OK this may be a rhetorical question, especially when you consider that I sell recruitment software, but I certainly felt it was worth considering given the market conditions in recruitment at the moment, with the question for many recruiters is “should I invest in recruitment software”.
Obviously I believe the answer is yes, with more and more candidates becoming available I believe it is now imperative to have a means to manage the volume much more quickly and efficiently. So when you are given your next vacancy, you can see the wood from the trees and get to the best candidate quicker than your competitors. This in truth is what it is all about, but there is a cost associated with this. So surly the time saved would make it a must have tool, in the recruitment consultants armoury?
Well that is my opinion of course, but I was pleased to find someone who disagreed, thanks to the UKRecruiter forum by Ian of Forest Recruitment, who I felt came up with a very valid argument, in fact Ian uses it as his USP, this is what he said:
15 years in IT recruitment and never used it (other than demo’s). I do use a CRM system but if you know your vertical and your candidates why do you need software to do the matching ?? But I am lucky I have the kind of memory that I can actually remember details of my first ever placed candidate (Jan 94) such as her final year uni project title and the counter offer she turned down to take my role.
If database search software (which is really all recruitment software is) was that good Google would give you you the perfect answer every time. I think the software makes consultants lazy, they put in tight specs and expect a placement to pop up on the screen. I am sure Mitch will agree, recruitment software panders to consultants and clients who want to find clones of the last incumbent in a role, it does nothing to encourage consultants to actually explore who might best grow into a role or bring extra skills to a client.
Although I agree in Ian´s sentiments in that “it Panders to Consultants and clients” in that it makes one lazy and there is an obvious case of “fitting a square peg in a square hole”. Where I disagree is that I too am able to remember my candidates from years ago, but the name will often elude me. So I have to remember something specific about the candidate, such as who he worked for or may be his pet hobby was bee-keeping, now try finding that in an alphabetical database of thousands.
I have to admit that when I started out in recruitment we didn’t have recruitment software, in fact we didn’t even use a computer. What I do remember is spending hours going through cv after cv to find the ideal candidate for my client, because there was no way on earth they would look at an alternative.
The fact is now it can be found in seconds, which means you can save a couple of hours a day shuffling through mountains of paper. If you also consider that by saving 2 hours each day, you or your consultant would then save at least 40 hours per month and if they were on £5 an hour, you would save £150 each month, when take off Arithon´s monthly cost of £50. Or is the true cost one extra placement a month I suppose that is for you to decide!
Of course not everyone will agree with me, so I am more than happy for anyone to comment whether they are for it or against it.
Interesting article. When launching my company, I didn’t have a huge budget and searched the net for viable solutions. Eventually I opted for a system called Palustris, designed and web hosted by Crocodile Systems. This system is superb value for money, a no frills crm database that does what you need recruitment software to do. I completely agree with Ian’s comments above, if you know your market (which every recruiter worth their salt should do), there is no need for expensive, super performing systems. Let’s not get blinded by IT Development and chained to our desk’s, let’s stick to the traditional methods of what makes us good at what we do.
I work for a company that findsdental nursing jobs in London there is a massive variety of recruitment software out there, most of which would work well for a dental recruitment company. The software mentioned in this blog seems pretty well priced, as several of the packages I have seen are selling around the £100 per month mark.
I agree with Adam – understanding your market and clients is more important that the latest tools.
Chris Rigby
Recruitment software definitely saves time and money! Ian, I agree it makes recruiters lazy but technology always does that. Recruiters have all rights to minimize their burdens. In fact, I believe in making their work further simple by letting them use pre-employment screening tools along with the software. For example, an employer receives 1000 resumes for 10 jobs, the recruitment software shortlists the 100 best ones who are then tested by using latest and customized tests like the ones offered by HireLabs (http://www.hirelabs.com). Now, the recruiter has only 15 or 20 people to interview for 10 jobs. Wow!!
With Chris and Adam on this. A good recruiter will succeed with or without fluid recruitment software. For a larger organisation more beneficial to track and monitor activity as for a search engine. Consultants will fall back on systems as a reason for failure or laziness. Recruitment software should be used as a support mechanism and focus should be on verbal interaction with clients and candidates. Easy for me to say being a start up and hopefully when competing on a larger scale my view will probably change!
Hi Danny
I suppose I have to disagree, for many reasons partly as I used to be a one man business. What I found that with the right product you can have a life, things are just quicker and when you work from home and have young children it is a huge plus. Basically no paper to get lost or written on, I also felt I couldn’t move away from a paper based system, but when I did there was no looking back!
Also it is worth noting that for a one-man business there are plenty of free options to get you started, and I for one when a client has a requirement I do not want to spend all day going through irrelevant cvs.
Hi,
Interesting article with some good points but I have not seen a few points put down yet. I would first like mention that I too sell recruitment software and as the founder of Candid Software (the company behind Applicantextra), I obviously believe in the need for recruitment software in the modern marketplace.
It would be nice to have super human brains that can pick out the inside leg measurement of someone you interviewed in 1989 but most of us mere mortals need some assistance. My clients always tell me speed is everything, when a vacancy spec drops on their matt they must be able to get that CV to the client before anyone else does. Agencies with large candidate counts will find it difficult to respond speedilly and accurately without an applicant tracking system.
Also dont forget that most of your competitors probably are using one and may have an advantage over you.
We often meet new clients who have been using ACT or Access even Excel to manage their candidate and client lists for years but they finally hit a brick wall. A point where they need to manage the relationships between clients, vacancies and candidates more efficiently. I suppose, if you haven’t reached that point yet then you wont see a need, but if you are any good at this game, eventually you will.