Best Recruiting Automation Software
: Best SMB-focus recruiting automation software for AI recommendations
: Best recruiting automation software for intelligent one-way video interviews
: Best recruiting automation software for highly-refined automated sourcing
: Best recruiting automation software for human-like conversational AI
VidCruiter
: Best recruitment suite for mid-sized to large enterprises
hireEZ
: Recruiting solution with strong email outreach automation
Recruit CRM
: AI-powered ATS and CRM for global staffing firms
GrabJobs
: Hiring automation platform with a great interview chatbot
Findem
: AI recruitment software with a dedicated sourcing expert
HireVue
: Enterprise-focus AI recruiting solution with automated chat
SeekOut
: Recruitment software with an AI-powered talent search engine
Loxo
: AI recruitment software with a free-forever plan available
Gem
: Excellent tool for talent sourcing and outreach
Workstream
: End-to-end solution to hire and manage hourly workforce
Introduction to Recruiting Automation Software
The best recruitment automation software covers a wide range of aspects, from job postings and resume searching to texting, screening, scheduling, reference checks, and onboarding.
Whether you’ve grown tired of answering the same old questions from countless job seekers, or want to focus on what really counts—choosing the right hires, a modern recruiting automation tool is probably in order.
For this guide, we’ve picked solutions that offer the best combination of performance and value, including freemium options for those on a budget.
Read on to keep yourself posted on the best recruiting software’s pros and cons, must-watch-out pitfalls, prices, and deciding features. Also, be sure to check back frequently as we update this page with the latest insights that deserve your attention.
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Our Criteria: Here's How We Chose The Best Recruiting Automation Software
To choose the best recruiting automation software, our experts compared each tool’s performance on crucial features, including candidate experience, analytics, and product training. We gathered uniquely sourced information from product demos and sought input from HR thought leaders and our professional community.
- Candidate experience: We prioritized software that not only acts fast but keeps candidates engaged and well-informed throughout the hiring process. Features we assessed include a straightforward application process, personalized and prompt communication, customizable email and SMS templates, and mobile accessibility.
- Analytics: The best recruitment software goes beyond collecting data. It provides actionable insights that empower recruitment managers to make informed decisions and optimize the application process for better hiring outcomes. With powerful analytics, you can uncover trends, identify areas for improvement, and drive smarter recruitment strategies.
- Product training: Regardless of your budget size, the ideal recruitment software provides the necessary training and resources to maximize features and stay compliant with the latest laws. The premium-priced solutions we’ve included come with dedicated customer support and valuable training to justify the investment. Meanwhile, more affordable options offer ample assistance through well-structured online documentation, live chat support, training courses, and helpful video tutorials.
Want to dive deeper into our evaluation process? Check out this detailed article on How We Evaluate HR Tech Vendors.
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Compare the Best Recruiting Automation Software
Button TextButton Text
Popularity Score
Best for
Key Differentiator
Pricing
Free Trial
Customers
Users Score
Product Score
Manatal
Most Popular
4.2
Budget-minded teams to automate pre-screening
Affordable ATS with native AI-powered candidate filtering
Starts at $15/mo
Yes
10,000+ companies
4.7
4.2
Read full review
myInterview
Most Popular
4.2
Mid-to-large-sized teams seeking intelligent video screening
AI ranks candidate responses based on job-match criteria
Undisclosed
No
1,000+ companies
4.8
4.6
Read full review
Fetcher
Most Popular
4.6
Startups & SMBs to do outbound sourcing and diverse hiring
Candidates pre-vetted by AI then Fetcher's sourcing experts
Starts at $149/mo
Yes
500+ companies
4.6
4.7
Read full review
Paradox
Most Popular
4.6
High-volume hiring teams to text recruiting
Conversational AI available 24/7/365 and in 100+ languages
Custom Pricing
No
Undisclosed
4.8
4.9
Read full review
VidCruiter
Most Popular
4.1
Organizations hiring at least 100 people annually
End-to-end recruitment suite, fully customizable
Custom Pricing
No
10,000+ companies
4.5
4.2
Read full review
hireEZ
Most Popular
4.1
Enterprises to automate email outreach and engagement
AI tools for sourcing, outreach, and candidate rediscovery
Custom Pricing
No
Undisclosed
4.6
4.4
Read full review
Recruit CRM
Most Popular
4.1
Small-to-medium-sized staffing agencies
Multi-lingual, end-to-end recruiting CRM
Starts at $85/user/mo
Yes
1,200+ companies
4.7
4.4
Read full review
GrabJobs
Most Popular
4.0
SMBs looking to hire pink and blue-collar staff
Low-cost chatbot, ATS, automation, and career sites
Starts at $125/mo
Yes
20,000+ companies
3.8
4.1
Read full review
Findem
Most Popular
4.1
U.S.-based startups and high-growth companies
Attribute-based sourcing and automation for email outreach
Starts at $8,000/yr
No
150+ companies
4.2
4.3
Read full review
HireVue
Most Popular
4.0
Enterprises with 2,500+ employees and universities
Enterprise-focused recruitment suite, worldwide footprint
Custom Pricing
No
800+ companies
3.9
4.0
Read full review
SeekOut
Most Popular
4.0
Tech, engineering, and life sciences hiring
Vast talent pool and advanced search capabilities
Custom Pricing
Yes
1,000+ companies
4.5
4.0
Read full review
Loxo
Most Popular
4.0
Staffing agencies and teams with high-volume hiring needs
Strong track record of responsive customer support
Starts at $119/mo
Yes
13,000+ companies
4.6
4.0
Read full review
Gem
Most Popular
4.0
Either early-stage startups or teams with high-volume hiring
Powerful automation for candidate sourcing and engagement
Custom Pricing
Yes
1,200+ companies
4.8
4.6
Read full review
Workstream
Most Popular
4.1
Hourly hiring & recruitment in industries with high turnover
Designated screening tool for hourly workers
Custom Pricing
No
2,000+ companies
4.6
4.2
Read full review
Phil Strazzulla
HR Tech Expert, Harvard MBA, Software Enthusiast
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Detailed Reviews of the Best Recruiting Automation Software
Manatal
Learn More
Popularity Score
4.2 / 5
User Score
4.7 / 5
Product Score
4.2 / 5
Why we picked Manatal
Manatal’s intuitive UI, budget-friendly ATS, and AI-powered candidate filtering help it earn its spot on our list. It’s also one of a few vendors in this space that provide a crystal clear pricing structure plus a 14-day free trial for testing.
PROS
- Affordable with a 14-day free trial for testing before committing.
- User-friendly interface with drag-and-drop-enabled pipelines for organizing candidates.
- Ability to send mass email campaigns.
- Updates candidate profiles automatically with data derived from their social media accounts.
- Referral program for career page visitors to refer candidates.
- Multi-language support for careers pages (English, Spanish, French, German, Dutch, Portuguese, Bahasa Indonesia, and Thai).
- AI-powered recommendations for suitable candidates in the pool based on job descriptions.
- Customizable automated post-referral and post-application emails.
- 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 and may be less accurate with other languages.
- Inability to combine Boolean Search and Advanced Search methods within the platform.
- No email scheduling feature, no mass email recipient selection either.
- API and custom integrations limited to custom plan customers.
- No free plan available.
- 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 Review
As a rapidly scaling startup, affordability and scalability are non-negotiables to us in picking out recruiting software. So, when we discovered that Manatal starts at $15 per user per month and offers a free trial, we couldn’t help but be intrigued. This recruitment automation software covers everything from AI-driven recommendations to advanced filtering and candidate engagement—an extensive range of functionality rarely found at such a budget-friendly price point.
Similar to LinkedIn Recruiter, Manatal boasts various filters to refine searches and a convenient option to save filters for future use. Yet, what truly caught our attention was the ability to share these filters with other recruiters—a feature that sets Manatal apart from competitors. Having worked in staffing agencies where collaborative searching and filtering were run-of-the-mill tasks, it’s easy to imagine how much more streamlined our work could have been if we had adopted Manatal at that time.
For anyone spending their days navigating dozens of tabs to update candidates’ outdated contacts, Manatal’s Profile Enrichment feature could be a lifesaver. Right after we tapped on the Enrich profile button, the system used AI to identify and extract information from the candidate's publicly available social media accounts such as LinkedIn, GitHub, and StackOverflow, and their profiles were up-to-date in a matter of minutes.
While branded career pages and candidate matches are common in the recruiting software marketplace, Manatal impressed us with its built-in referral management system that lets users enable, disable, and track referral programs with a few clicks. The cherry on top is the post-referral and post-application candidate communication functionality. The system ticks all the boxes for email signatures, customization, and templates.
However, we found it a bit inconvenient that Manatal’s mass email campaigns do not offer options for scheduling beforehand or selecting recipients in bulk. While we have tried out (and loved) both Boolean search and advanced search the platform offered, it's disappointing we can't use them simultaneously. Regarding its candidate matching tool, we spotted a drop in accuracy when challenging the AI with non-English roles. While excelling with English resumes, it didn't perform as well when dealing with resumes in French.
Manatal Customers
10,000+ companies, including Unilever, Coca-Cola, Panasonic, Ogilvy, and Toyota.
Manatal Pricing
Manatal has four plans. The exact costs are as follows (billed annually):
- Professional plan: $15/user/month for up to 15 jobs and 10,000 candidates, with unlimited guests.
- Enterprise plan: $35/user/month for unlimited jobs, candidates, and guests.
- Enterprise Plus: $55/user/month, includes Enterprise features, user groups, open API access, SSO log-in, priority support, and access to Beta features.
- Custom: Pricing upon request.
Best For
With its pricing structure tailored for SMBs, Manatal offers a cost-effective solution for businesses of small to medium sizes to automate their pre-screening, whether they are in-house recruitment teams or staffing agencies.
Manatal in action
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myInterview
Learn More
Popularity Score
4.2 / 5
User Score
4.8 / 5
Product Score
4.6 / 5
Why we picked myInterview
myInterview's standout 3-in-1 Intelligence feature uses AI to analyze candidate responses based on your preferred skills and traits. It highlights the best matches, while ensuring appearances and accents won't sway results.
PROS
- Offers 3-in-1 Intelligence: Smart shortlisting, personality insights, and phrase search and filtering—user-friendly and effective.
- Recently added a kanban board for easier navigation.
- Strong one-way video interview with various question types, automated subtitles, and native scheduling.
- Customer support across various time zones, often responding within minutes.
- Features automated communications, including engagement with unresponsive candidates and action-based triggers.
- Native configuration for automation based on decision trees and real-time responses.
- AI trained on 30k interviewees’ responses for tone and word analysis.
- myInterview has a neat screening feature that can sift through thousands of video submissions and identify suitable candidates not only based on skills, but also personality.
- The platform provides analytics that help you understand how well your current application process is working, so that you can make improvements as needed.
- It lets you add instant candidate ratings so you’re able to compare candidates and make data-based decisions.
- myInterview lets you create a branded, customized interview process. You can choose from their library of pre-recorded questions, or create your own.
- myInterview ensures that all your interviewers have access to the same information about each candidate. This is so they’re all asking the same questions and given a fair chance at evaluating each candidate's answers.
CONS
- No longer provides a free plan or trial.
- Highly focused on video interviewing, lacks certain recruiting features like job posting and resume screening.
- Custom integrations come with a cost.
- Smart View might seem crowded to users with a large number of candidates.
- A few users have noted that myInterview doesn't offer many customization options. For example, you can't customize the email templates without contacting support.
