit offers customizable workflows, some users have expressed that there are limitations to the customization options available, which may not fully meet their organization's needs.
- Some users have found that Zoho Recruit has a steep learning curve, which may require additional training for some users to fully utilize the platform's features and functionality.
Zoho's tiers are very rigid, and I would hope they would make their product more modular and allow customers to buy modules separately. For a small startup, the professional and enterprise-grade turn out to be very expensive, and we could easily trade some features we don't use for features we would like to use.
- Consider the specific needs of your organization and the recruitment processes that you need to support. Evaluate the features and functionality of Zoho Recruit to ensure that it meets your organization's specific requirements.
- Evaluate the user interface of Zoho Recruit to ensure that it is easy to use and navigate and that it does not require extensive training for users to get up to speed.
- Evaluate the customization options available in Zoho Recruit to ensure that you can tailor the recruitment process to match your organization's specific requirements.
Zoho Recruit has expanded its customization options, enabling users to create workflows tailored to their specific needs. The customizable workflows allow users to create automated processes and custom stages for candidates.
Zoho Recruit has introduced artificial intelligence (AI)-powered automation features that help automate tasks, such as candidate matching, resume parsing, and lead prioritization.
Zoho Recruit offers a cost-effective solution for small and medium-sized businesses that need to manage their recruitment processes without investing in expensive HR software. Zoho Recruit has features specifically designed for staffing agencies and recruiters, such as candidate submittal tracking, resume parsing, and sourcing tools, making it an excellent choice for these types of users.
While Zoho Recruit can handle recruitment processes for small to medium-sized businesses, it may not be as well-suited for large enterprises with complex recruitment processes and a large number of open positions.
Zoho Recruit is a general-purpose recruitment software and may not be the best fit for industries with specialized recruitment needs, such as healthcare, finance, or technology. These industries often require specialized recruitment software in addition to an ATS that can handle their unique requirements.
JobAdder
JobAdder’s onboarding and training are among the best. This staffing agency software also stands out for its flexible pricing, customizable workflows, and a rich array of integration partners.
PROS
- Easy to use and easy data migration.
- Client portal for a clear communication flow between agencies and clients.
- Email, SMS, and WhatsApp for talent engagement.
- In-depth onboarding and in-platform training.
- Monthly payments. No lock-in contracts and no penalty fees to switch either.
- 150+ integration partners.
- Native iOS and Android apps.
- Easy to use and easy data migration.
- Client portal for a clear communication flow between agencies and clients.
- Email, SMS, and WhatsApp for talent engagement.
- In-depth onboarding and in-platform training.
- Monthly payments. No lock-in contracts and no penalty fees to switch either.
- 150+ integration partners.
- Native iOS and Android apps.
CONS
- No option to merge deals or contacts.
- No free trial.
- Limited administrative power to resolve issues.
- No option to merge deals or contacts.
- No free trial.
- Limited administrative power to resolve issues.
JobAdder is for people who prefer a flexible approach when it comes to pricing. The recruitment staffing agency software offers a month-to-month payment option that you can cancel at any time. You also have the freedom to adjust the plan, up or down, with no strings attached.
With a wide range of integration partners, JobAdder covers various aspects of applicant tracking, from job posting to interview scheduling, candidate assessments, follow-ups, and onboarding. This is beneficial if you’ve already worked with multiple recruitment tech vendors, but bear in mind that it may not be as welcoming if an all-in-one solution is what you’re after.
JobAdder is an absolute powerhouse when it comes to recruitment analytics reports. It provides over 60 built-in reports and dashboards—a satisfying number even for picky users. What’s more, these reports are shareable and downloadable, meaning you can easily discuss them with your teammates and clients to finetune your hiring strategies.
When testing this recruitment software, we were expecting powerful user management features but, unfortunately, this is something JobAdder is actually struggling with. Even when we were in our admin accounts, we weren’t able to change certain settings (e.g., toggling email reminders or editing timesheets) ourselves but had to rely on JobAdder’s customer support.
We should also warn you that dealing with duplicates in JobAdder can be frustrating, as the system lacks the capability to merge deals or contacts and requires some workarounds from the user end.
Firefish, MAYDAY, and West Recruitment.
Best For
JobAdder is a popular solution for staffing agencies in the UK and Australia.
We used JobAdder for full-cycle recruitment every day. The platform was the main source to complete our role as Recruitment Consultants. From posting our adverts to our careers site and job boards to managing applications, moving through the necessary stages, and building talent pools.
JobAdder is a great cloud-based CRM tool as the dashboard allows you to quickly see the progress on each open role and what actions you need to prioritize. The key workflows were the ability to integrate with job boards and our careers page. The second was the ability to send a message to multiple candidates at the click of a button. This was great for when we had an urgent role to fill or news to share with our database. This also applies to clients; having a client database in one place allows effective communication and relationship building.
