An illustration of a hiring manager using recruiting tools

Looking for recruiting tools to aid your hiring process? Then read on to find the very best.

To compete with other companies in your industry, you need to create a stellar recruiting process for your potential candidates. 

Utilizing recruiting tools allows your recruiters to be more efficient and helps drive better results for your company. 

Losing a potential candidate due to inefficiency isn’t uncommon, especially considering the best candidates are usually off the market within ten days, while the average time to hire is around 20 days.

The internet has been the primary resource for job seekers for years now, and this is not going to stop for millennials or Gen-Z, one of the most connected generations

Fifty-one percent of job applicants say their preferred source for finding a new job opportunity is an online job site, and 79% of job applicants use social media in their job search

When it comes to connecting with passive candidates, having an online presence is essential

The recruiting tools we highlight below will help you connect with potential candidates at all stages of the recruitment funnel. 

No matter how you start the relationship: LinkedIn or your career page, your candidates should easily be able to communicate with your company, apply for jobs, and move into the onboarding stage. 

Whether you are trying to connect with someone out of college or someone with more experience—you need to supercharge your recruiting experience with the best recruitment tools to stand out in 2020.


Best Recruiting Tools for Every Stage of Your Recruitment Process 

With so many recruiting tools to choose from, the results can be challenging to sift through. 

You may struggle with finding the best tools or how to use those tools effectively. This is why we want to make this process easier for you and your team. 

Here are some of the top recruiting tools you can use for workflow management, candidate screening, onboarding, and more. 


Workflow Management And Candidate Database Tools

Recruiting requires a team that works in tandem, using the same information. 

We use candidate database tools because it helps us manage our time and understand the work our recruiters put in every day. 

Without a candidate database that everyone could access, we'd work twice as hard at filling our open positions and connecting with candidates.


Applicant Tracking Systems

With so many applicants entering your talent pipeline every day, you need a centralized place to store all of their information. 

Having the right applicant tracking system allows your entire recruiting team to gain access to essential candidate information so you can fill roles faster. 

Applicant tracking systems also help your company comply with recent data privacy laws like GDPR and California's Consumer Privacy Act.


iCIMS Recruit

A screenshot of the interface of ICIMS Recruit recruiting tool

(Source)

iCIMS Recruit is an easy tool to grow with and it has a ton of advanced features like candidate and job management, social media and job board integrations, and screening tools. 

Many users are impressed with the reporting features and uptime that iCIMS Recruit has. Uptime is essential for an ATS. 

If your system is down, your recruiters will likely go back to their old habits, which will harm your candidate database and recruitment process.

Greenhouse.io

Greenhouse.io is there to be the tool you need from recruiting to onboarding. 

You know how many people play a role in hiring a new employee: recruiters, interviews, managers, and more. 

Greenhouse.io helps all of these stakeholders work together as a team so jobs can be posted, candidates can feel informed, and positions can be filled.

LinkedIn TalentHub

When it comes to job hunting, one site comes up often for applicants LinkedIn. 

If you are recruiting professionals, many people are already using LinkedIn to connect with recruiters and share their professional experiences. 

Using LinkedIn TalentHub will allow you to tap into the stories already happening on the platform. 

LinkedIn has over 600 million people, so it’s a great place to connect with and track potential applicants.


HCM Software

Your people are essential, and you need to make the human resources process as easy as possible for your employees. 

Human Capital Management (HCM) software is an excellent investment because it creates a one-stop-shop for companies struggling to pick a handful of software options. 

Instead of picking and potentially having an overlap in your tech stack, you can go with one HCM software pick. 

A con to using HCM software, though, is that it can lock you in if you like to pick and choose the features that your recruiters use.


Workday HCM

If you are looking for a flexible HCM that can handle everything from onboarding to employee lifecycle management, Workday HCM is here. 

One thing that sets Workday HCM apart is that they have a web-based platform, but your employees can also see things on Workday HCM using Android and iOS-based applications. 

Being able to see everything on the go is a positive for busy employees.

ADP

ADP is another great HCM software that helps companies with a variety of tasks like benefits administration as well as onboarding. 

