Considerations when Reviewing Recruitment Software

I asked Louis Welcome at Colleague Software if his team could provide a few suggestions to those looking to review their recruitment software at our upcoming Recruitment Technology Showcase on 27th September (or indeed ever!). Hopefully the (very comprehensive) pointers they came up with will provide some useful food for thought.

Requirements and technicalities:
1. Choosing recruitment software depends on what you need as business – it’s about knowing what you want, what your market is, how your staff work, and what your company objectives are.
2. Good recruitment software can adapt to your needs as an organisation. Make sure your objectives are clear. You will be then able to confidently ask the right questions of sales representatives, examine like for like with prospective software CRM suppliers and make an informed opinion about what software suits the present and future needs of your recruitment consultancy.
3. Discuss a project plan in detail with the supplier.
4. Ask for referral sites and see how they have implemented and use recruitment software. A good supplier will be able to find you clients who most closely match your own business.
5. Do your research. A useful way of gaining confidence is what the users (not just owners/directors) have to say. Everyday users will give more of a candid answer. Useful source of information comes from user forums/blogs. Another powerful tool for users is posting the question on LinkedIn groups. There are many groups targeted at this very subject.
6. Do I need to invest in additional hardware or/and software?
7. Be thorough – the devil is in the detail. Understand that different individuals give different meanings to the same terms.
8. Beware ‘off the shelf’ software – is it supported, is it enhanced? Will it actually do what I need it to?
9. Hosted solution?
– The first thing to ask is why do you want it? OK, you have remote staff; you can work from the pub on Friday afternoons…
– What’s my internet access like? Will it run like a snail AT MY HOUSE? Hosted servers are fast, secure and stable, you get back-up automatically and all your IT is taken care of, great! But what happens if you work from home on a slow to average speed and all the school kids come home at 3:30 and start their online gaming, catching up on iplayer and Skyping their mates? Ask for a live demo of a hosted solution and speak to suppliers about the technical requirements needed. A hosted solution offers the same solution as the system sitting on the PC in your office, its just the PC is somewhere else.
– Do you prefer having control over your own system or not?
– What kind of access will I have?
– What are the restrictions?

The software:
1. Ease of use? How intuitive is the software?
2. Scalability:
– What is your company vision? Are you 10 users looking to grow to 15? 100 to 150? 1000 to 2000 in 5 extra countries?
– Ask your CRM for examples of clients that have grown by 100s, this will give you a true representation of scalability.
3. Functionality:
– Back to ‘Know what you want’ again. When you know what you want ask the CRM to show you how it would do this in scenarios X,Y and Z. If the CRM can facilitate your current requirements and future aspirations you are probably on to a winner! Just ask yourself – what is my 5 year plan? With this in mind what would this system look like within my transformed business?
4. Features:
– Look past the bells and whistles to start! Does the CRM do the nuts and bolts of recruitment well?
– Look at the simple, like attaching documents, diary, tick boxes for compliance… etc. Ask for references and ask the fundamental question – “Does it just work”. Then ask – can it adapt to have what you need in the future?
– Will the software supplier listen and follow through on your enhancement suggestions?
– What stands out from other systems?
– Will it make my life easier?

Training:
1. Understand how you work, what is your sales process, resourcing methodology, compliance procedure etc… If the trainer knows how your company works then your staff can be trained in a way that enhances ones business and makes the CRM work for you.
2. How flexible is the supplier’s training services? Will they model training courses around your recruiter’s needs? Does their trainer understand how your business works?

Support:
1. What are the SLAs? How long do they take to resolve issues?
2. Are there any hidden charges?
3. When do you need support to be available?

Cost:
1. Old adage “You get what you pay for” – This is usually true!
2. How is it compared to the market and what do I get for my money?
3. Cheap or free providers may not build that long term relationship that is needed. Software is constantly evolving and changing – good providers invest revenue back into innovation and future development and this requires an on-going relationship between supplier and clients.