- It enables efficiency as jobs can easily be managed in one place and it helps prioritize tasks effectively.
- Having the candidate database in one place allows for roles to be filled quickly, which provides good service for clients.
- Being able to see all of my colleagues' notes in one place fosters a good working culture as you are more inclined to work as a team.
I used JobAdder in a previous recruitment role. JobAdder was purchased because the agency required a solution that held the candidate database in one place for all employees to view resumes, notes, current placements, and any other necessary information to ensure a smooth and efficient process.
It was essential for all staff to have access to an abundance of candidates. It was great for the organization to avoid contacting candidates who were already working for one of our clients.
We had salary expectations and availability all in one place. It saved consultants time on sourcing and phone screens. Additionally, it created a much better culture as consultants would split placement fees since we could track who brought the candidate on originally.
- It is more suitable for single placements rather than volume placements; it would be better to be able to add a bulk list of candidates to a job.
- Often if you need support, you are referred to a self-help section, which is time-consuming when you need a quick fix.
- It is frustrating that 'contacts' and 'candidates' are separate profiles, often resulting in entering the information twice.
I have also used SuccessFactors (SAP) and find JobAdder a much easier platform as the layout is user-friendly and not overly complicated.
Consider the types of placements you are looking to fill. If you fill a lot of volume roles, make sure you check the efficiency in the demo. Also, consider the pricing as it is per user and can add up.
JobAdder is good at making big improvements, and the integration with ChatGPT and AI tools is great, but they need to work on smaller things such as the duplicate data entry for candidate profiles.
Recruitment Agencies and companies that hire a lot will find JobAdder very useful.
JobAdder would not be beneficial for a company that isn't solely focused on hiring.
Avionté
Avionté makes it possible to house everything your staffing firm needs from a recruitment solution in one place: ATS, candidate engagement, onboarding, payroll, and time management.
PROS
- Comprehensive suite covering candidate sourcing, tracking, vendor management, timekeeping, payroll, and invoicing.
- 'Lookalike' feature identifies similarly qualified candidates in your database.
- Large Order Job Management for quick talent assignment.
- Real-time mobile access for talent to payroll info, timecards, tax docs, and other back-office features.
- Monthly new feature releases.
- Excellent integration capabilities.
- Comprehensive suite covering candidate sourcing, tracking, vendor management, timekeeping, payroll, and invoicing.
- 'Lookalike' feature identifies similarly qualified candidates in your database.
- Large Order Job Management for quick talent assignment.
- Real-time mobile access for talent to payroll info, timecards, tax docs, and other back-office features.
- Monthly new feature releases.
- Excellent integration capabilities.
CONS
- Poor user experience on the Android app.
- Undisclosed pricing with no free trial available.
- Placement creation cannot be undone.
- Delayed post-implementation support.
- Reapplication replaces previous work history and notes for applicants.
- Poor user experience on the Android app.
- Undisclosed pricing with no free trial available.
- Placement creation cannot be undone.
- Delayed post-implementation support.
- Reapplication replaces previous work history and notes for applicants.
We know from experience how helpful it is for staffing agencies, especially large ones, to have recruiters and sales share a centralized system to align on candidate pipeline and placement needs. And Avionté delivers just that. It provides applicant tracking, talent engagement, onboarding, time tracking, and billing. In other words, it lets you have both front and back office tools under the same roof.
Avionté’s UI might not win any beauty contests: It felt like working within Outlook but, oddly enough, that familiarity was comforting. It made navigation and feature access straightforward.
Avionté boasts one of the most extensive integration capabilities we’ve encountered in staffing software: 35+ native recruitment tools and custom APIs. Same goes for its automation workflows. Agencies can select specific requirements for new hire signatures—background checks, drug screening, e-verify, and location-relevant tax documents—and the system then will form automated workflows accordingly and notify the hires to complete their onboarding tasks. Our experience from the hire side was also great. The UI is clean and allows talent to save completed steps and go back later.
However, we were less impressed with Avionté’s Android app: It kept crashing and reloading. Things got better when we switched to the iOS one, though.
It’s normal to accidentally create or assign a wrong job order for a recruiter, but the fact that Avionté didn’t allow users to correct mistakes, even when they are on an admin account is disappointing. Another irritating thing we caught when testing this tool was that the system would not only replace rather than append work history when applicants reapply, but it also wiped all of our notes on the candidate.
1,000+ staffing agencies, including TEEMA Solutions Group Inc., David Aplin Group Recruiting Solutions, Integrity Staffing have used this recruitment agency software tool.
Best For
Avionté is a great choice for staffing agencies looking for one comprehensive solution for their entire recruiting cycle. By partnering with Avionté, you’ll get an ATS, CRM, payroll, billing, and onboarding solution.