- myInterview currently doesn’t have a mobile app neither for hiring managers or candidates.
- Though they do have a free forever plan, it is limited to only 1 active job post at a time.
myInterview Review
It’s hard not to notice myInterview in the video interview software space, as it’s one of the fastest-growing players with 10,000 customers onboarded since its relatively late market entry in 2016. But the platform is even more than caught up with competitors in the recruiting automation tech space and for the past 2 years, has rolled out a high-quality set of AI tools: Smart Shortlisting, Personality Insights, and Phrase Search and Filtering.
Navigating myInterview requires little to no training. There was a Smart Shortlisting survey in which we filled out the most important aspects of the role, for example, creative and assertive, in ranked order. Crafting interview questions was also user-friendly, but what we truly appreciated were myInterview’s pre-built question templates. They made things as easy as pie. The final touch was branding: we added our logo and branding colors, and voila! We were free to do other work, knowing the system would store all candidates’ responses, score personality, and rank responses based on job-match criteria, enabling us to easily review and decide what happens next with the interviewees.
Equally, if not more, important when assessing an AI-based recruiting tech is whether all the automation work is accurate and ethical. What's the use of being fast when the results are just wrong? To remove any doubt, we decided to examine myInterview’s AI work and we couldn’t be happier with our findings.
myInterview trains their AI using a database of 30k real interviews. This means the algorithm is sophisticated in analyzing interview transcriptions and identifying personality behavior markers while taking into account elements like intonation and speaking speed. Seeing that machine learning also does not take into account candidates' physical appearance when doing personality evaluations is an important touch.
Have you ever found yourself buried in piles of responses while searching for particular responses? We’ve been there—relying on Google Drive to store all candidates’ video interviews. It was nearly impossible not to get frustrated and feel helpless each time we did such searches. Thus, it was a bittersweet moment when we found myInterview’s Phrase Search and Filtering. The fact that there’s a tool that could help us refine candidate searches using specific keywords from their interviews and even pinpoint moments where these keywords are spoken—why hadn’t we found it sooner?
However, myInterview disappointed us when it discontinued both its free-forever plan and free trial in early 2023. It now provides two subscription options, and only the most expensive one has access to the intelligence tools. The only consoling part left is that the system still maintains its starting price at $99 per month, which is a reasonable and accessible rate considering its offering.
As a trade-off for being exceptional in video interviewing by being hyper-focused on this niche, myInterview is not so effective when it comes to other aspects of recruiting such as candidate search or resume screening. Given this approach, we had expected to see great integration capabilities from the software. myInterview can pair with 15+ HR systems, which is not bad at all. The thing that makes us not so happy is that all these integrations come with an additional cost.
myInterview Customers
Over 10,000 companies, such as McDonalds, Billabong, and 7-Eleven have used myInterview.
myInterview Pricing
myInterview offers two plans, with pricing starting at $99 per month for an annual subscription.
Best For
myInterview is best for medium to large organizations to streamline their recruitment with intelligent candidate video screening. Since it supports multiple brands and languages, both in-house talent acquisition teams and recruiting agencies can find the tool helpful.
myInterview in action
Chief Executive Officer - ABP Solutions, LLC
Reviewer's Rating
8/10
We use myInterview daily as an integral part of our recruitment process. The platform is employed mainly for initial candidate screenings, enabling us to handle large volumes of applications efficiently. We design custom interview templates and questions tailored to specific job roles to ensure a consistent evaluation process. The AI-powered analysis helps us identify candidates with the right soft skills and personality traits. Additionally, we use the integration features with our HRIS to streamline data management, enhancing the overall efficiency of our hiring workflows.
What do you like about this tool?
The AI-powered video screening saves our recruiters significant time by automating the initial assessment process. The platform's integration capabilities with our HRIS streamline data management and improve efficiency. Customizable interview templates and questions ensure a standardized and thorough evaluation of candidates.
Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?
To address the inefficiencies in our clients' hiring processes, especially the time-consuming nature of initial candidate screenings, we needed a solution that could handle high-volume applications efficiently while providing deeper insights into candidates' soft skills and personalities. myInterview offered AI-powered video screening, which automated much of the initial assessment, saving our recruiting team time and resources. The platform's integration capabilities with our existing HRIS were also a bonus. We have been using myInterview for approximately one year, and it has greatly improved our clients' hiring workflow.
What do you dislike about this tool?
Our recruiters have provided feedback that the AI analysis, while helpful, can sometimes miss nuances that only a human recruiter might catch.
How is this tool different than their competitors?
While other tools offer broader customization and additional onboarding tools, we prefer myInterview for its robust AI-powered video screening, which provides deeper insights into our candidates' soft skills and personalities. The combination of AI analysis and seamless integration capabilities makes myInterview the preferred choice for our recruiters. This ensures a more efficient and insightful hiring process, allowing us to make informed decisions quickly.
What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?
Ensure the platform is intuitive for both recruiters and candidates to avoid deterring usage that would then slow down the hiring process. Look for tools with robust AI capabilities that provide valuable insights into candidates' soft skills and personalities, enhancing decision-making. Check if the tool integrates well with your existing HRIS and payroll systems for efficient onboarding and seamless data management.
Consider features that improve the candidate experience, such as flexible recording times and user-friendly interfaces. Ensure the tool can scale with your company's growth and offers customizable options to meet specific hiring needs.
How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?
Since we began using myInterview, the platform has continuously improved its AI algorithms, which are essential for accurate candidate analysis. Additionally, the user interface has become more intuitive, making it easier for both recruiters and candidates to navigate.
What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?
myInterview is particularly well-suited for organizations that handle high volumes of applications and need to streamline their initial screening processes. For our RPO division, it is ideal for medium to large companies with growing recruitment needs, especially those in tech-savvy industries.
What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?
myInterview may not be a good fit for small businesses with limited budgets or organizations that prefer traditional, in-person interview processes every step of the way.
Fetcher
Learn More
Popularity Score
4.6 / 5
User Score
4.6 / 5
Product Score
4.7 / 5
Why we picked Fetcher
With Fetcher, you get the benefits of both worlds: Fetcher's algorithm searches the web for well-suited candidates according to your specified criteria, and their team of sourcing experts further refines and tailors the results for you.
PROS
- Intuitive interface and seamless user experience.
- Unique sourcing solution with AI initially identifying candidates, followed by human review for all plans.
- Multiple communication channels for accessing customer support.
- Unlimited outbound emails and re-engagement campaigns included in all plans.
- Chrome extension enables manual sourcing, email address collection from LinkedIn, and automated outreach.
- Offers a range of integration options for email, calendar, ATS, & CRM, including support for API/custom integrations at no additional cost.
- Fetcher is highly rated by customers for its clean interface, ease of use, and customer support.
- According to most users, Fetcher's sourcing tool is one of the best in the business, providing them access to the best candidates with specialized skills and backgrounds.
- Customers find Fetcher's automated outreach feature extremely useful for sending cold emails and personalized messages to potential candidates.
CONS
- A few users have reported minor bugs and glitches.
- Hyper-focused on passive candidate recruitment. No features to attract active job seekers.
- Some users report experiencing bugs and glitches while using the software.
- In rare cases, Fetcher may source either over-qualified or under-qualified candidates for a particular role. However, according to users, their team is quick to correct and refine the search criteria in such scenarios.
Fetcher Review
When we landed on Fetcher’s dashboard, the first thing that struck us was its straightforward and user-friendly interface. Fetcher requires little to no training and support to get you up and ready to navigate the platform. We logged into our account, headed to the sourcing tool, set out job requirements, and were all set to review potential candidates the system sent.
But what truly blew us away about this recruitment automation software was its sourcing tool. An AI that carefully picks out profiles that match our given requirements, followed by a team of experienced sourcers reviewing the AI’s work before sending us the final batch. Out of the numerous recruitment tools we have looked into, Fetcher and Rolebot stand alone in offering this approach. And Fetcher even outshines Rolebot for its flexibility: while Rolebot restricts you to a fixed 15 vetted candidates per day, Fetcher grants users the freedom to determine their desired volume. Speaking from my own experience working in recruitment agencies where dealing with time-sensitive roles is routine, this feature is a huge plus.
Fetcher's candidate outreach tools stand out as well. It’s got all the essentials—automation, email templates with a sprinkle of personalization, and reminders. The analytics aren’t the best, but powerful enough and easy on the eyes with real-time stats on unvetted profiles, news responses, gender and demographic estimates, and search performance.
The platform also offers several ways for users to reach out and get help. You can use email, built-in chat, and native note features. What truly impressed us, though, was that every user can request regular meetings with their sourcing team for additional assistance.
Nevertheless, there are times when Fetcher leaves us scratching our heads with its slow or, worse, freezing dashboard caused by system bugs and glitches. As you might have also noticed, Fetcher is more about sourcing passive candidates than offering a full-cycle recruitment tool, you won’t find native features for job posting, interviews, and onboarding here.
When it comes to pricing, Fetcher is slightly cheaper than LinkedIn Recruiter, with paid plans starting at $149 per month vs. $170 per month. Fetcher also just added a free plan where users can access 50 profiles monthly for free. But what a shame integrations and dedicated support are both taken from this plan. You’ll likely find it to be helpful if you hire one to two people per year.
Fetcher Customers
Fetcher is used by over 500 businesses worldwide, including Andela, Frame.io, Magnite, Foursquare, and CarGurus.
Fetcher Pricing
Fetcher offers four plans:
- Starter: Free access allowing users to view 50 profiles monthly.
- Growth: Priced at $149/user/month, offering integrations and access to 4,000 profiles annually.
- Amplify: Priced at $549/user/month, inclusive of Growth benefits, along with talent sourcers, a US-based success team, and 1,000 human-sourced profiles.
- Custom Pricing: Tailored plans available for large companies and staffing agencies.
Best For
Fetcher is a fine tool for recruiters and hiring managers seeking an efficient path to outbound sourcing and diverse hiring. The platform also has a good track record with startups and small-to-medium-sized businesses.
Fetcher in action
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Paradox
Learn More
Popularity Score
4.6 / 5
User Score
4.8 / 5
Product Score
4.9 / 5
Why we picked Paradox
Paradox is an ideal option for high-volume hiring teams to automate their recruitment with the help of AI. The algorithm (named Olivia) can assist in almost every essential part of the enterprise hiring process, from text recruiting to screening, scheduling, video interviewing, and onboarding.
PROS
- Reduces back-and-forth communication between applicants and recruiters.
- The AI chatbot (Olivia) is programmed to respond to candidates in a human-like way.
- Supports over 30 languages for users and over 100 languages for job applicants.
- Candidates can easily apply for a job or get help by scanning job ads’ QR codes or tapping on call-to-action buttons.
- Their implementation and customer service is very efficient and accessible. You will not only get a Customer Success Manager to help you with every step during your implementation phase but your issues will also likely be resolved within the same day. Unlike many vendors, you can contact their support team via phone and explain your issue in real-time.
- It’s very time-saving and cuts down on back-and-forth communication between job candidates and recruiters. As Derek B, Head of Recruitment at a large-sized enterprise puts it, “Olivia helped us shave our response time from 7 days to under 24 hours. This time saving ensured that the applicants we chose to interview were the best of the bunch.”
- Olivia, their AI chatbot is programmed to respond to candidates in a way that feels personal, as if a real person is responding. What’s even better is that despite complete automation, you can see all chats and manually override them if need be.
