Hiring the right talent at the right time is a top priority for businesses given the impact it has on productivity, growth and business success.

Close to 57% of companies have lost out on hiring a qualified candidate because of a slow hiring process. If you are wondering “How do I improve my recruitment process?” the answer lies in CRM or Candidate Relationship Management software.

CRM enhances the efficiency of hiring while offering HR professionals an optimum way to manage candidate relationships. The software helps recruiters to automate communication and improve candidate engagement and experience.

Common Features of CRM Tools

The best CRM tools come with a host of key features that recruiters can use to:

• Create and segment talent pool
• Send personalised text messages and emails to candidates
• Create email campaigns that are engaging
• Automate events, meetings, or workshop invitations
• Conduct surveys and polls

Benefits of CRM use for recruiters

Given the added challenge of skill shortage in many occupations, streamlining and speeding up the hiring process is critical. The key benefit of CRM is in improving the efficiency of hiring and candidate management, making the process easier and faster.

CRM provides the ability to find and quickly assign candidates to open positions, which means recruiters have to handle fewer applicants to zero in on quality candidates. The tool accelerates the process, leading up to interviews, and enhances acceptance rates.

Analytics feature enables recruiters to track the effectiveness of their sourcing strategies, talent pipelines and email campaigns at all stages in the recruitment process.

To summarise, CRM helps recruiters:

• Hire faster
• Automate time-consuming manual tasks such as spreadsheets
• Get more insights with the built-in CRM analytics
• Achieve personalised, timely and relevant communication with potential and existing candidates
• Streamline candidate relationship management
• Find the best talent for the job from a large applicant database
• Select and hire the right candidates
• Engage talent to boost retention

Choosing the best CRM software tool

Choosing the best CRM tool for your company is challenging. There are many CRM products offered by various vendors that claim to be powerful and sophisticated, which makes it even more difficult to pick on one.

Here are some factors that can help you choose the best CRM tool:

ATS versus sophisticated CRMs – Although Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is in use, experts predict it will be completely replaced by CRM in the near future. The kind of tool you need to realise all of the benefits listed above should be a cloud-based software, highly customisable and have APIs that can be integrated into your existing recruitment management system.

Works on all platforms – With workplace flexibility being a priority and growing challenge of recruiting top talent, a fast and efficient hiring process that can be done from anywhere is important. With multiple recruiters handling the process in different locations, the recruitment software needs to be accessible to everyone across different platforms.

A CRM tool designed for multiple devices including tablets and mobile phones enables recruiters to view resumes, current jobs, review applications, schedule interviews and communicate with candidates from anywhere across the world.

Integration with payroll is another feature of an ideal CRM tool that is important for onboarding. The integration automatically transfers relevant payroll information to the payroll or HRMS, saving a considerable amount of time spent in copying and pasting the information.

Cost: At SalesFix we advise the ideal CRM pricing model depends on the organisation’s size and annual hiring activities. For larger businesses, a model that offers “unlimited user pricing” is preferable rather than monthly charges per user. These models can be cost-effective for big corporations in the longer term.

While some vendors offer low set-up costs, this can have many hidden disadvantages. For instance, the set-up costs may not involve training for staff, the subscription fee for all users, support, maintenance and product updates.

Understanding the existing gaps in the recruitment process and finding the right CRM solutions can be challenging. At SalesFix, we specialise in Salesforce CRM implementation and health checks. Our experts analyse and offer a detailed report on findings and recommendations for Salesforce CRM services matching your specific needs and goals.