I used Avionte primarily for recruiting, employee management, and billing. For recruiting functions, I used Avionte to post jobs, manage candidates, hire, and onboard. For employee management, I uploaded documentation, kept performance records, and offboarded employees when needed. For billing, it allowed us to bill our clients directly, so I used it to create payroll invoices. Avionte was not automated, so the workflow processes were very manual.
I liked Avionte because it could hold a large amount of data and information. Once you got the hang of it, it was a fairly easy system to use. I also appreciated that it had various functions to manage the workload (recruiting, HR management, invoicing).
Avionte was already established in the organization when I joined. I was not involved in any platform vetting, trial, or implementation. I used Avionte throughout my employment at a particular organization, which lasted approximately one year. I believe this program fit the needs of the company, as they were a staffing agency. It could hold a large amount of data and information, as well as operate with HR and Accounting functions. The company required something that could manage a high employee population across the United States.
I did not like the visual aspect of Avionte; it appeared to be an outdated system. It was somewhat challenging to learn and not as easy to use as other systems I've utilized. I wish the system had more HR modules like benefits, compensation, and performance management, which would improve user-friendliness. I recognize that not everyone in my organization used it the same way I did, as there were few colleagues managing employees like I did. However, a more robust HRIS-like offering would have been useful.
It's mediocre, in my opinion. I am more familiar with true HRIS platforms that differentiate the areas of Human Resources. While it served the purpose for the organization I worked for, I would not use it in my current role. I also feel it's very generic rather than customizable or specialized. I really enjoyed Paylocity, as it separates each HR function and is extremely easy to use.
I believe Avionte is very broad and functions more like a database system rather than a true HRIS system. Knowing this will be critical for companies considering purchasing it. Understanding how the system operates and its user-friendliness is also key—it really needs to align with the goals of the company interested in purchasing it. Finally, cost is always something to consider.
Unfortunately, I do not have any opinion or experience with the evolution of Avionte, as I only used it for about one year.
Avionte was very good for the staffing industry. I don't believe it would be a great HR system outside of that. Possibly other industries such as manufacturing, retail, or hospitality—anything with high hiring needs.
Financial, professional, high-level/specialized industries, and users won’t benefit from Avionte.
Gem
Gem simplifies talent management for staffing agencies by integrating LinkedIn InMail, ATS, and email data into a centralized hub. This automation streamlines the sourcing and engagement process while providing valuable insights to enhance recruitment strategy.
PROS
- Auto-adds profiles into specific talent pools based on set criteria.
- Customizable automated drip campaigns to attract and nurture candidates.
- The “Likely to Move” filter identifies candidates more likely to change jobs.
- Real-time visualized reports with helpful hiring metrics.
- Auto-suggests profiles that are similar to the ones users are searching for.
- Provides 50+ integration partners. Also supports custom integrations.
- Support is available via live chat, a help center, email support, and a dedicated CMS.
- Provides a free trial.
- Gem helps you discover qualified candidates across multiple channels, send personalized messages, visualize your recruitment pipeline, and stay on top of crucial hiring metrics
- Gem's integration with LinkedIn and various ATS means that all candidate data is stored in a centralized location. Users find this feature extremely useful.
- According to users, one of Gem's finest features is the ability to create automated drip campaigns to engage with both active and passive candidates
CONS
- No automated LinkedIn InMail sequences.
- Implementation typically takes a few weeks.
- No client portal and back-office tools.
- Doesn’t support monthly payments. Plans have undisclosed pricing and are only available for annual subscriptions.
- No mobile app version.
- Some users have experienced slow load times and lags while using the application
- In rare cases, the contact information, such as the email address or phone number of a sourced candidate, might be wrong
- While Gem currently integrates with LinkedIn, it does not provide the option to automate messages via LinkedIn InMail
If you're running a staffing agency and are after a powerful solution for high-volume sourcing and outreach, Gem is a strong contender. This software offers a comprehensive talent database for roles across industries and is especially helpful for those frequently dealing with tech placements.
Gem has clearly tried to bolster everything recruiters like to have in a sourcing tool. You have all the important data for prospective candidates from multiple sources like LinkedIn, Indeed, Behance, and GitHub gathered in one place. The Likely to Move feature allows you to identify candidate profiles that Gem's algorithms suggest are more open to new job opportunities and you also won’t have to make requests every time you want the system to update a candidate profile: This is taken care of automatically by Gem.
We also love that Gem’s email sequence feature doesn’t make staffing agencies feel they have to sacrifice either speed or personalization in their outreach. The automation equips recruiters with set-and-forget sequences rather than one-off emails. They can also send sequences on behalf of a teammate (oftentimes it’s their hiring manager) or drop candidates' individual emails if that’s what they want.
Gem doesn’t provide any pre-built email templates, but with the wealth of insights provided in its reporting, we can let this limitation slide. Gem’s data is all tracked in real-time and presented nicely with illustrative graphics and diagrams. Data-driven recruiters will like Gem’s Team Activity as much as we do: it shows recruiters how many activities, such as LinkedIn views, first messages, and follow-ups, occurred in a given time period—a valuable way for recruiters to reassess their time management.
