Unlike companies hiring internally, recruitment agencies operate across various clients and industries. The main problem they solve for their clients is finding and hiring better employees. This means they have different priorities when it comes to selecting and using recruitment software.
There are numerous recruitment software, but not all are suitable for recruitment agencies, as those solutions typically come with additional features that are tailored to businesses with broader needs.
In this article, we’ll go over the core functionalities of recruitment software for agencies, explain their key benefits, and guide you on how to choose the right one. It will help you avoid costly implementation issues and ensure your software truly supports your agency’s workflows.
A recruitment software for recruitment agencies is a digital platform that’s designed mainly for streamlining the hiring process. Compared to general recruitment software that offer comprehensive solutions, recruitment software made specifically for recruitment agencies offer more specialized tools. These include white-label reporting, advanced reporting, and multi-client dashboards. These capabilities make them an ideal choice for agencies, as they are able to bill clients separately, manage and track candidates across accounts, and more.
Core Functionalities Of Recruitment Software For Recruitment Agencies
Below, we have mentioned some of the core functionalities of recruitment software that are primarily designed for recruitment agencies, and how agency-specific implementations differ fundamentally from the ones offered in general recruitment software:
Collaboration Tools
Recruitment agencies need to collaborate with both applicants and businesses at the same time and sometimes have to stay involved until the position is filled. To meet this requirement, recruitment software offers a number of features, such as feedback tracking, shared dashboards, status tracking, and multi-client communication tools, all of which help them collaborate with both parties.
Reporting And Analytics
Being able to create extensive reports for metrics like time-to-hire, candidate retention rate, and average salary is essential for recruitment agencies as they have to report these to their clients. These analytics differ from generic recruitment software in that they are more detailed and are mainly related to hiring.
Applicant Tracking System (ATS)
Recruitment agencies have to track a significantly higher number of applicants as compared to any other business. That’s why they have a stronger ATS that helps them track and segment every applicant based on their qualification, skill level, and experience. This detailed segmentation and tracking are essential to ensure agencies don’t miss out on top talent during the process.
Candidate Experience
As recruitment agencies deal with a large number of candidates, over time, agencies build their market reputation. To make sure they are considered a reliable and professional agency among candidates, they need to provide exceptional experience to every applicant, regardless of whether they are selected for a job or not. To help agencies achieve that, these platforms come equipped with tools, such as automated rejection emails, feedback loops, and personalized messages.
Candidate Sourcing
Often times, sourcing candidates is much more effective than relying on inbound applications. To support agencies source candidates effectively and in bulk, these solutions offer capabilities like advanced candidate filtering, automated outreach, and multi-platform sourcing. Additionally, some solutions might also come with built-in tools to manage paid job promotion via LinkedIn ads and sponsored jobs on Indeed.
Below, we have mentioned some of the key benefits of recruitment software for recruitment agencies:
Stronger Client Retention
By implementing specialized recruitment software, agencies are able to retain more of their clients for longer. Their automation features save teams a lot of time that they can use to hire better employees for their clients, which in turn improves their overall business and boosts revenue.
Scalable Growth
A powerful recruitment software can easily scale with the number of clients an agency onboards. This allows agency owners to focus on business growth without worrying about their agency’s capability to meet with the growing demand.
Compliance Adherence
Recruitment software comes with built-in checks that identify and highlight any errors in the processes. These solutions also let users know if they are unknowingly violating any regulations related to hiring and recruiting, such as Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Enhanced Productivity
The software boosts employee productivity with automated workflows, pre-built templates, and effective communication and collaboration tools. Agencies get more out of their workforce without overburdening them with tasks they cannot handle.
Choosing recruitment software for your agency is difficult, but by following these four steps, you’ll set yourself up for selecting the right one:
Step 1: Keep Future Goals And Current Needs In Mind
Agencies can outgrow software as client volume increases. That’s why it’s important to select a platform that can grow with your increasing demands. For that, consider the number of clients you are aiming to onboard in the coming years, new industries you want to provide recruiting services to, and more.
Step 2: Consider The Capabilities
Write down the services you provide to your clients and then select software only on the basis of features that help you deliver those services faster and in a better way. For example, if your primary service is to perform background checks, you would want a solution that comes with built-in background screening integrations.
But if you mainly focus on sourcing and placing candidates for multiple clients, you would benefit more from a platform that comes with a built-in CRM and resume parsing tools.
Step 3: Choose A Pricing Model That Fits Your Agency’s Growth
Agencies often struggle with unpredictable cash flow due to fluctuating client projects. That’s why you should select a pricing model based on your agency’s cash flow and the predictability of how much you will use the software. Most agencies typically choose between ‘per seat’ models, where you’ll have to pay for the number of users using the software, ‘usage-based' model, where you’ll have to pay based on how much you have used the software or some of its features, and ‘modular pricing’, where you only pay for the features or modules you use.
Step 4: Try Getting Trials And Demos
Make sure you get trials and demos for as many software as possible before making a final choice. This will help you see in real-time how each solution fits your workflows and solves your specific needs. Additionally, during the trials, you should also check how smooth the integrations are with your existing tools, like CRMs or HRIS.
Recruitment agencies are prioritizing buying software that comes with integrated AI tools. The reason for that is that AI-powered recruitment software has been proven to be 86% more effective at finding and hiring candidates in less than 20 days, which is a huge plus for agencies.
Another important point to note is that one of the biggest obstacles agencies face in growing and expanding their business is constrained recruiter productivity. On average, recruiters spend around 14.6 hours per week searching for the right candidate. This explains why more and more businesses are now focusing on equipping teams with AI agents that enhance individual recruiter’s productivity.
Despite all these benefits, we still should not completely rely on AI for recruiting, as people are still testing it, and the human element in recruitment is essential. Take, for example, this quote from Katrina Collier:
‘For those who started post-fad: Yes, AI is here. Yes, it is changing things. Yes, you must learn, test, try, investigate, and embrace its inevitability. But you must also avoid AI snake oil.’
She recommends experimenting with AI and implementing it in recruitment workflows, but also warns against considering it as a complete replacement of the existing recruitment processes.
What Real Users Say About Recruitment Software For Recruitment Agencies
Users have reported recruitment software‘s ability to centralize and store candidate data, which has allowed them to avoid mistakes and duplication. Teams can also quickly access and share essential information, helping them make hiring decisions faster.
Moreover, users have praised the fact that recruitment software are flexible and can be configured to fit the exact workflows of an agency.
Recruitment software can give your recruitment agency an edge over your competitors by freeing your recruiters to vet candidates more thoroughly, but it’s only possible if you select the right solution.
When choosing one, you should carefully assess each solution’s features and see how they can help your staff be more efficient and productive.
Another thing we recommend is to involve all the stakeholders and managers in your agency, so that they can give their input and help you better assess each solution’s capabilities in addressing department-specific needs.