CONS
- There may be back and forth between customers and the support team to fully resolve a request.
- Lacks transparent rates. Doesn’t provide a free trial.
- Although you can get some data and feedback about your company and its processes, analytics is not very robust in Paradox. If you’re looking for advanced features that let you slice and dice your data in various ways, you’ll have to look for other applications.
- Their AI assistant is intelligent and has a human touch but at the end of the day, Olivia is still AI. At times when you want nuanced answers in conversations, you’ll have to manually operate the chat.
Paradox Review
Paradox isn’t the only player in the conversational AI market, but what truly sets it apart is Olivia's exceptional intelligence. While she can't replace human recruiters, having a tireless virtual assistant like her in the hiring process of large companies does bring substantial benefits.
We heard Olivia AI can answer candidate questions in over 100 languages. So, late one night at 10 pm, we decided to test this out by sending the AI two texts, one in Spanish and another in Vietnamese. She didn’t just pass the challenge, she aced it! Fast and helpful responses in both languages without breaking a sweat.
What also impressed us was how accessible this AI is. Whether job seekers are on job boards or social sites like LinkedIn or Facebook, a simple scan of a QR code or a click on a call-to-action button directly from their mobile screens will put them in contact with Olivia.
To see how the recruiting automation works in real life, we let it handle the initial tasks for filling our entry-level roles. And Olivia did prove her worth: The AI suggests fitting roles based on candidates’ queries, gathers crucial info (names, emails, resumes), and schedules interviews—all with a human-like touch.
Paradox didn’t disappoint us in terms of integration capabilities either. As expected from an enterprise-tailored recruiting tool, it can connect with dozens of popular ATSs, CRM systems, background check services, video interviewing platforms, email, calendar, and messaging tools. It also checks the box for custom integration support.
However, there are still a few things we don’t like about Paradox. While it’s not uncommon for recruitment software to undisclose its pricing structure, we wish that Paradox at least provided a free trial for users to evaluate the software before purchase. Additionally, its typical starting price of around $1,000 might be a hefty sum for SMBs. But, to be fair, competitors like HireVue start at much higher prices.
Lastly, while Paradox is proven to be incredibly helpful for complex, high-volume, and time-sensitive recruitment, we must warn you not to overuse it for critical candidate interactions like interviews. Above all, a dehumanized recruitment process is the road best left untraveled.
Paradox Customers
Unilever, McDonald’s, Amazon, 3M, CVS Health, Nestlé, Lowe’s
Paradox Pricing
Pricing is not disclosed upfront. You will have to schedule a demo to get custom pricing based on your company size.
Best For
Paradox is best suited for large enterprises with high candidate volume.
Paradox in action
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VidCruiter
Learn More
Popularity Score
4.1 / 5
User Score
4.5 / 5
Product Score
4.2 / 5
Why we picked VidCruiter
VidCruiter is designed with medium to large-sized companies in mind. The solution offers a full recruitment suite, from applicant tracking to automated scheduling, pre-screening, video interviewing, and reference checking. These can be fully customizable to specific hiring needs.
PROS
- Can be fully customized to accommodate workflows for any hiring journey.
- Pre-screening feature automatically rates, ranks, and sorts candidates based on comparable, quantifiable data.
- Automated scheduler feature includes real-time calendar sync, candidate self-scheduling, auto reminders, and meeting invite sending with time zones and locations considered.
- Reference checking tool automatically reminds candidates to submit their references, then collects and calculates their reference scores.
- Ability to complete an entire candidate journey in one product that integrates with any major ATS.
- Supports multiple languages.
- Excellent customer support: 24/7 live chat, dedicated account managers.
- Scalable and customizable — users pay for what they need and can purchase more features as they grow.
- Robust pre-recorded and live video interviewing with advanced automation.
- Browser-based, so it works across devices without installing apps.
- Available for recruiters in eight languages and supports job seekers in dozens more.
- 24/7 live agent support, assigned account manager, and on-demand training.
CONS
- Complex and highly customized requirements take time to implement.
- Lacks AI-powered candidate search features.
- Video interviews require manual evaluations, which can’t be avoided due to the nature of the interview format.
- Undisclosed pricing.
- No free trial or free plan at this time.
- Because the product is feature-rich and highly customizable, the implementation phase can be time-consuming.
- Advanced search and technical skills testing features within the assessment module leave room for improvement.
- No free or trial version.
- Undisclosed pricing.
VidCruiter Review
We love the current shape of VidCruiter's recruitment solution—it's easy to use, loaded with automation, and comes with strong support. The platform stands out with its comprehensive recruitment suite, covering everything from applicant tracking and quick apply to scheduling, video interviews, reference checking, and hosting virtual hiring events.
Our favorite part? Each tool is super easy to use, and it’s built to last. Whether you want to own the whole suite from the beginning or prefer marrying specific modules as starters, you can do so. Our only complaint is that it doesn’t offer a trial. But to be fair, this is a common practice among enterprise-centric recruitment tools.
We know how hard it can be to satisfy both worlds. But VidCruiter impressed us on both the employer and candidate sides. When we went undercover as applicants, we liked the ability to one-click apply directly from Indeed, full-control scheduling options where we could choose when to take the interview and in which format, and a full record of our application status—all without needing to download apps or anything else.
As we navigated the tool as an employer, from setting up career pages to arranging interviews, evaluating candidates’ responses, and onboarding new hires, VidCruiter presented a simple and clean UI that required little to no training to get familiar with.
While manual evaluations are required for video interview assessments, we liked how VidCruiter equipped hiring managers and TAs with standardized questionnaires, candidate assessment criteria, and automated reference checks to ease their workload. Fans of video interview tech will know how popular VidCruiter is. The vendor boasts one of the largest shares of this market with over 100,000 users to date.
VidCruiter is not the type of tool you can purchase and ta-da! It’s ready to use. Effective implementation could take days or even weeks. However, what we truly appreciate is the level of support and the customizable outcomes of the software, which make the wait worthwhile. You’ll get a dedicated customer success manager to ensure the software aligns with your recruitment workflows and not the other way around.
As much as we appreciate their approach to recruiting automation—they won’t use AI to "make" decisions on behalf of a person—VidCruiter’s AI features fall short. Unlike other enterprise-oriented solutions such as Paradox and HireVue, VidCruiter doesn’t offer conversational AI or a chatbot. We don’t see any tools for candidate recommendation and skills-matching, which are found in much cheaper solutions like Manatal either. VidCruiter is also not suitable for internal recruitment.
VidCruiter Customers
Lionsgate, Samsung, US Foods, Lowe's, Johns Hopkins University.
VidCruiter Pricing
VidCruiter pricing is custom, so you need to contact the sales team for a price quote.
Best For
Mid-sized to large organizations hiring at least 100 people annually will make the most of VidCruiter’s offering.
VidCruiter in action
Content Developer - Rootloud
Reviewer's Rating
9/10
I use this tool throughout my workday. Of course, it is used more when we are hiring multiple positions. It creates and posts job requisitions, which is a great tool for tracking candidates. I also use it to review resumes and send out automated questionnaires. This allows us to filter applicants and schedule video interviews, which has saved the company many hours between the HR team. Having the ability to interview people in different time zones with VidCruiter has given us the ability to find highly talented staff members.
What do you like about this tool?
The automatic screening and scheduling of candidates have allowed us to focus on finding qualified applicants. Accommodating different time zones and schedules enhanced the candidate's experience and the efficiency of the interview process as a whole. Sharing feedback and communication also helped us make well-timed hiring decisions.
Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?
VidCruiter was great in helping us solve the inefficiency and inconsistency in our hiring process. Manually reviewing each candidate's resume and application, scheduling interviews, and discussing hiring decisions led us to miss opportunities, and candidates were frustrated with the length of time. Once we started using the program, it streamlined all of those issues, allowing us to significantly improve the time spent and obtain highly valued employees. I have two years of experience using this program and feel it has been a great tool for the HR team. It allowed us to focus on finding qualified applicants rather than spending a lot of time on ones that weren’t a fit for us.
What do you dislike about this tool?
The interface is more complex and requires more time and training. Troubleshooting with our IT team was not always flawless, causing us to contact customer support. Having to call to work out bugs would sometimes be time-consuming and not conducive to the flow of the day.
How is this tool different than their competitors?
Many HR programs focus only on applicant tracking/video interviewing. VidCruiter offers a program that has screening, scheduling, and interviewing all in one program. It allows us to make the hiring process smoother and quicker. I like the flexibility of video interviews, as they are convenient for both the applicant and our team. Having the capability to speed up the interview and hiring process makes it ideal for both the applicant and the HR team.
What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?
Anyone considering this program should consider its features and functionalities. Having a checklist of tools needed and wanted will allow them to decide if VidCruiter is a good fit. Reading through other users' reviews and opinions will also allow them to get a real hands-on opinion on the program and customer support.
How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?
VidCruiter has evolved over time by expanding its recruitment tools to include more than video interviewing. It has improved its user-friendliness and integration with other HR software.
What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?
VidCruiter caters to mid to large-sized companies. It is a great tool for an entire office to be able to easily communicate and streamline interviewing and hiring.
What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?
VidCruiter may not be a good fit for companies that prefer in-person interviews as it focuses more on video screening.
hireEZ
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Why we picked hireEZ
hireEZ can help you automate several workflows in the recruiting journey, from talent sourcing to candidate nurturing via AI-generated emails. Plus, this software never disappoints us with its quarterly product updates.
PROS
- Modern, intuitive, and continually evolving user experience.
- Access to 800M+ candidates from 45+ open web platforms.
- Utilize Boolean strings and AI filters for precise candidate sourcing (e.g., job title, skills, location, experience, keywords).
- Scalable outreach with AI-powered engagement campaigns.
- EZ Rediscovery enhances and de-duplicates your ATS candidate database.
- Enjoy unlimited follow-ups with each contact.
- Introduction of Recruiting GPT (EZGPT) for automated candidate email generation.
- AI recommends candidates based on your historical preferences and search history.
- Contextual help provides access to rich learning resources.
- Intuitive, modern, and continuously evolving UX.
- Quick and unique sourcing capabilities. Many users indicate they get compelling candidates they hadn’t seen with other sourcing methods, some of which lead to good hires. Often, this happens in less time than the methods they were trying before.
- Unlimited follow-ups with each contact you pay for. This demonstrates how self-assured hireEZ is with the quality of their sourcing. They are confident about people not abusing this feature and stop contact when it’s clear a candidate is not interested— or simply because they found the right ones and stopped their search.
CONS
- Occasional bugs due to frequent updates, but promptly addressed.
- The Estimated market value is not very useful as it is usually off-market.
- Undisclosed pricing, annual billing only.
- Minimum seat requirement of 2, not suitable for solo staffing business owners.
- Since it’s always changing, parts of the platform may be buggy at times, which tends to be a minor nuisance we hear often from the mouths of recruiters. However, these bugs tend to get fixed quickly.
- Some recruiters have also pointed out a small whole issue performing searches: the tags for job titles are often too narrow, and sometimes the search function won’t include specific titles that they consider essential in their practice.
- While it has a growing list of integrations, it does not integrate with popular job sites like Wellfound. Furthermore, the LinkedIn integration could be expanded, and it only connects with ATS/CRM, calendars, and video interview software.
hireEZ Review
We were immediately drawn to hireEZ (formerly known as Hiretual) for multiple compelling reasons. Right off the bat, its vast candidate pool which boasts over 800 million candidates sourced from more than 45 web platforms truly captivated us. So it’s safe to say you likely won't run short of options; if anything, you’re spoilt for choice here.