This may or may not be a big deal, but the fact that Gem can integrate with LinkedIn but can’t provide users the ability to automate InMail sends to candidates is not great. Though Gem does offer options to share candidates internally and externally, there isn’t a dedicated portal for clients you can use here.
On the pricing front, this sourcing tool demands annual payments. The keen-eyed among you will notice Gem offers a free plan for early-stage startups, unfortunately, this doesn’t extend to staffing agencies.
1,200+ companies, including Coinbase, Slack, Asana, Dropbox, Lyft, Indeed, Pinterest, and Doordash.
The cost of Gem's services is based on the size of your recruitment team, the number of hires, and other factors like custom ATS integrations. You can reach out to their sales team for a quote.
Best For
Gem is an excellent choice for global staffing agencies that need to hire swiftly at scale.
I have used Gem as a sourcing tool to contact candidates. Gem allows you to create automated email cadences and allows you to reach out to candidates through various stages until a response is met. In the recruitment world, it can be difficult to set follow ups manually and Gem allows just that.
- Ability to fetch email addresses of prospects
- Ability to automate an email sequence
- Reporting of open emails and response rates
I’ve used Gem for over a year. Company had purchased Gem as another sourcing tool to reach out to both active and passive candidates in the market. The key benefit is the ability to email candidates and receive email access that otherwise would be difficult to find. There is also an automation component where you can bulk email a plethora of candidates at once which can be effective in high growth environments.
- Sometimes emails are not effective ways to reach candidates
- Does not have a cadence feature for LinkedIn messages. Only emails
- Would be nice to integrate with more ATS systems
It’s the first tool that I’ve personally used that can fetch email addresses of passive candidates
- Understand what their current sourcing strategy is and how effective it is today
- Understand that Gem is a sourcing method via email cadences. Sometimes emails are not as effective for candidates.
It hasn’t grown too much on me given that I have only used it for email sourcing and email cadences
High growth environments either small or enterprise companies.
This tool would not be good for employees outside of sales and recruitment. Only suitable for roles that require heavy sourcing or outreach.
Loxo
Loxo boasts one of the world's largest talent pools of 1.2 billion people, has AI-powered sourcing tools that keep getting better over time and is totally free to start.
PROS
- Excellent customer service with a strong record of fast response times.
- Great deal-merging feature.
- User-friendly resume parsing.
- Friendly and visually appealing user interface.
- Offers a convenient Chrome extension.
- Allows client involvement in projects with direct interaction.
- Regularly releases new product updates.
- Includes a free plan.
- Excellent customer service with a strong record of fast response times.
- User-friendly resume parsing.
- Friendly and visually appealing user interface.
- Offers a convenient Chrome extension.
- Allows client involvement in projects with direct interaction.
- Regularly releases new product updates.
- Includes a free plan.
CONS
- Slightly higher pricing compared to similar tools.
- Lacks the option to auto-anonymize resumes for blind screening.
- No back office features such as onboarding, time tracking, and payroll.
- No Android app. Limited features and occasional performance issues on the iOS app.
- Slightly higher pricing compared to similar tools.
- Lack of an option to auto-anonymize resumes for blind screening.
- Reporting is not particularly useful with certain useful metrics not tracked.
- No Android app. Limited features and occasional performance issues on the iOS app.
Loxo Source can be useful whether you are filling a placement, scaling your staffing team, or strengthening your database for future needs. Our experience with Loxo Source was just as good, if not better, than with LinkedIn. It offers one of the largest talent databases we’ve seen (1.2B+), its search tools combine AI, Boolean, and advanced filters, and it has the ability to save searches.
We love being able to choose exactly which field to display on candidate cards with Loxo. The system allows up to five fields to show, plus highlights and notes on candidates—just the right amount of data for a quick candidate reference. Unfortunately, though, the chosen fields apply to all candidate cards across all jobs and the entire team (you can’t select different fields for different jobs).
Sharing candidates with clients in Loxo can be done in three ways. Quick Share allows specific attributes of individual candidates to be shared, while Formal Share lets you share a few candidates along with their formal submission documents. However, Client Portal is our favorite. It allows staffing firms to share certain candidate information and provides clients with an easily accessible pipeline overview without needing a Loxo account.
However, Loxo doesn’t cover anything back-office. No onboarding, no time tracking, and no payroll means you need to rely on third-party tools for such needs.
From what we’ve seen, small staffing agencies will likely find Loxo a bit expensive. The software does come with a free plan, yet its sales CRM is locked as an add-on, and so are many other essential features like integrations, sourcing, outreach, and reporting.
If you’re after staffing agency software with an exceptional mobile user experience, there are much better options. Loxo doesn’t have an Android app, and our experience with its iOS app was boring: it offers fewer capabilities than the browser version and, sometimes, crashes.