Do you need some extra hands on deck? ADP can also connect you with trained 

HR professionals so that you can outsource some of your HR activities like hiring, employee issues, and compliance. ADP’s technology and customer service goes above and beyond.

Recruiting Tools for Screening

After you've been through the recruiting process, you need to screen potential employees to make sure they are the best fit for your open positions. 

Screening tools need to be easy for your candidates to understand. If your candidates cannot quickly complete the skills test or sign in for their interview, these tools will cause delays in the recruitment process.


Assessments/Pre-Employment Skills Test

Before you get too far into the hiring process, it’s crucial to learn more about your candidates. 

Resumes and cover letters say a lot about a candidate, but there is so much more to know. Pre-employment skills tests and assessments help us understand our candidates in a more nuanced way. 

Instead of wasting time wading through candidates who won't be a great fit, you can connect with the best candidates, which will make recruiting more effective.

HireSelect by Criteria Corp

One of the best assessment and pre-employment skills tests solutions out there is HireSelect by Criteria Corp. 

HireSelect can help you administer a wide array of evaluations like aptitude, personality, and skills tests. 

These tests will help you understand the complexity of your candidates, and they can integrate with a wide array of recruiting tools that you already use.

HackerRank

If you are recruiting for a tech position, you know the value of the skills and assets candidates bring to the table. 

With HackerRank, you can test potential coders by having candidates participate in code challenges. 

You can test more coders because HackerRank assures that only qualified candidates move into the interview phase, which frees you from looking at every candidate’s code.


Video Interviews

Interviews allow us to get to know a candidate so much better than a paper resume does, but interviewing candidates can quickly spread our recruiters too thin. 

Video has introduced a new way of interviewing that allows us to increase our reach without increasing the number of recruiters we have on our roster.

VidCruiter

VidCruiter is the perfect tool for companies who wish to use video to screen candidates. 

With our tools, you can administer pre-recorded and live video interviews in your hiring process. If you want to cut down on time spent agonizing over finding the right time to interview or flying out candidates who live far away, 

VidCruiter will help you scale. You can also use pre-recorded interviews to take advantage of interviewing earlier in the recruitment process instead of saving it for a handful of potential candidates.


Background Checks

Before you hire someone, you need to mitigate risks by checking their background. 

Some parts of your applicants' history may not come up in the hiring process, so it's crucial to be able to screen for these things efficiently.

One crucial feature that your background check software should include is a candidate portal. 

Not only does this allow candidates to stay on top of the screening process, but it also allows your candidates to dispute findings. 

Accidents happen, so you want to make sure that your applicants are equipped to correct mistakes.

Checkr

Checkr is one of the most well-loved background checking systems used by huge companies like Zillow, Lyft, Instacart, and more. 

Checkr has a sleek design that allows your team to process and understand background check results easily.

Orange Tree

Orange Tree’s goal is to make it simple for you to check your applicants’ background. 

One thing that sets Orange Tree apart is the ability to batch your background checks. 

If you need to run several background checks at once, you can simplify this process by using Orange Tree’s service.

Reference Check

Reference checking software should do more than just verify references. Your reference checking software should help you capture meaningful insights to help you understand how a reference feels about a potential candidate. 

Furthermore, you want your reference checker to be easy-to-use to encourage faster and more accurate responses.

VidReferencing

One of VidCruiter’s amazing tools is VidReferencing. VidReferencing gives you the ability to ask people for references within your ATS of choice. 

You can send a request to your applicants, then everything else is taken care of. Your candidates will fill out their references, which sends a quick survey for their references to fill out.

Instead of fighting with reference checks, you get a simple report at the end of the experience. 

If you want to add some additional information to your reference checks, VidReferencing also allows users to add audio and video references.

Xref

Xref is another trusted reference checking tool. Xref allows you to send easy to fill out reference checks to candidate references in less than a minute. 

Once you receive your report back, you’ll easily be able to understand and utilize the results of your reference checks.

SkillSurvey

SkillSurvey makes asking for references easy with pre-created reference surveys that you can use to get detailed recommendations for all of your candidates. 