Next, the platform hooked us with its flexibility to cater to diverse recruiting styles. We could navigate through Boolean strings or take advantage of the AI filters. Unlike Manatal, which won’t allow us to use both searches at the same time, hireEZ does. Not to mention, the filtering the platform offers is just as robust, with options to source candidates based on job titles, skills, locations, experience, and keywords.
We found the EZ Rediscovery another cool touch. The AI presented a good list of engaged candidate suggestions based on our preferences. It’s also nice seeing it even tidied up our ATS database: The system detected and eliminated data duplicates and enriched candidate profiles with its latest findings.
While we wouldn’t say the newly added tool EZGPT is amazing, it did bring convenience as we crafted emails to engage candidates. If we had to pick our favorite hireEZ engagement feature, it would be that the tool doesn’t put any limit on the number of follow-ups you can have. You’re allowed to send as many as you need.
hireEZ did let us down twice with its glitches during the platform’s two latest quarterly product updates. We were also quite shocked to figure out that a sourcing tool with a talent pool of over 800M candidates has no integration with popular job sites like Wellfound. When it comes to pricing, just like Paradox, hireEZ only offers annual billing, and according to our research, the pricing typically starts at around $10K, which is on the pricey side.
hireEZ Customers
600+ companies, including Diversant, FI Consulting, and Arkansas Children’s Hospital.
hireEZ Pricing
HireEZ pricing is customized and billed annually. It typically starts at $10,000, according to our research. They also require a minimum of 2 seats.
Best For
HireEZ is a recruiting software that can be used by both in-house recruiters and agencies. It is best suited for medium-to-large organizations that need to run scalable email outreach and automation engagement.
hireEZ in action
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Recruit CRM
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Popularity Score
4.1 / 5
User Score
4.7 / 5
Product Score
4.4 / 5
Why we picked Recruit CRM
Recruit CRM has a flexible pricing setup, no shady hidden fees, and is packed with slick automation features.
PROS
- Strong AI-powered resume parser and GPT integration.
- Public product roadmap. New features are regularly rolled out.
- Extensive CRM features for client management.
- Transparent pricing structure. Also has a free trial.
- Mobile apps available for both Android and iOS users.
- 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
- Reporting leaves room for improvement.
- Pro plan limited to 1 email sequence and 2 matches per candidate.
- No native features for video interviews, referrals, and onboarding.
- 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.
Recruit CRM Review
UX is a big deal for us when we assess vendors, no matter the software. Our testing shows that Recruit CRM has it nailed: The user interface is really well-designed and easy to use whether you're a recruiter, a client, or a candidate.
We did not experience any hiccups when accessing the candidate pipeline, and the dashboard is way better now with the new Kanban view. You can drag and drop candidates to move them through the pipeline, and there are automated triggers to ensure the reasons for a candidate's move are recorded.
But automation features are what truly make Recruit CRM stand out. The parser can handle resumes in a handful of languages, process 100 files at a time, and is smart enough to detect duplicates. There’s also GPT automation that can help with multiple tasks.
When we tried the AI candidate match feature, the suggestions were pretty good. The bummer is that if you’re on the Pro plan, you can only have two matches. On top of that, you can only have one email sequence.
Recruit CRM’s mobile apps are pretty straightforward to use and cover a bunch of features. You can communicate with candidates, clients, and team members, search and manage records, and more while on the move.
Custom integrations and reports are great but Recruit CRM can be a bit of a hassle for those who just want things to work out of the box. And if you need recruiting tech with all the bells and whistles, this probably won't cut it for you either — there’s no video interviewing, referrals, or onboarding.
Recruit CRM Customers
1,200+ organizations, including Randstad, ManpowerGroup, and Kelly Services have used Recruit CRM.
Recruit CRM Pricing
Recruit CRM offers three pricing tiers and a free trial anyone can opt for on its platform.
- Pro Plan: $85 per user/month when billed annually, $100 per user/month when billed monthly.
- Business Plan: $125 per user/month when billed annually, $150 per user/month when billed monthly.
- Enterprise Plan: $165 per user/month, billed annually only.
Best For
Recruit CRM is designed for executive search firms and global staffing agencies.
Recruit CRM in action
HR Business Partner - ACL Digital
Reviewer's Rating
10/10
I use Recruit CRM to recruit employees from different locations worldwide. The tool helps me create assignments and tasks for employees and generate meeting notes before online meetings. I also use it to visualize employee performance data and share it with the higher management team.
What do you like about this tool?
I like the integration with calendar and online meeting tools like Zoom. The pricing is affordable and does not negatively impact the ROI of any business. The customer support team is responsive to technical questions.
Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?
Managing, tracking, and recording employees working remotely around the globe was a significant challenge for our company. We faced difficulties in understanding employee needs and improving human resources. Emailing one employee at a time and CCing others was cumbersome. Recruit CRM offered a solution by allowing us to manage employees from a single dashboard and providing robust communication features for emailing employees directly from the tool. I have used Recruit CRM for three years, which has helped me gain more experience as an HR business partner.
What do you dislike about this tool?
The user interface requires significant improvement. The rich text editor for composing emails is unresponsive. The email signature maker offers limited customization options.
How is this tool different than their competitors?
Recruit CRM provides more modules at the same pricing level and has a support team that responds promptly to technical questions.
What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?
Consider the size of the organization and the pricing of the tool. Also, evaluate the technical knowledge required to set up and use the tool effectively.
How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?
There haven't been many changes to the Recruit CRM platform yet.
What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?
Recruit CRM is suitable for human resource managers and talent acquisition professionals from medium to large-sized businesses.
What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?
Recruit CRM may not be suitable for startups and other smaller businesses that do not require a lot of hiring.
GrabJobs
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Popularity Score
4 / 5
User Score
3.8 / 5
Product Score
4.1 / 5
Why we picked GrabJobs
GrabJobs offers a unique combo of interview chatbot, ATS, automation, and career sites at a reasonable (and clear-as-day) price. A good option for SMBs hiring pink and blue-collar staff.
PROS
- GrabJobs’ Interview Chatbot pre-screens candidates using custom interview questionnaires and scorecards.
- Automated shortlisting based on candidate interview scores, with adjustable acceptance rates.
- Offers daily selections of top candidates matching job requirements.
- Native features for interview scheduling, communication, and video interviews.
- Flexible, pay-as-you-go pricing with a free plan and 14-day trial for up to 5 free job postings.
- GrabJobs users save on average 8 hours per week on recruitment tasks
- Very good for high volume recruitment at high turnover industries
- Pay as you go, which is good for SMEs
- Post jobs to 50+ countries
CONS
- Additional cost for access to candidate resumes.
- Limited integrations, but work in progress to sync the in-built interview calendar with Gmail and Outlook.
- Customer support limited to Help Center and email, lacking phone support or dedicated assistance for quicker support.
- GrabJobs doesn’t have many integrations at the moment, although they are working (as of mid-2022) on syncing the in-built interview calendar with Gmail and Outlook, for instance.
GrabJobs Review
At first glance, GrabJobs appears much like any ordinary job board, and for the most part, that holds true. However, the subtle and significant automation tweaks, tailor-made for recruiters, turned our experience testing the software into something delightfully smooth.
Like most standard job boards, GrabJobs lets users post jobs on its website. However, unlike ZipRecruiter, which charges $12 to $16 per post daily, GrabJobs offers this perk along with a handful of other features for free. One noteworthy feature is its auto-distribution of job ads to over 20 other job boards across 50 countries—so, one click for 20x more visibility. It also grants us free access to design a company career page our way. The page sure is not the most visually appealing, but it does suffice for those seeking simplicity and a basic branding touch.
If you’ve used ZipRecruiter or Indeed, you know job posting, CV search, and native candidate communication are common features. But have you ever thought of having these features bundled with an interview chatbot and scheduling in a centralized dashboard—all at a pretty wallet-friendly price of $125 per month? That’s precisely what GrabJobs offers.
The interview chatbot truly lives up to our expectations: it engages with interested job seekers and, based on our set screening criteria, identifies the best matches. Compared to our traditional way of gluing our eyes for hours to screen dozens if not hundreds of profiles, the chatbot made us truly enjoy its company.
GrabJobs’ interview scheduling tool is quite modest compared to top vendors like VidCruiter or Paradox, but that’s more than enough for most small teams, and it shouldn’t be as manual and tedious as using free scheduling apps like Google Calendar when it comes to bulk and automated scheduling.
GrabJobs doesn’t challenge its prospects with a mysterious pricing scheme. It’s upfront about how much it’ll charge you per plan and even offers a freebie and a 14-day free trial that only starts after your first job post goes live.
But while we loved the recruiting automation software’s generous offerings, the customer support let us down: GrabJobs offers no immediate assistance. Yes, no phone support or dedicated CSM even if you pay for its priciest plan. All the help users get is from live chat and email support.
The lack of integration options is an even bigger problem, as it could disrupt the full capabilities of your recruitment suite. GrabJobs can only integrate with job boards for job distribution, and Gmail and Outlook for calendar sync. We get that expecting an extensive integration list from an SMB-centric tool is unreasonable, but manual data transfer to our ATS? Definitely not a pleasant task.
GrabJobs Customers
20,000+ companies, including 7-Eleven, DHL, and Delta.
GrabJobs Pricing
GrabJobs is a freemium recruitment platform. You can register, post jobs, and receive applicant profiles for free. You only pay once you want to contact applicants. The pricing varies per country, but a monthly subscription in the US starts at $125.
Best For
GrabJobs is particularly appealing to SMBs that are hiring pink and blue-collar staff, but it has also found its place in the recruitment strategies of larger enterprises.
GrabJobs in action
Operations Associate - Lessonpal
Reviewer's Rating
9/10
It's used for weekly and daily job postings. The job is posted and then candidates apply directly through GrabJobs. We then reach out to the candidate if they are qualified and provide them with the next steps. It covers the complete recruitment process of the workflow.
What do you like about this tool?
- The CV bank makes it convenient for doing cold outreach
- Posting on multiple job boards provides a comprehensive candidate reach
- The interview calendar allows us to keep track of communications
Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?
Grabjobs is a recruiting platform that allows us to recruit talent from both the US and the rest of the world. We recently signed on to grab jobs and think it will be super effective for our recruitment needs. Grab jobs manages the end-to-end recruitment process. ATS tracking also allows us to filter unwanted applicants from the pipeline. It's difficult to recruit large volumes of tutors but since GrabJobs posts jobs to multiple job boards, it attracts a large number of candidates.
What do you dislike about this tool?
- The CV search doesn't provide an exact match for the candidate demographic
- There's no option for unlimited job posts
- The analytics page crashes sometimes and it's hard to go back after the crash
How is this tool different than their competitors?
By posting to other job boards it allows us to have a wide reach for candidates
What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?
You should consider the number of jobs that you want to post and the number of candidates that you are trying to reach. Also the location of the candidate is also important..
How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?
What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?
GrabJobs is good for companies that are trying to recruit large numbers of employees and also for companies that are interested in recruiting from overseas countries.
What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?
Grabjobs is not the best for companies that strictly want US candidates
Findem
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Popularity Score
4.1 / 5
User Score
4.2 / 5
Product Score
4.3 / 5
Why we picked Findem
Findem's standout feature is its attribute-based sourcing. Searching with Findem resembles a Google search for individuals based on intent rather than keywords. This means you can discover candidates using both technical and intangible attributes, a capability that goes beyond traditional keyword matching.