13,000+ companies, including Sanford Rose Associates Executive Search and Randstad.
Loxo has a free plan and three paid plans which start at $119 per seat per month when billed annually.
Best For
Loxo works best for executive search companies and mid to large-sized staffing agencies with a high volume of placements to fill.
When I’m sourcing on Linkedin, I use Loxo to add profiles in the talent pool and assign them to the existing jobs before contacting them. I also use it to find the contact info (personal emails) of candidates and post jobs on job boards. Being integrated with Gmail, it is useful for scheduling and sending emails. After some time, we started assigning the same profile from the database to different jobs that could potentially be interesting in the future.
- The basic role of Loxo as an ATS for managing a smaller database of candidates is one of the main benefits in my opinion.
- I appreciate that posting jobs is easy (it is also easy for candidates to apply).
- The interface of the talent pipeline is really user friendly, so it is easy to move candidates throughout the stages - and close the placement in a visible way.
During mission-based projects for agencies, Loxo had been used primarily as one of the many tools to find personal email addresses and mobile numbers. It has proven to be useful for that purpose. It had a phase of being used as a CRM for creating lists of potential clients, as well as occasionally helping with job posting - though the main pool was built with sourcing.
I've been using it for half of the year.
- First of all, Loxo doesn’t work without installing the Chrome extension (I wonder what would happen with the features for users of other browsers).
- Moreover, the AI Sourcing feature is only available for some countries like the US and UK.
- There are so many additional add-ons that require to be paid, in a way all about the recruitment process having been split on too small parts.
Compared to some quite similar platforms (AI sourcing + talent pools + communication), Loxo can effectively be used as a CRM for business development too.
You can start by testing its free job posting. Instead of paying individual job boards (like Indeed or Glassdoor), you can try to post on them via Loxo for free. Another helpful thing about Loxo is that it can sync with Gmail and calendar, so the status and communication with candidates gets updated and sorted in Loxo.
From a few years back Loxo had been used mainly as our email discovery tool and email verifier, so advancing to find ATS/CRM platform with AI potential is a big leap in a way.
It might be good as a starter tool for a new recruitment agency or start-up.
I don’t think the available features and cloud space would be enough for big companies or recruitment agencies who had already built a big database of clients and candidates.
Odro
Odro is among the dominant solutions in UK’s video recruitment software market. While its solution fits many other types of businesses, its potential is truly maximized by recruiting agencies.
PROS
- Excellent video messaging feature for candidate outreach and business development.
- Supports both one-way and two-way video interviews.
- User-friendly platform, well-integrated with Bullhorn.
- Employer support includes email, phone, live chat, and a dedicated team for selective plans.
- Excellent video messaging feature for candidate outreach and business development.
- Supports both one-way and two-way video interviews.
- User-friendly platform, well-integrated with Bullhorn.
- Employer support includes email, phone, live chat, and a dedicated team for selective plans.
CONS
- Limited language support (English only).
- Few integrations are available.
- Occasional issues with video recording when flipping or blurring the camera.
- Six-week training and implementation program.
- Limited language support (English only).
- Few integrations are available.
- Occasional issues with video recording when flipping or blurring the camera.
- Six-week training and implementation program.
Odro covers pretty much all recruitment agency video needs: Capture for video sales messaging, Vision manages live and asynchronous video interviews, and HireDeck—a slick candidate submissions portal.
Capture is introduced as an easy-to-use, effective video engagement tool, and it truly delivers. With a simple click, you can craft an HD video message for a prospective client or candidate. But the real standout is the embedded feature named Quickfire. It allows you to personalize your video message in seconds, changing everything from the thumbnail to the title and caption.
Vision includes two-way, one-way, and advanced analytics. While it may resemble other corporate video interview software at first glance, certain differences truly make it a real deal for staffing businesses.
Talent Dashboard is one such difference—a co-branded portal housing shortlisted candidates for client access. This portal consolidates candidate videos, resumes, salaries, notices, and other documents, enabling clients to interact by commenting, liking, and requesting interviews or callbacks. A link to a branded Talent Dashboard truly is a good alternative, if not better than traditional email correspondence.
Odro's reporting capabilities set it apart in an area where many video interview platform vendors fall short. It provides real-time stats on viewer behavior and engagement. Alongside team and individual reports, you also have the ability to set up cohort one for effective comparison.
Hiredeck is a new offering from Odro, which we totally loved. It presents all essential candidate info within a password-protected, branded portal that can be easily shared with clients, all at no cost.
However, if you're seeking video interview tech that integrates well with your existing staffing recruitment software, unless you’re using Bullhorn or Vincere, you're in the wrong place. Odro can connect only with the two mentioned ATS, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams.
There’s also something sad about Ordo’s onboarding. The whole process takes around six weeks, which can be unforgivably long for some. The learning library has many training videos, but its layout made it really hard to find the ones we wanted.
