Before you adjust your recruiting strategy, identify key data related to your short- and long-term hiring efforts that matter most to your growing business. Even in a smaller company, having the people, processes, and technology to monitor these recruitment and hiring metrics is essential.

Let’s review the basics of recruiting metrics, tips for collecting data, and useful recruiting benchmarks to track and explore.

What are Recruiting Metrics?

Recruiting metrics are data points used to track business recruitment and hiring success. They cover various aspects of the hiring process, from time to fill to cost to hire, allowing you to track the effectiveness of your business’s recruiting efforts—how efficient hiring is and whether you’re hiring the right people for your open roles.

Why Tracking Recruiting Metrics Matters

No matter how many people you need to hire or your business’s challenges, ensure you use data-driven insights to guide your hiring efforts. Recruiting metrics enable you to determine whether you’re engaging and onboarding job seekers effectively or if you need to adjust your approach.

Tracking talent acquisition (TA) data regularly isn’t just important for your HR team—it can also help your business leaders make more informed decisions about adding resources in the company. After all, your leaders want to know which processes are efficient, effective, and contribute to long-term growth, so they can allocate resources accordingly.

When you know where recruiting bottlenecks exist, you can make changes that drive down recruitment costs, streamline the application process, and improve candidate outreach. 

Best Practices for Collecting Recruiting Metrics

Here are a few best practices for simplifying recruitment data collection:

• – Use an applicant tracking system (ATS). Regardless of your SMB’s size, an ATS like JazzHR can help your company source qualified candidates, provide a positive application experience, and improve your employer brand.
• – Set detailed goals. Ensure your team’s goals follow the tried-and-true SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound) framework, so you can easily pinpoint relevant metrics.
• – Ensure consistency and correctness. Maintain consistency in your collection methods and criteria, and regularly audit your data to correct any discrepancies.
• – Know industry benchmarks. As you start setting recruiting metrics, research within your industry to see which metrics have worked for similar businesses.
• – Gather qualitative metrics. Don’t just focus on the numbers. You can gain valuable, nuanced insights by asking for qualitative data, such as comments about your recruitment process or perceptions of your employer brand.
• – Respect data collection laws. Thoroughly research and implement practices that align with data privacy best practices and regulations, such as transparency and security.

As you start collecting, analyzing, and acting on recruiting data, it might take some time to fall into a natural cadence, especially if you’re working with a small team. Regularly audit your processes, so you can bridge any gaps and work better together.

Let’s explore key recruitment metrics that can give you insight into the strengths and weaknesses of your SMB recruiting efforts.

Critical Recruiting Metrics Your Hiring Team Should Monitor

Let’s explore key recruitment metrics that can give you insight into the strengths and weaknesses of your SMB recruiting efforts.

Average Cost of Hire

• – Basic definition: The measure of how much money your business typically spends on recruiting a single hire.
• – Why it matters: Tracking the expenses designated to promote an open position can ensure you don’t waste any resources. Also, this is one of the most important recruiting metrics for SMBs, given the limited budget you might have for paid recruitment marketing activities. Your internal and external recruiting costs can add up quickly if you don’t pay close attention.
• – Suggested next steps: Compare your cost to hire with other industry benchmarks, which take into account your industry, job level, company size, geographical location, and more. Based on this comparison, consider which parts of your hiring process are more costly and how you can adjust them.

Time to Fill

• – Basic definition: How quickly it takes you to find and hire a new candidate for an open role.
• – Why it matters: You may not have more than a few total open positions at any given time. However, that doesn’t mean you should take a long time to source, nurture, and interview talent. Instead, move with a sense of urgency to drive down your average time to fill to ensure you can fill roles in a timely manner.
• – Suggested next steps: If your average time to fill is longer than you’d like, take a closer look at which parts of the hiring process may be dragging. Identify key blockers to the recruiting funnel and work to streamline them—for example, does your recruiting team take a while to start conducting outreach once a new role opens up? Or maybe your team takes a while to initially screen candidates based on their resumes?

Time to Hire

• – Basic definition: How quickly you move a candidate through the recruiting funnel, from the moment they are approached to the moment they accept an offer.
• – Why it matters: Similarly to the time to fill metric, moving with a sense of urgency shows your business’s leaders that you can fill roles in a timely manner. However, time to hire also reflects a key part of the candidate experience. If it takes you a long time to send an offer to a candidate, they may grow impatient or frustrated with your application process.
• – Suggested next steps: When onboarding new hires, survey them about their experience during the application process. Ask them how they felt about the speed of your recruiting team’s responses and the general pace of your hiring. If they indicate that they felt the process was too long, then you may need to make adjustments to improve your time to hire.