PROS
- Findem employs machine learning to create unique "attributes" by combining people and company data with time.
- Supports intent-based searches along with keyword and Boolean searches.
- Enables segmenting talent communities and personalized campaigns based on attributes.
- Has a native conversational AI sourcing assistant and conversational analytics.
- Offers attribute-based automation for outreach and email responses.
- Provides a dedicated customer service manager during implementation and data migration.
- They assign a dedicated customer service manager during the implementation process to get you settled and started. These account managers also help migrate your data onto the system during the onboarding process.
- It is time-saving for businesses that have less time/people to dedicate to recruiting. They provide a service where sourcing experts work together with you to find talent across the globe.
- The software allows you to run outbound recruiting campaigns, giving you a potential talent pool of over 750 million candidates.
CONS
- Requires a minimum 1-year contract with upfront payment (no monthly payment option but a 3-month sourcing solution is available).
- The UI can be a bit crowded with so many features on one screen.
- May not cover hourly worker roles.
- No free trial. Requires a demo to access pricing info.
- For the main offering, Findem require a minimum contract time rather than being able to pay for the service monthly. However, they do have a sourcing solution that can start with a 3-month engagement.
- Findem does not typically cover hourly worker roles or jobs where the candidates have none or very little online presence.
Findem Review
Findem is really doing something unique in the world of recruiting automation software: attribute-based sourcing. And we’re glad to have discovered this product.
Unlike other recruiting automation platforms, Findem's machine learning is trained to provide relevant results based on user intent. Our experience using this tool reminded us of classic Google search: It nailed our challenge by providing sufficient talent even when we gave it attributes “have startup experience” instead of direct keywords. Utilizing these attributes in its bulk outreach, the system even made it ridiculously straightforward to personalize emails at scale.
Apart from attribute-based sourcing, we loved how Findem didn’t get rid of the traditional keyword and Boolean searches. Users have the freedom to choose how they source their candidates, whether it’s using machine learning, or sticking with time-honored filters such as location (country and city/state), company, and must-have and nice-to-have skills.
Findem has recently introduced an AI Assistant—it functions similarly to ChatGPT but thankfully, after sending it a handful of prompts, we’re relieved the AI doesn’t seem to produce “hallucinated” outputs. When we ask specific questions about a candidate's profile, it provides relevant answers based on the available information. We haven’t run into any made-up responses, and the fact the AI delivers results within seconds just shows how helpful it could be to streamline users’ sourcing process.
We also loved that, whatever the plan, Findem gets you a dedicated account manager. And if your team’s time zones are crazily diverse like ours, you get to love the availability of designated support in several continents this vendor offers. They got back to us in a matter of minutes.
However, we've had our fair share of “meeting” bugs while using Findem sourcing. For instance, its candidate demographic graph really tested our patience—it kept loading for several minutes until we grew weary and gave up.
While Findem’s search results were pretty impressive, we couldn’t escape the fact that some profiles we received haven’t been updated for a while. Though the software provides options for users to manually “remind” it to update specific profiles, we had hoped it would proactively take care of this matter by itself on a regular basis.
If you’re after hourly workers, it’s best to look elsewhere. We wouldn’t recommend Findem to SMBs and startups either, as alongside the absence of a free trial, the recruiting automation software demands a 1-year upfront payment. This could make it too pricey for such teams to afford.
Findem Customers
Findem's customer base is predominantly made up of enterprises, yet they also have a strong track record of serving growing startups, SMBs, and even solopreneurs. Some of their notable customers include RingCentral, Medallia, Intuitive, Adobe, Booster, Armorblox, and Plume.
Findem Pricing
Findem pricing is not publicly disclosed and can only be obtained by requesting a demo. However, based on our research, Findem pricing starts at $8,000 for staffing agencies and $10,000 for in-house recruitment teams, billed annually upfront.
Best For
Findem is well-suited for hiring managers and talent leads in companies with 500+ employees across various industries, particularly in technology, CPG, and life sciences. It has a strong reputation with North American startups and high-growth companies.
Findem in action
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HireVue
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Popularity Score
4 / 5
User Score
3.9 / 5
Product Score
4 / 5
Why we picked HireVue
HireVue offers a variety of tools, including text recruiting, conversational AI, video interviews, and game-based technical assessments. This means that the platform serves enterprises with versatile hiring needs: from casual to graduate, professional, and technical positions.
PROS
- Can screen a large number of candidates quickly.
- Has a great on-demand interviewing feature.
- Responsive implementation team and customer support.
- Able to handle a variety of hiring needs, including graduate hires and technical hires.
- Acquired Modern Hire (May 2023) to widen its footprint in Europe and Asia-Pacific.
- HireVue is very useful when it comes to screening a large number of job candidates in a short frame of time. Its virtual assistant can do an initial screen of applicants on its own, leave messages for them, and get responses in return. All of this frees up recruiters’ time.
- It has a great on-demand interviewing feature. Recruiters can sit and watch candidates’ interviews as per their convenience. The ability to change the speed of the interview while watching can also help recruiters save time.
- Their implementation team and customer support is extremely responsive or in the words of a Global Talent Attraction Director, “I love the support, tenacity and just constant desire to do the right thing. They take the time to understand our business and I never feel like it is a ‘catch and release’ relationship that is so common in this space”
CONS
- Not very affordable. Monthly pricing starts at $35,000.
- ATS integrations are only available for enterprise plan users.
- No free trial.
- Limited integration partners.
- HireVue is not very affordable compared to its alternatives, especially when you factor in the functionality. Their pricing plans are geared towards companies with at least 2500 employees and even then, you only get a small set of features.
- HireVue does not have a lot of integration partners and the range of software it integrates with is also very limited (mostly ATS).
- Too much automation can at times lead to unwanted candidates. For instance, the asynchronous interview feature can allow candidates to adjust their responses in order to fit the job criteria. However, HireVue wouldn’t screen such candidates out and your company may need human intervention to pick up on visual cues and body language.
HireVue Review
We're actually surprised by just how much HireVue has to offer. Tailored to organizations with at least a thousand staff, the recruitment suite has a knack for simplifying the entire recruitment process, from sourcing to screening, scheduling, and interviewing candidates on a large scale.
HireVue’s on-demand interviewing tool is a real deal. Branding, a behavior-based question library, practice sessions and instructions for candidates, evaluation guides, and the option to collect feedback after interviews—all are housed in one mobile-friendly place.
The conversational AI is another plus. It checks all the boxes of a robust recruiting chatbot we could ask for. When we interacted with the AI as candidates, leaving a message resulted in the AI providing some great suggestions on matching job opportunities. Similar to what we’ve seen in Paradox’s chatbot Olivia, this AI also eases the burden on recruiters by automating SMS or WhatsApp invites, reminders, and updates.
If your hiring needs frequently involve graduates, developers, or engineering personnel, HireVue might be worth a try. Thanks to a wide selection of recruitment automation tools, the platform is versatile enough to cater to such needs. If you’re based in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, we’ve got some good news: HireVue just acquired Modern Hire—an interviewing technology vendor that has served 700+ big organizations and has offices in Paris, London, Singapore, and Australia in May 2023. So now, not only can you expect more features to come but also better support for attracting talent globally, not just within the U.S.
When it comes to pricing, though, HireVue took us by surprise with its unexpectedly high cost. There sure is nothing wrong with an enterprise-focused solution lacking a free trial. But, considering its monthly pricing starts at $35,000, we can totally relate to those feeling reluctant and considering “safer” alternatives like VidCruiters or Paradox ($1,000/month). In addition to that, we believe HireVue could have done better with its integration options. The recruitment automation software currently can talk with a very humble list of apps and, its ATS integrations are only available for the enterprise plan.
HireVue Customers
HireVue has customers in a variety of industries ranging from aviation to retail. Some popular names include Amazon, Unilever, Vodafone, Beacon Health System, SmartLynx Airlines, The Co-operative Bank, and National Safety Apparel.
HireVue Pricing
HireVue has two pricing plans:
- Essentials: This plan starts at $35,000 per month for a company with 2500-7500 employees. It includes live and on-demand interviewing features, custom branding, and single language configuration.
- Enterprise: This plan is suitable for companies with over 7500 employees. Pricing is custom and you would have to request a demo to receive a quote. In addition to all the features of the Essentials plan, this plan comes with scheduling, a chatbot, pre-built ATS integrations, and analytics, among others.
Best For
Large enterprises (from 2,500 employees), and universities looking for tools that offer AI-driven solution sets for their high-volume hiring.
HireVue in action
Flight Crew Onboarding Specialist - Atlas Air
Reviewer's Rating
10/10
We use Hirevue to screen candidates for our customer service positions in our retail stores. We can populate our own questions, indicate how long they will have to read and respond to each, and specify if they can retake them. Hirevue allows us to add comments and review candidates so that if they apply again, we know what happened or why they were not selected. We can also provide an immediate response if someone was selected for the role or not. This tool is used regularly as part of our hiring process.
What do you like about this tool?
It saves us a lot of time to focus on other tasks. We can find great candidates faster. It helps the company save money by not having to hire extra help for scheduling phone screens.
Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?
My company bought Hirevue to screen candidates faster and decrease the time to fill all customer service-related positions. This tool is a great addition to our recruitment team because we save time by not having to phone screen or interview. Hirevue allows us to streamline our hiring process, making it more efficient. We have been using this tool for about a year, and it has significantly improved our hiring workflow. Personally, I have used Hirevue since it was implemented and have found it to be very effective.
What do you dislike about this tool?
There are times when the video malfunctions and we cannot see the candidate, which can be frustrating. It would be helpful if Hirevue could detect if the camera is not working or if the camera is covered. This way, candidates could correct the issue before submitting their responses.
How is this tool different than their competitors?
Hirevue offers more options to make the experience unique for candidates, such as a welcome message and automated emails for scheduling interviews. It also has reminders for candidates to complete their interviews, which can be set up by the employer. These features enhance the overall candidate experience.
What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?
The key buying criteria for this tool would be the options for customization, reliability, and easy of manage. Customization really comes down to the experience of the candidates who go through these video interviews. You really want to be able to customize the welcome page and/or welcome emails to reflect the culture of the company. The reliability of this system is a no-brainer as this is something we expect from any system we use.
Lastly, having a system that is easy to manage is probably one of my biggest criteria. Hirevue is a system that anyone can learn to use rather quickly, especially for candidates. Doing a video interview where you need to record yourself for this new chapter in your life can be very nerve-wracking. Not having to worry about how to work this tool when you have to do this interview helps a lot!
How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?
Hirevue has prioritized making the system easily customizable, which truly makes a difference.
What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?
Hirevue is very good for companies that hire large numbers of entry-level or customer service positions.
What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?
Hirevue might not be suitable for companies that don't hire often, unless they do not have a specific person for recruitment or HR. It is most beneficial for organizations that are constantly hiring or need to decrease the time to fill positions.
SeekOut
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Popularity Score
4 / 5
User Score
4.5 / 5
Product Score
4 / 5
Why we picked SeekOut
If you are looking for a platform with search capabilities as good as LinkedIn, you’ll find SeekOut an impressive tool. The platform even goes the extra mile by providing engineering and life sciences hiring modules to simplify recruitment for niche talent.
PROS
- Sources from tons of external databases; over 780M candidate profiles and growing
- Can also find talent within your existing team.