Odro has been used by 800+ companies, including both corporates and staffing agencies. Adecco, Advantage Group, and CastUK are some of its customers.
Odro is priced per user, but the fee varies depending on the volume of users and the length of the agreement. Most companies sign up for a 24 or 36-month commitment, although they do accept 12.
Best For
Odro is best for staffing and recruiting agencies that want to give their sourcing efforts an edge; mostly UK-based, but also in Australia, the U.S., Canada, Germany, Spain, and LATAM.
Recruit CRM
Recruit CRM caught our eye due to its killer search capabilities. With advanced features like Boolean and Radius search using Google Maps, you can easily find clients, candidates, and jobs within a specific location range.
PROS
- Excellent customer support (in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese) with an average response time of under 2 minutes.
- Native billings and payment tools.
- Transparent pricing structure. A free trial is available, and no credit card required.
- Conducts regular live webinars and 1:1s for customer product training.
- Mobile apps are available for both Android and iOS users.
- Chrome extension for multi-platform sourcing and duplicate detection.
- No extra fees required for basic data migration that includes importing Excel/CSV files with candidates & clients. During the implementation process of this software, the customer service personnel will help transfer your data for free.
- Great customer service. Their average response time is under two minutes.
- Powerful Linkedin Integration & Executive/Recruitment Report PDF Generator to save time
- Tons of resources made available to users including blogs and articles that give you all the information you need to know about how the software works, job description templates to help you get acquainted with all the possible job openings you will be looking to close, and a glossary that gives you the A-Z of recruitment practices.
CONS
- Limited native integrations. Relies on Zapier and API integration for specialized functions like video interviews and background checks.
- Reporting features leave room for improvement.
- It no longer offers a free plan.
- Limited native integrations. Recruit CRM only integrates natively with LinkedIn, Zapier, Logic Melon, some email apps, and Google and Outlook calendars. If you want to run background checks, for example, using Checkr or other background verification platforms, you won’t be able to do that unless you use Zapier’s API extension.
If we rewind the clock to our time working at recruiting firms, nothing stressed us out more than the client communication hustle: the constant shuffle between CRM, ATS, and email just to find and send candidate details to clients, the mundane manual email follow-ups for client feedback on each candidate, and the exhausting manual feedback collection.
With Recruit CRM, though, the usual process of sending candidate details can be done in less than 3 clicks! What's even cooler is that the link sent to clients is more than sufficient. It includes all the fields about the candidate profiles you want to share while providing a space for clients to quickly give feedback on each profile.
We also like the Radius Search feature: it lets users look for potential candidates within a chosen radius range. If you have candidates’ addresses available in your database, this feature works like a charm. We tested it by searching for front-end developers in LA within a 12 km radius of Disneyland, and the platform didn’t take more than five seconds to show us the matches.
Assigning jobs to candidates who are already placed or unavailable for a specific time period is a real issue for any staffing firm. Recruit CRM's attention to this detail—allowing users to mark individuals or mass candidates as unavailable for a specified time period—is impressive. These marked candidates will only appear as available once the unavailable period is complete.
However, we are disappointed with Recruit CRM’s reporting capabilities. It can only cover basic metrics with rather plain visualizations, and it sometimes even pulls unchosen fields into reports. As a result, those seeking more in-depth analysis have to rely on its API, which definitely is not for everyone.
It's also worth noting that Recruit CRM no longer offers a free plan. But, to be fair, its starting price is wallet-friendly enough for SMBs, and there’s a free trial anyone can opt for.
Recruitment CRM has 1,200+ customers in over 100 countries, including Blue Recruiting, G4 Global Partner, and Zeren.
Recruit CRM offers three plans and a free trial that lets you experience all of its features. When paid annually: Pro costs $85 per user per month, Business costs $125 per user per month, and Enterprise costs $165 per user per month.
Best For
Recruit CRM is best suited for agencies looking to streamline their recruitment processes and optimize client interactions.
Recruitment Agency Software Best Use Cases
Staffing agency software shines in several specific scenarios where its capabilities cater to the unique needs of staffing firms. Here are some distinct use cases in which you should rely on a recruitment agency software tool.
- Managing diverse client needs: Recruitment agency software excels in juggling the diverse needs of staffing agencies by efficiently tracking client preferences, managing multiple job orders simultaneously, and aligning them with top talent from a vast candidate pool—a level of multifaceted demands corporate recruiting software might struggle to handle.
- Large-scale candidate management: Purposely built for staffing firms, this type of software enables efficient categorization, tagging, and retrieval of best candidates based on various skills, experience levels, certifications, and preferences for quick candidate searches. Functionalities like resume parsing, skills matching, and ongoing candidate relationship management are also available for maintaining a large and diverse talent pool.
- Flexible and temporary placements: Staffing firms often deal with short-term or project-based placements, which require management of candidate availability, time tracking, and payroll handling. This constant flux of placements makes staffing agency software stand out, as its agility enables recruitment teams to supply these specific needs in a timely manner.