Application Completion Rate

• – Basic definition: The measure of how many candidates started an application and finished it.
• – Why it matters: Clunky or complicated application processes that require account setup and log-ins lead to few completions by active job seekers. Conversely, simple, user-friendly application processes that take just a few minutes often lead to higher application completion.
• – Suggested next steps: If your application completion rate is low, take another look at your application. Consider how you can simplify it or if there are any fields that you could remove. For example, for a lower-level position, you could remove the requirement for a cover letter to remove a large barrier to application competition.

Applicants Per Opening

• – Basic definition: The number of applicants that apply to any one opening at your business.
• – Why it matters: This recruiting metric provides a way to measure how enticing your job openings are in the market. If there are many applicants, many individuals want that specific job or to work at your specific organization. If there aren’t many applicants, your job opening may fall short of similar roles in other organizations.
• – Suggested next steps: The number of applicants per opening is impacted by various factors, from your employer brand to the compensation you offer. Use this metric as a signal to dig deeper into your other recruiting metrics to determine if there’s an issue with your hiring processes, or if it’s just a sign of greater economic patterns.

Offer Acceptance Rate

• – Basic definition: The measure of how frequently the offers you extend to applicants are accepted. 
• – Why it matters: You need to know the rate at which candidates you interview and advance to the offer stage decide to join your business. If your offer acceptance rate is low, you must find out why your offers are lacking to ensure that hiring continues to go efficiently.
• – Suggested next steps: Direct feedback from potential hires through post-interview candidate experience surveys can reveal why they did or didn’t accept an offer. This can be used to change your recruiting approach for certain roles.

Sourcing Channel Effectiveness

• – Basic definition: The platforms or channels that yield the most and best new hires. 
• – Why it matters: Not all sourcing channels provide the same return on investment. That said, you won’t know whether you should continue looking for passive or active prospects on certain channels if you don’t keep tabs on how many leads you secure and how far they advance in your hiring process.
• – Suggested next steps: Look at high-performing recent hires (within the last two years) and explore which channel they were sourced from. If you see any patterns (for example, if most of your best hires are from LinkedIn), then focus your hiring efforts on these channels for better results.

Sourcing Channel Cost

• – Basic definition: The cost of using and maintaining a sourcing channel.
• – Why it matters: Certain sourcing channels may cost more to utilize than others. You want to make sure that you’re using your money wisely, not spending on less effective sourcing channels.
• – Suggested next steps: Consider a sourcing channel’s cost against how many applicants it brings in and how many of those applicants end up hired. If there are any channels that you’re heavily invested in but that aren’t working for your needs, consider pulling back the spend on it. Conversely, if a sourcing channel is extremely effective but you’re not spending much on it, consider upping your investment to bring in more top talent.

Funnel Conversion Rates

• – Basic definition: Metrics that reveal how far prospects advance from stage to stage in your recruiting funnel, such as application to interview rate.
• – Why it matters: Tracking funnel-based metrics to see how far the average candidate makes it in the recruitment lifecycle can help you pinpoint areas for improvement in your candidate relationship management approach.
• – Suggested next steps: Explore if there are any parts of the funnel that candidates tend to stop at. Then, discuss with other hiring team members to brainstorm ideas that will help candidates continue moving forward from that funnel step.

Nurture Engagement Levels

• – Basic definition: The open, click, and response rates of candidate nurture messaging.
• – Why it matters: Whether you deliver emails, texts, or a mix of both to candidates, you need a mechanism to easily and efficiently analyze your candidate engagement across channels to see which approaches work best and should be used most often.
• – Suggested next steps: If your nurture engagement levels are low, look at specific messages where engagement rates were higher than average. Analyze them for what makes them more engaging and effective than your other messages. Take these insights and apply them to future messaging to boost engagement levels.

Candidate Feedback Scores

• – Basic definition: Ratings provided by candidates about your recruiting process.
• – Why it matters: Compiling candidate feedback can give you rich insight into the external perception of your SMB recruitment model. Aside from securing general comments from prospects, it’s equally important to collect specific ratings from candidates, so you can quantify your work—and make the necessary adjustments to provide a better candidate experience over time.
• – Suggested next steps: If you aren’t already, send surveys to candidates and ask them about their experience with your hiring process. Based on their responses, make the necessary adjustments to ensure you deliver a great candidate experience during your hiring process.