- Truly tech-powered and search engine-like platform.
- Presents very complete candidate profiles, sometimes going through their code contributions, participation in conferences, academic papers, and more, in order to present top experts for certain skills or topics.
- Sources from tons of external databases; over 780M candidate profiles and growing
- Can find talent also among your existing team.
- Truly tech-powered and search engine-like platform.
- Presents very complete candidate profiles, sometimes going through their code contributions, participation in conferences, academic papers, and more, in order to present top experts for certain skills or topics.
CONS
- Searches for candidates outside of the U.S. and Canada are still somewhat limited.
- No built-in candidate relationship management tool.
- Occasional glitches between the candidate’s info from the source and how/when it appears within the platform.
- While they're always expanding their candidate list, they have been mainly oriented towards the US and Canada for years. Hence, companies outside those geographies might find that their searches are still somewhat limited when it comes to local talent. Such is the case of some users writing from Europe, for instance.
- Several users have complained about lags or glitches between the candidate’s info from the source and how/when it appears within the platform.
SeekOut Review
SeekOut stands tall among talent search platforms and is often compared to LinkedIn for its robust—if not superior—sourcing capabilities, and at a much more attractive pricing point.
SeekOut provides access to over 780 million candidate profiles, and what we really admire is that this number keeps growing each time we swing by the platform. This is impressive, but still not as impressive as SeekOut's search tool which comes with three built-in filtering options: PowerFilters, custom Boolean searches, and AI Robot. This gives you the freedom to choose your preferred method for seeking candidates, whether it’s with AI or the classic search approach.
It’s also really cool to discover that while lots of vendors neglect internal recruitment when developing their tech, SeekOut reminds us of Eightfold for being one of the rare few offering solid features for talent rediscovery.
SeekOut’s attention to detail is another thing that stands out when using it for tech candidate sourcing. Instead of typical LinkedIn-like profiles, the system introduced us to candidates’ related work experience, code contributions, conference participation, academic papers, and more. If we could go back to our days as technical headhunters, we’d bring SeekOut and this level of detail to our sourcing, at all costs.
Frankly speaking, there’s nothing special about SeekOut's Chrome extension. You can source, organize, enrich, and export candidate profiles. SeekOut used to offer it for free for anyone but now it’s only available for active SeekOut users, with a maximum monthly quota of 10 verified candidates’ social links and emails.
The main drawback for SeekOut is the significant drop in search quality when searching for candidates outside the U.S. and Canada. Compared to its long-time rival LinkedIn, SeekOut still has a long way to go with its global search capabilities.
SeekOut’s sourcing screen also crashed on us when testing. Thankfully, it happened only once and the vendor was also quick to address the issue. Lastly, to the SeekOut development team: if you haven’t started working on releasing new features for candidate relationship management, you should do so now. Otherwise, you risk being left behind by competitors like hireEZ and Findem.
SeekOut Customers
1,000+ companies, most in the U.S., and are enterprise-sized.
SeekOut Pricing
SeekOut has three plans with pricing undisclosed.
- Premium: Access to 441M+ candidates, diversity sourcing, hiring tools, people insights, contact info for 500 candidates/month, and profile exporting for 5,000 profiles/month.
- Premium Tech: Includes all Premium features, plus tech talent tools like Coder Score rankings, GitHub search, direct access to candidate's code, and tailored insights.
- SeekOut Expert: Tailored for Engineering and Life Sciences hiring.
Best For
SeekOut can be used by companies of different sizes and industries. Its vast talent pool and advanced search capabilities make it especially ideal for tech, engineering, and life sciences hiring managers in the US and Canada.
SeekOut in action
Freelance Recruiter - Various Companies
Reviewer's Rating
10/10
I used SeekOut in my recruitment process. I used it daily to source candidates for various roles across different departments, as well as to source diverse candidates. One of the key workflows I relied on was the advanced search feature, which allowed me to filter candidates based on specific criteria such as skills, experience, location, and diversity attributes. This helped me identify potential candidates who were the best fit for our open positions. In my role as a recruiter, SeekOut's candidate profiles were invaluable. They provided deep insights into candidates' backgrounds and experiences, allowing me to effectively customize my outreach and interview approaches. Lastly, SeekOut's AI-driven algorithms kept me updated on market trends and competitive intelligence, enabling me to base my decisions on solid data throughout every step of the recruitment process.
What do you like about this tool?
One of the things I really enjoy about SeekOut is its user-friendly interface, making it a breeze to find top-notch candidates. The platform's extensive talent pool ensures I have plenty of options to choose from. Plus, SeekOut's insights into market trends and competitor intelligence give me a strategic edge in my recruitment efforts, helping me stay ahead of the curve. Another aspect of SeekOut that I find incredibly helpful is its robust search functionality. It's like having a powerful magnifying glass for talent, allowing me to hone in on exactly what I'm looking for.
Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?
Our organization decided to invest in SeekOut to address the challenge of sourcing diverse candidates and filling hard-to-fill roles efficiently. Prior to using SeekOut, recruiters faced difficulties identifying candidates from underrepresented backgrounds and those with niche skill sets. SeekOut has been a game-changer for us. With its advanced search tools and extensive database of candidates, it has made finding the right candidates for various jobs much easier. I used to spend ages sifting through resumes, but now, thanks to SeekOut, I can pinpoint exactly who I need in no time. I have used SeekOut for a little over a year while working at my organization.
What do you dislike about this tool?
One aspect of SeekOut that I found challenging is that the search results could sometimes be overwhelming, making it difficult to sift through and identify the most relevant candidates. Additionally, I've encountered occasional discrepancies in the candidate profiles, which led to a few inaccuracies in my sourcing efforts. There have also been instances where I experienced delays in receiving updates or notifications about new candidates or changes in the market, which hindered my recruitment process.
How is this tool different than their competitors?
From my perspective, SeekOut stands out from its competitors in a few ways. Its interface is very easy to use, making my job simpler when searching for candidates. Additionally, SeekOut has a large pool of candidates to choose from, so I could usually find someone who's a good fit for the role I was hiring for. The insights it provides about the job market and what other companies are doing are really helpful for making smart decisions in my recruitment process. Overall, SeekOut is a tool I relied on because it made finding and hiring great people much easier.
What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?
There are several key criteria to consider when purchasing a tool like SeekOut. First and foremost, usability is critical. A platform that's intuitive and easy to navigate allows recruiters to quickly find and engage with candidates. Functionality is also crucial, so look for features like advanced search capabilities, candidate insights, and AI-driven algorithms to enhance your sourcing efforts.
How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?
SeekOut has grown its candidate database and upgraded search algorithms, making it easier for recruiters to find the right candidates. They've also added AI-driven insights and analytics features, empowering recruiters to make smarter decisions.
What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?
It's ideal for recruiters who need to quickly identify and engage with top talent across various industries and job roles. SeekOut is especially beneficial for organizations that value diversity and inclusion, as it provides access to a diverse pool of candidates and offers insights to support diversity initiatives.
What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?
SeekOut might not be the best choice for smaller businesses or startups with limited hiring needs and budgets. If an organization doesn't do a lot of hiring or needs very niche talent, they might find SeekOut's features to be more than they need. Additionally, recruiters who prefer simpler, more straightforward tools might find SeekOut's advanced features to be a bit overwhelming.
Loxo
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Popularity Score
4 / 5
User Score
4.6 / 5
Product Score
4 / 5
Why we picked Loxo
Loxo leverages AI to expedite sourcing, screening, and shortlisting candidates. Whether you’re using Loxo’s database of 1.2 billion profiles or your own talent pool, it can analyze your job requirements and deliver a ranked list of best matches in seconds.
PROS
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 Review
Loxo has been the first-choice recruiting automation software of many companies for over a decade, and we can see why. Its machine learning is seriously smart.
Our experience using the sourcing tech was very positive. We fed the system our job description (JD), and the AI took center stage: analyzing the JD, initiating searches, and ranking matching candidates. Given how speedy things moved along, we didn't hold high expectations for the AI’s sourcing results. However, reviewing candidate profiles left us pleasantly surprised: How could they be this good?
If you’re a fan of free recruitment tech (really, who isn’t?), you'll likely find Loxo a solid choice. The platform offers a generous free plan with access to ATS and recruiting CRM, unlimited seats, unlimited jobs/projects, and a Chrome extension to help you kickstart your recruitment efforts.
Speaking of Loxo’s Chrome extension: while profile imports from platforms like LinkedIn, Indeed, and Github are typical, we were drawn to its ability to tag candidates with keywords and leave notes as you find them. This hits home to any TA! Say you come across a super potential candidate and find information on their social media that could personalize your outreach email. Tagging them as "high potential" with a note on how to approach them can be a game-changer.
As a free user, we were very satisfied with Loxo’s customer support. We emailed them twice, and both times the team responded within 3 hours. The help center content is also always clear and up-to-date. Seriously, the platform leaves no room for complaints on support, not even one bit.
However, while other vendors are moving forward with mobile-responsive, browser-based designs, Loxo is still stuck with its mobile app offerings. They announced plans for an Android app, but it has seemed like a broken promise. Regarding its iOS app, while functional, we couldn’t help but get frustrated with its frequent crashes and loading issues.
Loxo's pricing is by far the most detailed we’ve seen. However, in comparison, it is quite expensive, with many features locked as add-ons. Our biggest complaint is the lack of blind screening features. Loxo has no tool for auto-anonymizing resumes, meaning you might need to manually mask personal data or risk having candidate assessments influenced by hiring biases. Yikes!
Loxo Customers
Loxo is used by over 13,000 recruiting organizations, including Amazon, Randstad, Cigna, Lancor, Bank of America, and Maxar.
Loxo Pricing
Loxo offers a free plan and two paid plans, starting at $299 per seat per month when billed annually.
Best For
Loxo is best for executive search companies, staffing agencies, and growing companies with high-volume hiring needs.
Loxo in action
Operations Associate - Lessonpal
Reviewer's Rating
9/10
We use Loxo to directly reach out to candidates with niche experiences. Through Loxo we can search for the specific subject that we need a tutor for and evaluate the candidates. We can then contact the candidates directly for recruitment to the platform. This process is simplified through the use of AI recommendations that assist with identifying talent that would be a good fit based on the requirements.
What do you like about this tool?
- The platform is super intuitive and simple to set up
- The AI assistant makes it easier to review prospects
- The platform has many features that improve the recruitment process
Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?
We struggled to find quality talent internally. We need quality tutors in specialized subject areas like IGCSE, A Levels and IB which aren't commonly found in the US. In order to address that gap we needed a platform that would provide access to a cohort of candidates with a wider skillset. We recently started using Loxo to find talent from other parts of the world to address that gap.
What do you dislike about this tool?
The onboarding process wasn't super smooth.
How is this tool different than their competitors?
Loxo is interesting because it leverages the most modern recruiting technologies to ensure that recruiters get quality candidates and this saves a lot of time
What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?
You should think about how much time your team is willing to invest to find a quality candidate.
How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?
What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?
It's good for organizations seeking very niche talent in different parts of the world
What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?
It's not good for brick and mortar companies seeking regular office workers in very generalized fields.
Gem
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Popularity Score
4 / 5
User Score
4.8 / 5
Product Score
4.6 / 5
Why we picked Gem
Gem is a good choice for in-house recruitment teams and external agencies seeking a talent management hub with powerful automation features for candidate sourcing and engagement.