- Rapid response to urgent needs: The ability to quickly search through and match candidates to urgent job orders sets staffing agency software apart from other solutions. It enables agencies to respond rapidly to last-minute client demands and to facilitate swift placements that might not be as feasible with corporate recruiting software focused on long-term talent acquisition strategies.
- Compliance and legal adherence: Due to the temporary nature of placements, recruitment firms usually have to deal with complex legal and compliance requirements. Thus, the software designed specifically for these clients often includes features for managing certifications, background checks, and compliance documentation specific to temporary employment laws.
- Billing and payroll: Handling billing, invoicing, and payroll intricacies for temporary placements is a crucial aspect of staffing agency operations. Best-in-class staffing agency software includes native features to manage billable hours, expenses, and payroll for temporary placements, a functionality not broadly covered in corporate-focused recruiting platforms.
Staffing Agency Software Pitfalls
Using staffing agency software offers significant benefits, but certain scenarios and oversights can significantly hinder its effectiveness. Here are key pitfalls to avoid when using this software:
- Security and compliance neglect: You've got both client and candidate data in your hands. Look for software compliant with privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA, as the cost of a security breach is always higher than the cost of protection.
- Permission and access control problems: What’ll happen if a disgruntled former employee gains unauthorized access to confidential data? Indeed, that’s bad news. Unwanted access spells trouble. Today recruitment agency software usually comes with multi-factor authentication, so make sure you use that and regularly review permissions to dodge security risks before it’s too late.
- Language limitations: If you typically deal with clients and placements in multiple languages, a staffing agency tool without or isn’t open to adding multi-language capability per request can invite inconvenience to both the sales and recruitment sides.
- Overlook priorities and needs: Staffing agency software, by nature, wears multiple hats at once. But different options have certain aspects they prioritize. Manatal’s Sales dashboard may not be the best, but it has excellent candidate-centered ATS features built in. You can do both executive search and tech search in Loxo, but its strength lies more in the former than the latter. Know what you’re seeking in a recruitment agency tool and use that when demoing and trialing different options to avoid ending up with the wrong match.
Staffing Agency Software Pricing
Staffing agency software often offers various pricing structures tailored to cater to agencies of varying sizes. Here are common models and key considerations:
- Per-user pricing: Charges align with user accounts accessing the software. Manatal, Recruit CRM, RecruiterFlow, and Ceipal are some of the staffing agency software vendors that use this pricing model.
- Tiered pricing plans: Varying tiers offer different features at different price points. Agencies can choose a plan that best suits their needs. For example, Zoho Recruit offers tiered pricing plans starting from Standard at $25 per user per month and scaling up to Enterprise at $75 per user per month, or Crelate’s Business and Business Plus priced at $99 and $144 per user per month, respectively.
- Custom pricing: Usage-based pricing is designed for larger agencies with specific requirements. Prices are negotiated based on the agency's needs. JobAdder uses this pricing model. It charges recruitment agencies based on their specific requirements.
Note: Additional features like dedicated support, extended training, premium job boards, data backup services, extended data storage, and implementation might incur extra fees. Ensure you clarify them during the demo to avoid any confusion.
Recruiting Agency Software Features
Recruiting agency software is typically an end-to-end recruitment solution that covers the entire recruitment lifecycle—from sourcing and screening to hiring and onboarding candidates. When you invest in this type of software, you're getting a toolkit packed with various features.
- Applicant tracking system (ATS): Most staffing and recruitment agency software includes an ATS, the heart of candidate management. It features candidate sourcing, career pages, job seekers’ applications, and candidate tracking across various stages. Some even employ AI-driven resume parsing for automated screening and extracting relevant information.
- Job posting and distribution: A common feature among staffing tools. This feature allows easy creation and posting of job openings across multiple job boards and social media platforms. You may also find options that offer automation for job posting based on specific criteria and integration with industry-specific job portals.
- Candidate database management system: A robust software must have an organized and easily accessible candidate database. It should allow effortless storage, organization, and retrieval of detailed candidate profiles, searchable by skills, experience, certifications, and preferences through user-friendly interfaces.
- Customer relationship management (CRM): Similar to standard CRM systems but tailored for recruitment agencies, these systems track client interactions, manage client profiles, monitor requirements, and use predictive analytics to anticipate client needs based on historical data.
- Collaborative hiring tools: Good tech understands how important it is for the agency to deliver effective communication among stakeholders. Leading recruitment agency software vendors, thus, usually offer collaboration tools like shared calendars, messaging systems, and email integration for seamless team, candidate, and client interaction.
- Candidate assessment: While many staffing agency software provides integrations with external assessment tools, some offer native tools like technical assessments or video interviews, allowing hiring managers to shortlist candidates directly within the SaaS platform.