One exciting feature of SkillSurvey is their candidate comparison feature. You can see everyone's high-level results next to each other so you can make the best hiring decisions.


AI & Automation

Automating recruitment tasks saves time and allows recruiters to do more meaningful work. 

Simple tasks like directing candidates to job listings and screening candidates can be done using artificially intelligent chatbots

You can also use AI to derive insight from data making complex tasks like discovering the untapped potential of your talent pool much easier. 

If you use the right set of tools, you can create a savvier recruiting operation.


AllyO

Whether you need a tool to help you connect with candidates and employees or you need to automate some part of the process, AllyO has you covered. 

AllyO Connect allows your HR team to communicate with candidates and employees via text message, which will enable you to respond faster to inquiries. 

AllyO also offers recruiting and HR automation bots that use natural language capabilities to connect with candidates and employees to provide support for things like job applications, interview scheduling, new hire check-ins, and internal mobility.

Ideal

Ideal is another option for recruiters who need to handle things like screening, automation, and chatbots. 

What sets Ideal apart from other companies are their intelligent rediscovery options. It's easy for stellar candidates to get lost in your talent pool. If you've been building your talent pipeline for a while, how do you find the candidates who matter most? 

Ideal helps companies rediscover the talent they already have access to, which lowers your marketing costs and increases the response rate for your recruiters.

Textio

How do you convey what sets your company apart from the rest of your competitors? 

Textio has helped countless companies like Johnson & Jonhson, P&G, Cisco, and Slack share what makes them unique. 

Textio is an augmented writing platform that helps your team write about your company in a more lively way. 

Instead of staring at a blank page, you can use the power of AI to share your story. Textio is a fantastic tool for employees who struggle to create content that candidates resonate with.

Bonus: Onboarding And Knowledge Management

So, you've got a new employee! Now we move into the next part of the equation: onboarding and managing company knowledge for training. 

Onboarding is an integral part of the process because it keeps your employees with your company after you hire them.

Onboarding

After you hire a candidate, you must create an onboarding experience that meets a new hire's most basic needs for job clarity and personal connection. 

Doing so paves the way for new hires to reach their full potential within their new organization as quickly and as smoothly as possible as well as reduces the possibility of your new hire leaving within the first year of tenure at their company.

BambooHR

BambooHR is a fantastic service for small to medium-size businesses that need to onboard their employees. 

BambooHR is a full product suite that has helpful tools for a variety of HR tasks like recruiting, applicant tracking, benefits administration, onboarding, and more. 

If your small team is looking for software that can offer a ton of services, BambooHR might be an exciting fit.

Lessonly

Training is an essential part of onboarding. One downside of Lessonly is that it can't handle critical onboarding tasks like E-Verify. 

Lessonly is built for the learning part of onboarding, so if you need to train your new employees, Lessonly is a fantastic tool for your business.

Training 

Last but not least, we have to touch on training and knowledge management. Your new employee doesn't have to know everything to be a great hire. 

You will likely train your employees during their time at your company. Having a place to keep training material and company knowledge is critical.

Helpjuice

If you are here, you probably know the value of using a tool like Helpjuice. 

HelpJuice helps you manage knowledge in a fully brandable environment that feels like an extension of your company. 

With Helpjuice, you can create amazing articles to help onboard new employees.

Litmos 

Another option for training and knowledge management is Litmos LMS. Litmos LMS is a learning management system. 

It's a great blend of a knowledge base and a teaching platform for your team. You can use Litmos LMS to hold your training material and a database for all your company knowledge.

Wrapping Up Recruiting Tools

If you want to reach the best candidates, you need to focus on building recruiting systems that meet applicants where they are. 

Your goal might be creating more mobile-friendly job applications or creating an experience that values communication (candidates want to hear from you, whether or not they got the job.) 

Building and utilizing the right tech stack will allow your company to compete for talent and bring in your best employees yet.

This is a guest post from Amanda Cross. Amanda Cross is a content marketing specialist that works with VidCruiter as well as several other HR tech companies all over the world. She is passionate about modern workplace issues like diversity, remote work, and driving employee engagement.