PROS
- Automatically adds candidates into specific talent pools based on set criteria.
- Customizable automated email sequences to attract and nurture candidates.
- Gem’s “Likely to Move” filter identifies candidates more likely to be open to new job opportunities.
- Automated visualized analytics with helpful hiring stats.
- Automatically suggests profiles similar to the ones users are searching for.
- Can connect with some popular ATSs, sourcing sites, and communication tools & supports custom integrations.
- Provides live chat, a help center, email support, and a dedicated CMS.
- Has a free trial with no credit card requirements.
- 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
- Does not provide the option to automate messages via LinkedIn InMail.
- Implementation is a lengthy process.
- Some lagging issues are reported.
- Can’t bulk filter to remove candidates’ work emails.
- Plans have undisclosed pricing and are paid annually.
- Doesn’t have built-in internal recruitment tools.
- No mobile app.
- 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
Gem Review
Gem is among the few unbeatable solutions that both in-house enterprise recruitment teams and staffing agencies can utilize to handle talent sourcing at scale. The recruiting automation software helps users effectively discover qualified candidates from various channels, create personalized messaging, visualize recruitment pipelines, and monitor essential hiring metrics.
The first feature that earns Gem a spot in our list is its "Likely to Move" filter. Not all talent wants to explicitly indicate they are open to new job opportunities, so when compared with the popular candidate search platform LinkedIn, Gem truly shines with its ability to analyze candidates' profiles and identify those more likely to change jobs. Being one of the first to approach candidates at the right time—you know how powerful timing is when it comes to recruiting passive talent.
We think any sourcer and talent acquisition specialist would also appreciate the auto-suggestion feature Gem offers. There’s no need to tweak the search filter to find more matching candidates. The auto-suggestion—true to its name—based on searched profiles users have liked, will auto-add matching talent to relevant projects for them to review.
The level of personalization and automation options Gem provides in its engagement tool sets it apart from competitors. We were worried it was going to sound robotic or be too bothersome with manual email sending. Thankfully, it’s anything but that. Every email campaign we set up is elegantly carried out with Gem’s auto-sequences and vast options for email customizations.
However, we can’t ignore Gem’s lack of automated sequences for LinkedIn InMail and its strict annual-only payment policy. For those planning to use both Gem and LinkedIn Recruiter for sourcing, these could be a fair reason to rethink your investment. And, while we’re at it, Gem says its AI features are still in the development process (in other words: the software lacks AI capabilities).
Gem falls short in supporting internal hiring or referrals. This isn’t a deal breaker, though, as this is not uncommon in the candidate sourcing software marketplace (SeekOut and HireEZ also lack such tools). But seriously, no bulk edit feature to remove work emails from Gem’s engagement campaigns? This could either result in a handful of manual clicks to get rid of those emails or create a really awkward situation for the passive candidates when your email pitching new job opportunities to them lands in their employer's inbox.
Gem Customers
400+ companies, including Coinbase, Slack, Asana, Dropbox, Lyft, Indeed, Pinterest, Doordash
Gem Pricing
The cost of Gem's modules is undisclosed. You can reach out to their sales team for a quote.
Best For
Gem is best suited for two types of companies. First, early-stage startups with fewer than 15 employees can enjoy free access to Gem. Second, companies engaged in high-volume hiring and seeking a talent CRM with excellent sourcing and outreach features will benefit from Gem's offerings. This applies to both in-house teams and staffing agencies.
Gem in action
Co-Founder - RecOps Collective
Reviewer's Rating
6/10
The Recruiting Team used Gem daily to source. Our RecOps team used it to observe reports and pull key data points out for presentations. This was especially important when there were board meetings or quarterly presentations to the company. It also synced really nicely with our ATS (Greenhouse) which made it a great tool.
What do you like about this tool?
- Sourcing functionality is top-notch and helped increase the diversity of the candidate pool
- Reporting functionality helped bridge gaps in reporting that Greenhouse couldn't provide
- Gem's CSM team was a pleasure to work with.
Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?
My previous company used Gem because it provided a combination of sourcing and analytic functionality for the recruiting funnel. This was needed in order to report on goals and metrics that the Recruiting team needed to hit as well as improve DEIB initiatives. Gem did a great job of solving for helping us make data-driven decisions. Additionally, our Customer Success Manager helped us design reports and leverage Gem to its fullest capacity.
What do you dislike about this tool?
- Originality - It seemed like Gem would release similar features to their competitors in response to what the competitors were doing. This meant that the functionality wasn't always fully baked.
- Ease of use - The analytics aspects of the platform required a longer than anticipated ramp time to fully understand.
- System integration - When the integrations broke because of updates, it could take a bit of time to get back online.
How is this tool different than their competitors?
Gem definitely innovates very quickly based on what they see. Because of this, some features can feel half-baked relative to their competitors (on the analytics side TalentWall, on the sourcing side, SeekOut). Generally, it is nice that Gem consolidated the specialty of those tools into one platform but SeekOut/TalentWall are more straightforward to use while requiring a lower ramp time to use.
What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?
I would consider the following bullets:
- Ease of Use
- Integration capability
- Purpose (does sourcing or analytics carry more weight?)
- Maintenance (which team is going to own this tool so that they have a strong partnership with the CSM team)
How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?
Gem is incredibly fast to build new functionality to meet changes that the users need. That ability to listen to their customers and users is fantastic.
What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?
Users: Sourcers, Recruiters, RecOps Team, Hiring Managers
It all depends on how each team is leveraging the tool. If it is primarily for sourcing, then it is incredibly nifty for Sourcers/Recruiters/Hiring Managers to build projects together and do paired sourcing.
What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?
Users: Interviewers, Non-recruiting members
Because they are not part of the recruiting process from a hands-on perspective, it can be a waste of a user seat to give them access.
Workstream
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Popularity Score
4.1 / 5
User Score
4.6 / 5
Product Score
4.2 / 5
Why we picked Workstream
Workstream is designed for companies that do high-volume recruitment in industries with high turnover, like retail and food service. This recruiting automation software includes mobile-friendly features and compelling analytics.
PROS
- Workstream has a great support team, including dedicated onboarding specialists.
- Integrations with over 2,500 job boards.
- Prospective candidates can apply for jobs and schedule interviews via SMS.
- Great support team. Workstream provides a dedicated onboarding specialist to get you started and settled with the software
- Integrations with over 25,000 job boards
- Prospective candidates can apply for jobs and schedule interviews via sms.
CONS
- Custom text-to-apply, HRIS integration, and payroll feature not offered with base plan.
- Some reports of issues with functions like search and scheduling.
- Mobile app users occasionally encounter lagging and crashing.
- Integration with HRIS and payroll come as an add-on you have to pay for.
- A few users reported experiencing performance issues when functions like search and scheduling.
Workstream Review
If you happen to be in industries like retail and food service where dealing with time-sensitive and hourly roles is part of your daily life, Workstream can lend an extremely helpful hand.
It’s hard not to be impressed by Workstream’s text-based sourcing. The tool didn’t disappoint as we navigated the application process as job seekers. Instead of the commonly seen “submit resume” button, we could scan a QR code or simply send the system a text to apply.
Workstream’s mobile app is smooth and user friendly.. But is it perfect? No: Though it only happened briefly, the app did crash once when we were testing it on our phone. When testing it from the employer’s point of view, the search functionality sometimes took quite a while to respond. Still, we should emphasize how nice it is to customize career pages and then publish them on 2,500 partner job boards in one shot. So, overall, while the whole experience wasn’t the best, we found Workstream more than good enough for most recruiters and TAs to work with daily.
We also have to give credit to Workstream’s Smart Screening. We could imagine how thankful teams hiring hourly workers would feel using this feature. The level of efficiency in filtering out candidates who don't meet specific criteria is truly amazing. It handles things like submitting a video introduction and answering targeted questions. While looking pretty simple, those actually having to vet part-timers would agree with us: this feature is so underrated. You can’t find a feature of similar quality oriented towards hourly staff in other leading recruitment tools like VidCruiter or Greenhouse.
Sometimes all you want is a solution that is simple enough for people interacting with it to find their time is valued, and Workstream provides that. The platform is built with a focus on mobile-friendliness, with automation trimming down redundant and repetitive tasks from sourcing to screening, scheduling, and onboarding without hurting the candidate experience.
This approach got our thumbs up as it freed us up from some low-value tasks such as posting jobs, collecting applications, and managing paperwork. Our experience as job seekers applying for jobs via Workstream was that it is an efficient process. We could read job descriptions in our preferred language, apply via SMS, and self-schedule interviews. As for its multilingual capability—honestly, we didn’t expect Workstream to be this good when it comes to Spanish. But the platform just nailed it as it does with English.
Our main issue here is all about the pricing structure. While you do get a pretty decent set of features with Workstream’s base plan, certain features require separate purchases. It’s understandable that e-signature services, background checks, and the custom text-to-apply tool may cost extra, but charging for HR and payroll integrations sounds quite unreasonable, considering plenty of other vendors offer such capability for free.
Workstream Customers
2,000+ companies, including Subway, Burger King, Taco Bell, and Dairy Queen.
Workstream Pricing
Workstream provides two customizable plans with the opportunity to add extra features.
- Workstream Basic with essential recruiting features like text-to-apply, QR code generator, and branded careers page.
- Workstream Plus includes features of Workstream Basic and W-4, I-9, and Form 8850 collection, onboarding training and quizzes, eSignature, and offer letter template.
Best For
Workstream is the ideal solution for teams doing high-volume recruiting for roles primarily found in industries such as retail, hospitality, and food service.
Workstream in action
Chief Human Resources Officer (Fractional) - N/A
Reviewer's Rating
7/10
We use Workstream to assist with our onboarding efforts. The tool helped us completely revamp our onboarding process by transitioning away from our former manual, paper-based method. The new automated process reduced our onboarding time from days to hours. Once we began using the tools, the reduction in manual errors was immediate. Over time, we became and remained compliant with our federally mandated employment documentation collection.
What do you like about this tool?
The digital onboarding tool is fast, efficient, and easy to use for candidates and our team. The ability to digitize all our internal documents created a one-stop shop for candidates, which was invaluable. The service provided by the company was timely and very supportive.
Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?
Our organization was introduced to Workstream five years ago. We employed many hourly (permanent and seasonal) employees and frequently conducted large-scale onboarding sessions throughout the year. Our onboarding was a manual, paper-based process that took two days to complete per session. An audit of our employment files revealed numerous instances of incomplete and improperly completed paperwork, causing significant compliance issues. We needed to improve our onboarding process, so we partnered with Workstream. They provided solutions that best fit our needs and helped us streamline our onboarding process.
What do you dislike about this tool?
Our organization did not experience any challenges during the use of the Workstream tools.
How is this tool different than their competitors?
Workstream provided some of the best digital onboarding solutions out of all the companies our organization reviewed during our search process.
What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?
When considering this type of tool, people should identify the specific service gaps they need to address and how the implementation of this tool will help solve them. Research is critical in this process. Many companies offer similar options, so conducting due diligence is key to finding a company that provides the necessary tools, service, support, and price to fit your needs.
How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?
Not sure how the tool has changed over time.
What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?
Workstream's target audience is companies with hourly employees. They excel in this area.
What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?
Companies with full-time or part-time hourly employees who are permanent or seasonal/temporary would benefit from the Workstream tools.