- Reporting and analytics: Reporting and analytics in staffing software serve a dual purpose. Firstly, these tools offer metrics that help measure strategy effectiveness and identify areas for optimization. Secondly, they provide insights into client lifecycles, informing proactive and tailored services for stronger client relationships.
- Timesheets, commission, and expense tracking: This feature is a comprehensive back-office management tool within staffing agency software. It allows agencies to seamlessly manage timesheets, track commissions, and monitor expenses.
Questions for Demos with Staffing Agency Software Vendors
Asking the following questions during demos can give you a comprehensive understanding of the recruitment software's capabilities, limitations, and suitability for your staffing agency's needs.
Software features:
- What key features are included in the standard package?
- Are there any additional modules or features that require extra costs?
- Can you demonstrate how the software handles candidate sourcing, outreach, follow-ups, and management?
- What tools does the software offer for client relationship management and communication?
- How does the software handle job posting, distribution, referrals, and tracking?
- Can you explain the reporting and analytics capabilities of the software?
- Can the software generate reports for tracking key recruitment metrics?
- Does the software offer predictive analytics or AI-driven insights for better candidate matching or trend analysis?
- How does it help forecast staffing needs or identify potential recruitment bottlenecks?
- What is the recruiting agency software's roadmap for future updates or feature releases?
Integration and compatibility:
- What integrations does the staffing software support with other recruitment tools?
- Is there an API available for custom integrations?
- How compatible is the software with our existing applicant tracking software/human resources management software (HRMS)?
User experience and support:
- What kind of customer support is available? Is there ongoing support, and how is it accessed?
- Can you walk us through the user interface?
- Does it provide a mobile app, or is it responsive to mobile devices?
- Is the software optimized for mobile use for recruiters, clients, and candidates?
Customization and flexibility:
- How flexible is the software in terms of customization to fit our agency's unique workflows?
- Can you explain how customizable the software is? Can it scale as our agency grows in terms of users, job postings, or additional features?
Data security and compliance:
- How does the software manage candidate and client data? Are there limitations on data storage?
- What backup and recovery mechanisms are in place to prevent data loss?
- What security protocols and measures are in place to protect sensitive information from data breaches?
- How does the software ensure compliance with data protection regulations (e.g., GDPR, CCPA)?
Pricing and contractual details:
- What is the pricing structure, and are there any additional fees for specific features?
- Are there different pricing tiers available, and what do they offer?
- What are the contract terms, renewal policies, and cancellation fees, if any?
User feedback and success stories:
- Can you provide testimonials or success stories of clients in the staffing industry using your software?
- How does your team gather feedback and prioritize feature enhancements or improvements?
Staffing Agency Software FAQs
What is recruitment agency software?
Recruitment agency software, or staffing agency software, is a specialized digital platform designed for staffing firms to streamline and optimize their end-to-end process of filling placements for clients, be it temporary or permanent roles. Its primary purpose is to assist recruiting agencies in efficiently managing candidate sourcing, client relationships, job postings, and placements.
What are the key features of staffing agency software?
A recruiting agency solution typically includes features such as candidate database management, job posting and tracking, resume parsing, automated matching, client management, analytics, and reporting, along with functionalities like CRM integration, mobile accessibility, and compliance management.
What software do recruitment agencies use?
Staffing agencies will find many types of recruitment software useful, including candidate tracking systems, sourcing tools, candidate databases, recruiting CRM solutions, interview scheduling software, background check software, timesheets, commissions, and expense tracking. We also talked to staffing leaders about what software solutions they use, and here are the ones they love most.
What is the most popular recruitment agency software?
Manatal, Recruit CRM, and Zoho Recruiter are popular among small and medium-sized businesses, while Bullhorn and Gem are widely known among mid-sized to large enterprises.
How much does recruitment agency software cost?
Recruitment agency software can cost anywhere from about $15 per user per month to $99 per user per month on the high end.
Is there any free staffing agency software?
Yes, examples include Zoho Recruit with a free-forever plan that suffices staffing basics for freelance recruiters or recruitment agency startups and small businesses. Manatal and RecruiterFlow are free for your first 14 days, while Ceipal offers a trial post-demo. Recruit CRM gives anyone interested a timeless free trial that lets them try most of its features.
Final Advice on Buying Recruitment Agency Software
Recruiting agency software can be beneficial because it houses everything your agency needs in a single hub. However, that can sometimes be a detriment. While we believe that the vendors on this page are excellent, that doesn’t mean they are all ideal for you. In fact, they may be extraneous.
If your recruiting company has a lot of success with your current applicant tracking software, then maybe look into purchasing a robust candidate sourcing tool. If you already have a great sourcing tool, maybe you just need a staffing CRM/ATS hybrid. A free recruitment agency software tool can be a good starting point if you just started your staffing firm. Don’t let the FOMO get the best of you. Otherwise, you’ll end up paying for things you don’t need.
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