By Melinda Jennings

With hundreds of Candidate Relationship Management (CRM) systems on the market, how do you choose the right one for your business? 

The right recruitment CRM doesn’t just organise data, it transforms your entire workflow. From integrating with your applicant tracking system to enhancing recruitment marketing efforts and improving the candidate experience, the right setup can drive serious efficiency and revenue growth.

In this article, we’ll give you a quick look at the process with four high-level steps. And when you’re ready to go deeper, download our free comprehensive CRM buyer’s guide, packed with checklists and decision-making tools to help you choose with confidence.

1. Identify your business’ needs

The first step in choosing a recruitment CRM system is having a close look at your business needs.

This involves a deep dive into your current pain points, and figuring out what the ultimate solution looks like for you. You can do this by:

• Conducting a gap analysis: Look at what is and isn’t currently working, and identify hidden problem areas across the business you want to solve. It’s a good idea to have key members of your team weigh in here, as their experiences are paramount.
• Considering the future state of your business: Don’t just focus on current pain points or issues. Think about where your business is going, and what you need from a CRM to make sure it grows with you.
• Coming up with SMART objectives: Make a list of Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound objectives, so you have a clear set of expectations to track your progress against.

2. Think about what you need from a recruitment CRM

Once you’ve identified the pains and potential gains of your business, the next thing to set your sights on is what you’ll need from your ultimate CRM solution.

Key things to consider here include:

• Features & functionality: Create a prioritised list of the features you feel are essential for a successful CRM. That might include automations, data and analytic tools, and candidate management capabilities. 
• Integration abilities: You’ve likely got other tools and software you already use, so think about what you’d like to be able to integrate with your new recruitment CRM.
• Current CRM shortcomings: If you already have a CRM, make a list of the gaps you’d like plugged with your new software. Again, this is a good time to call on the expertise of team members who use your CRM every day.

3. Plan out the logistics

The next step in choosing your dream CRM involves taking your list of ideal functions and features and stacking it up against the numbers. You may find that when planning out your logistics you have to revisit some of the ‘essentials’ on your list. That’s where previously prioritising each desired feature and outcome of your new CRM comes in handy.

There’s three main considerations for this stage:

1. Cost: Not only should you set a specific budget, but you also need to think about what billing model and contract terms will work best for your financial situation. For example, you might want to find a recruitment CRM that has scaled pricing according to how you use it, to make sure you’re not overpaying for unneeded services and features.
2. Time to implement: Even though you probably want to get your new CRM up-and-running yesterday, it’s important to set realistic expectations of what this timeframe looks like.
3. Effort to implement: Tied in with how long it’ll take to get started with your new CRM is the amount of work involved. Now’s the time to look at your number of users and data volume/type, to help determine how big your migration will be.

4. Narrow down your list and choose a CRM system

Having done your due diligence working out your business’ needs, what you require from a CRM, and the practicalities and logistics involved, you should now be in a good position to make your decision. 

Using the information you’ve already gathered, we recommend creating a scorecard that maps out each decision-making factor, as well as its importance. You can then score each vendor you’re considering against these factors, to see how well they align with your goals.

Simplify your recruiting with the right CRM

Although a lot goes into choosing a recruitment CRM, putting the effort in is well worth the reward. For a more in-depth, step-by-step guide into the process (including a handy checklist and example of a scorecard to help you narrow down vendors), download our free CRM buyer’s guide.
You can also see JobAdder in action by requesting a demo, and cut right to the chase in seeing whether our CRM can work for you and the needs of your business.