Essential Tech for Modern Recruitment

These expert quotes were originally featured on UndercoverRecruiter.

The recruiting world is constantly changing and tech is moving right along with it. So, in the elements for modern recruitment, what is the best hr technology to use to help keep your team connected and more? Take a look at what the experts are using as a means to communicate, organize, and manage.

Erin Wilson (@techmatchmaker)

ZOOM + Google Boolean + (Entelo or LinkedIn) + Teamable + (Lever or Greenhouse).

ZOOM has quickly become my favorite video conferencing technology. Reliable and easy-to-use. The modern recruiter should be well-versed in boolean-ese. You can find almost anyone or anything with the right search string. From there, let’s expand into enriched profile data so we can take advantage of efficiency, yet remain personalized in our approach. Especially since email analytics are coming across the board, the front-end will no longer have to be “a numbers game.” Teamable is the industry leader in employee referral technology makes a serious impact to your bottom line. Picking the best ATS for your needs can be challenging but in any case you need one of these two, recruitment optimization platforms.

Leela Srinivasan (@leelasrin)

It starts with your phone and an email inbox. From there, add LinkedIn (LinkedIn Recruiter if you can afford it), a tool for finding email addresses, and an ATS-CRM that helps you work quickly and productively with passive candidates, applicants, and hiring managers. Whether you choose Lever or something else, make sure your platform has strong built-in analytics, is mobile-friendly, and can be integrated with your HRIS. There are many other tools – William Tincup claims there are 21,000 recruiting and HR software products on the market – but after the basics, people descend into irreconcilable debate based on personal preferences and the type of talent they’re recruiting.

Amy Volas (@AvenueTP)

So many options to choose from and they are certainly not one-size fits all or created equal.

It really comes down to your workflow, where you can create efficiencies, have better ways to connect with the right people faster and giving you access to meaningful data and insights that you can actually do something with sans clutter.

Lars Schmidt (@Lars)

“Essential” is tough to answer broadly as it’s a very nuance answer based on industry, roles, geographic scope, volume, compliance, etc.

I’ll say an “ideal” tech stack includes CRM, ATS, Social Aggregator/s (Hootsuite, Sprout, Buffer) at it’s core. Layer in design resources (i.e. Canva) and writing/editing platforms (i.e. Grammarly) in more creative/branding roles.

Chad MacRae (@HeRecruits)

Here’s mine:

Research/email finder: Hiretual, Scraper: Data Miner, Reporting: Tableau (connects with many ATS for more robust reporting), Creative/Portfolios: Dribbble, Project Management: Asana, Web browser tab suspender: The Great Suspender, Storage: DropBox, Calendar: Appointlet, Internal Communication: Slack

Stacy Zapar (@StacyZapar)

I think the modern recruiter is always evaluating new technologies, trying new things and seeing what combination works best for them. There is no silver bullet that works best for everyone. Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket and keep learning / experimenting to find the right tools for your specific challenges. A simple tech tweak can save you hours or even days in a month. (But never let your dependence on tech make you forget the human element in our profession. We are, first and foremost, in the people business.)

John Feldmann (@john_feldmann)

The three most important elements in a recruiting tech stack are a marketing platform, an applicant tracking system and an onboarding system. Various other add-ons may assist in the recruiting process, but the ability to market jobs, keep track of applicants and onboard hires remain essential software components. While there are a number of software systems that do this effectively, the choice may come down to other factors such as cost, product support, user friendliness, customization, etc.

Maren Hogan (@MarenHogan)

I think Buffer so you don’t look like an overzealous jerk when posting on social is crucial. Having an ATS that allows you to set up auto-responders and reminds you and other hiring managers of tasks to follow up on is important. An easy to use and manage HRIS that includes onboarding, payroll and compliance in check is a must have for you or your HR dept. Finally, the modern recruiter needs great sourcing and sorting tools. The pond is getting ever bigger and more duplicative, and the modern recruiter needs tools to get through it faster.

Craig Fisher (@Fishdogs)

The essential tech stack for the modern recruiter is mostly pretty old-school and includes a phone, a web browser for extensions (like Chrome), internet searching skills (like boolean, or an app that can write searches for you like Recruitem), an app to find email addresses and other contact information (like Prophet, a Chrome extension), a small budget for targeted Facebook ads, and a database to manage emails and contacts (like a CRM, or just Outlook).  Give me those things and I can create a killer team of very productive recruiters.  One nice-to-have tool: imagination.

Will Staney (@willstaney)

Today’s modern recruiter has a lot of tech and tools to choose from. If you asked this question a few years ago I think most recruiters would say I just need a computer, phone or maybe a Linkedin Recruiter account. Today, with the maturation of the internet and social media and the vast amounts of human capital data it produces, a recruiter’s essential toolkit requires those things but a bit more. I believe the modern recruiter also leverages tools like open web aggregators that will allow them to source from the vastness of the web and social media in a single search. They also leverage various digital communication channels, from text messaging, video content, email, to social media, to engage candidates. I would also suggest a modern CRM that helps automate the nourishment of a proactively built pipeline of warm candidate relationships.

The Branchers

We build the best damn marketing campaigns on the planet. And we do it for industries and companies you might not identify as easy to market (right away). Working here takes a very special kind of person.