Best Use Cases for Recruiting Automation Software
The best use cases for recruiting automation software include high-volume recruitment, hiring for time-sensitive roles, and ensuring diversity and inclusion initiatives are implemented effectively. We explore these use cases, plus several more, below:
- High-volume recruitment: Ideal for organizations frequently hiring large numbers of candidates, such as seasonal or entry-level roles, to efficiently manage applications and streamline screening.
- Time-sensitive roles: Perfect for critical positions requiring swift hiring, like replacing key team members or filling urgent job openings, where automation accelerates candidate sourcing, screening, and scheduling.
- Diversity and inclusion initiatives: Valuable for organizations committed to diversity and inclusion, as automation reduces unconscious hiring bias by standardizing processes and evaluating candidates objectively.
- Talent pipelining: Simplifies creating and maintaining talent pools for future positions, allowing recruiters to engage and nurture passive candidates consistently.
- Remote and global hiring: Great for organizations operating remotely, in multiple locations, or internationally to standardize processes across regions, ensuring a consistent and compliant approach to recruitment.
- Candidate experience enhancement: Enhances the candidate experience by providing quicker responses, timely updates, and a smoother onboarding process, leaving candidates with a positive impression.
- Cost Reduction: By automating repetitive tasks like resume screening and interview scheduling, organizations can cut recruitment-related expenses, including external recruitment agency fees.
Pro Tips on Recruiting Automation Software
Top Recruiting Automation Software Pitfalls
To ensure recruitment process automation is successful, avoid unclear objectives, over-automation, neglected candidate experience, and unintended bias:
- Unclear objectives: Without a well-defined strategy and objectives, automation may automate the wrong tasks or fail to align with your recruitment goals. Ensure you have clear goals and a plan in place before implementing automation.
- Over-automation: While automation is powerful, overusing it can make the recruitment process feel impersonal and robotic, which potentially deter qualified candidates.
- Neglected candidate experience: Automation should enhance, not detract from, the candidate experience. Poorly configured automation can lead to generic communications, lack of personalization, and thus, bad applicant experiences.
- Unintended bias: Without careful design, automation can perpetuate bias in recruitment. Algorithms and models may unintentionally favor certain demographics or characteristics if not regularly audited and adjusted. Stay mindful to avoid these issues.
Benefits of Using Recruiting Automation Software
Key benefits of recruiting automation software include time savings, cost reduction, improved candidate quality, and improved candidate experience:
- Time savings: Automation streamlines time-consuming tasks, reducing the time needed to fill open positions. 70% of surveyed talent acquisition professionals believe that automating key recruiting processes will enhance productivity.
- Cost reduction: Efficiently replacing manual work with automation leads to significant cost savings, often exceeding initial software and implementation expenses.
- Improved candidate quality: Advanced AI, combined with regular audits to prevent bias, identifies high-potential candidates, resulting in better hires and improved organizational performance.
- Enhanced candidate experience: When used effectively, automation can enhance the candidate experience through timely communication, feedback, and engagement.
- Scalability: Automation efficiently manages large candidate pools and job openings, supporting scalable recruitment efforts without increasing human capital.
- Data-driven Insights: Automation collects and analyzes recruitment process data, providing insights for continuous improvement. Informed decision-making leads to better strategies, reducing wasted resources and optimizing outcomes.
- Reduced human error: Automation minimizes errors in tasks like data entry and compliance checks, resulting in compliance savings and operational efficiency.
- Compliance and risk mitigation: Automation helps ensure compliance with labor laws and regulations, reducing legal risks and associated costs.
- Faster onboarding: Automation can extend to onboarding, expediting the time it takes for new hires to become productive.
- Talent pool building: Automation allows organizations to build and nurture talent pools, reducing the time and effort needed to fill future roles.
Key Features of Recruiting Automation Software
When choosing a recruiting automation tool, AI-powered candidate search, AI-power resume screening, automated job posting, pre-employment candidate assessment, and advanced talent analytics are the key features to prioritize:
- AI-powered candidate search: AI recruiting tools can swiftly sift through vast applicant pools, filtering candidates based on their qualifications, experience, skills, and more. It also helps in building a talent pool for future openings.
- AI-powered resume screening: AI-driven screening tools streamline the resume review process, ensuring that recruiters and hiring managers only focus on resumes that match the required keywords and qualifications.
- Automated job posting: Save time by automating job postings across multiple platforms simultaneously. Some systems even use machine learning to optimize job listing language for better results.
- Pre-employment candidate assessment: AI-driven assessment tools can evaluate both hard and soft skills, offering insights into the potential success of the role.
- Advanced analytics: Access real-time analytics to evaluate recruiting process performance and receive suggestions for improvements.
Recruiting Automation Software Pricing
Recruiting automation software costs can vary depending on various factors like the provider, the features you need, your organization's size, and contract terms. The following are general price ranges.
- For Small Businesses: You can find monthly subscription fees ranging from $0 to around $200 per user. Some offer free plans, like Zoho Recruit, while others, such as Manatal, have plans starting at $15 per user per month.
- For Mid-Sized Businesses: Expect to pay between $99 and $400 per user per month and on an annual basis. For example, myInterview's plans start at $99 per month for an annual subscription.
- For Large Enterprises: These organizations may need to budget over $400 per month, with most plans billed annually. In return, these solutions often cover the full recruitment process. VidCruiter, for instance, may start at $1,000 for a full-cycle recruitment suite, including ATS, video interviews, scheduling, skills assessment, reference checks, and virtual hiring events.
Additional factors affecting recruitment software pricing include the levels of implementation, customization, integration, support, and data storage required.
Questions for Your Recruiting Automation Demo
Get your recruiting automation demo ready with these essential questions. Feel free to customize them as needed to ensure their relevance to your specific business use cases.
- How does this solution integrate with our current HR Tech Stack? Before committing to a recruiting automation tool, you’ll want to understand how compatible it is with your current tools, such as ATS software.
- Are there active data migration tools? Choose a solution that allows easy import of existing candidate data, and better yet, provides free data migration service.
- Is training included? Understand if the software provider offers organizational training and consider the cost if not.
- Is it mobile-optimized? You’ll risk losing potential talent if it isn’t.
- How often is the software updated? Technology is constantly changing, and it’s a good sign if the software provider frequently releases updates to add new features, keep up with the latest innovations, and avoid potential bugs.
- How long does implementation typically take? Implementation times vary from organization to organization, but any recruiting automation software worth its salt will be able to give you a rough estimate based on your organization's size and industry during your demo.
- What kind of support is offered? If the solution isn’t working as you expect, who can you count on to support your organization as you work out the kinks? Ask whether or not you’ll be provided a designated account manager, or if it’s just generic support.
- What’s included in the pricing? Clarify which features are included and what's considered premium. This is also a great opportunity to determine how customizable the solution is to fit your organization’s specific recruitment needs.
- Is there built-in reporting and analytics? Choose a tool with reporting capabilities to save time on manual reporting.
- What is your approach to data security? Any software needs to take data security seriously—after all, you are collecting massive amounts of personal information about potential and successful candidates. Ensure that the tool you choose safeguards both personal and organizational data.
Recruiting Automation Software Implementation: Best Practices
When you're getting your recruitment automation software up and running, here's what you should keep in mind:
- Data Migration: When transitioning to a new system, you'll likely need to move your existing data. For smaller datasets, you can handle this yourself since most automation systems allow for self-migration. But if you have a lot of data, consider checking with your vendor for data migration services. Some might charge a fee, while others do it for free.
- Customization: Decide how much you need to tailor the software to match your recruitment processes and branding. Small businesses might not require complex customization, as recruiting automation systems for these customers are often plug-and-play. For larger enterprises, you'll often have a dedicated Customer Success Manager (CSM) to assist, so make sure you get the most out of their support.
- Integration: If your new recruiting automation software needs to connect with other tech stacks, be ready for the integration process. Check with your software provider to ensure it aligns with your requirements. While native integrations are pretty straightforward, more complex ones, like API or custom integrations, might require technical expertise. Check if your vendor offers tech support, otherwise, you may need to involve your own developers.
- User Training: Invest in training and onboarding to ensure your team can make the most of the software. Ongoing support is just as vital, so take advantage of your vendor's webinars, on-demand training, and self-service learning resources.
- Testing: Before going live with the software, give it a good test run from both the employer's and candidate's perspectives. Check for bugs and discrepancies. Use a test environment to avoid disruptions in your actual recruitment processes.
- Timeline: Have a clear and realistic timeline for implementation. Delays can disrupt your recruitment operations, but rushing the process has its own problems: incomplete customization, ineffective user training, and data migration errors.
- User Feedback: Encourage feedback from your team and candidates as they start using the new software. Their insights can pinpoint issues or improvements needed for a smoother process.
Recruiting Automation Software FAQs
What is Recruiting Automation Software?
Recruitment automation software is a solution that uses AI and machine learning to streamline talent acquisition efforts.
Key benefits of recruiting automation software include:
- Time savings
- Cost reduction
- Improved candidate quality
- Enhanced candidate experience
- Scalability
- Data-driven insights
- Reduced human errors
- Compliance and risk mitigation
- Smooth onboarding.
How Is AI Used in Recruitment?
AI is used to complete monotonous, time-consuming tasks to free up human workers to focus on other tasks. In recruitment specifically, AI plays a role in tasks such as candidate sourcing, resume screening, job posting automation, and candidate assessment.
Is Implementing Recruiting Automation Software Easy?
Yes, it's generally straightforward. You typically sign up for an account, integrate it with your ATS or other HR tools, and start using it right away. Native integrations are quick, while API or custom integrations may take more time but are usually supported by the vendor's team.
Our recommended vendors above offer excellent support during both onboarding and implementation, including data migration from previous recruiting automation software if needed.
Are There Free Recruiting Automation Tools?
Yes, there are! Here are our recommendations for recruiting automation software with free options or trial periods:
- Manatal: Offers a 14-day free trial without requiring credit card details. Their starting price is $15 per user per month, making it budget-friendly.
- GrabJobs: Allows free registration, job posting, and access to applicant profiles. They also provide a 14-day free trial, and after that, you can transition to their free plan unless you opt for a paid package.
- Loxo: Has a generous free plan that includes an ATS, recruiting CRM, and a Chrome extension, all with unlimited seats and job postings.
- Gem: Offers a free trial, and eligible early-stage startups can use Gem for free for up to two years.
For more free recruiting options, check out our review of the best recruiting software.
What is the Best Recruiting Automation Software for Small Businesses?
For budget-friendly options tailored to startups and small businesses, consider Manatal, GrabJobs, Loxo, Gem, Fetcher, and SeekOut.
What is the Best Recruiting Automation Software for Enterprises?
For medium-to-large enterprises, recruiting automation solutions with a solid track record include Paradox, VidCruiter, hireEZ, myInterview, Findem, HireVue, and Workstream.
What Types of Recruiting Automation Software Are There?
Recruiting automation software comes in various types, covering the entire recruiting workflow. This includes candidate relationship management systems, candidate sourcing tools, interview scheduling software, and onboarding tools.
Best Recruiting Automation Software: Closing Thoughts
With each option being thoroughly tested and examined, we hope this guide has cleared up any confusion and uncertainty in choosing the best recruiting automation software for your team.
Our final piece of advice: Ensure your choice fits your specific needs, as you don’t want to get stuck with a recruiting automation tool that does nothing but drain your wallet. For further product shortlisting assistance, our HRTech expert offers a FREE 1:1 at your convenience.
Got insights or feedback? We're all ears! Contact our editor, Anh Nguyen.
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