Hiring Manager Satisfaction

• – Basic definition: The measure of how satisfied the hiring manager is with the outcomes of the hiring process.
• – Why it matters: Feedback is essential for understanding the nuances of your recruiting process. As with candidate feedback, it’s helpful to gather feedback scores and qualitative comments from your hiring team that help you tangibly measure your effectiveness.
• – Suggested next steps: Have your hiring team fill out a survey about how satisfied they are with your process. Then, schedule a team meeting where you discuss the survey responses and how you can make improvements to talent acquisition.

Quality of Hire

• – Basic definition: The ratings of new hires by managers several months into the job.
• – Why it matters: A high quality of hire indicates an employee you hired is performing well in the job. However, a low-quality hire who has poor reviews and misses target goals can greatly hinder your company’s success.
• – Suggested next steps: Evaluate candidate profiles for high-quality and low-quality hires for any commonalities or shared characteristics that might explain why they were high- or low-quality hires. Use that information to develop your talent acquisition further. For example, if most of your low-quality hires have little to no prior experience in the industry, begin adding an industry experience requirement to your job listings.

Employee Retention Rate

• – Basic definition: The measure of how many of your employees remain at your business over time.
• – Why it matters: Employee retention rate is another post-hiring metric that reflects the ROI of your recruitment team’s strategies. A high retention rate indicates members of the workforce you helped hire are satisfied and want to stay, meaning your recruitment efforts are reaching the right audience.
• – Suggested next steps: If your retention rate is low, evaluate your workplace culture, benefits, and engagement programs to ensure you’re delivering a quality work experience. Conduct exit interviews to understand why employees are leaving, and consider their feedback as you adjust your talent acquisition process.

Tracking Recruiting Metrics with JazzHR

To properly track recruiting metrics, you need a robust ATS that caters to the unique needs of growing companies like yours. One of the best options available today is JazzHR. With affordable pricing tiers and a comprehensive, intuitive interface, JazzHR makes it simple for SMB teams to track relevant recruiting metrics.

To learn more, explore our solution’s capabilities with your free trial today. 

That’s why your Applicant Tracking System (ATS) matters more than ever. It’s more than a place to store resumes—it’s the foundation of your entire recruiting strategy. The right platform can streamline processes, improve collaboration with hiring managers, enhance the candidate experience, and provide the data you need to hire smarter. 

But not every ATS is built the same. Your hiring needs and business goals should guide the features and functionality you prioritize. Here’s what to look for as you evaluate your options. 

Features and Functionality to Prioritize 

Whether you’re using an ATS today or evaluating one for the first time, here are key features to ask about when vetting vendors and selecting the right one.  

Ease of Use 

An ATS should simplify your work, not add complexity. A clean, intuitive interface is essential for recruiters, hiring managers, and other users. If the system is difficult to navigate, it won’t be adopted broadly—and its value will be limited. 

Questions to ask vendors:  

• How quickly can new users get up to speed? 
• Is the system accessible and functional on mobile devices? 
• Can hiring managers easily leave feedback and review candidates? 

Sourcing and Job Posting 

To make great hires, your job postings need to reach the right audience—efficiently. Look for an ATS that integrates with both job boards and social media platforms. The ability to distribute postings broadly with minimal effort saves time and ensures greater visibility. 

Questions to ask vendors: 

• What job boards and platforms does the system integrate with? 
• Can jobs be promoted on social channels directly from the ATS? 
• Is it possible to post to multiple sites with one action? 

Candidate Management  

The right ATS gives you complete visibility into every candidate journey. A centralized, searchable database paired with automation tools for communication and tracking helps ensure no candidate falls through the cracks—and keeps your team aligned at every stage. 

Questions to ask vendors: 

• Is there a searchable database for past applicants? 
• Can we automate emails or texts to candidates? 
• What does the experience look like for hiring managers and candidates? 

Workflow and Automation 

Efficiency is essential, especially when managing multiple roles or locations. Customizable workflows and intelligent automation can accelerate time-to-hire and reduce manual tasks—so your team can focus on engaging the best talent. 

Questions to ask vendors: 

• Can we build different workflows by job type or department? 
• Does it offer AI features for matching or resume parsing? 
• Can it sync with our calendars and automate scheduling? 

Reporting and Analytics 

You can’t fix what you can’t measure. Your ATS should track the metrics that matter most—like time-to-fill, source performance, and DEI benchmarks—and make it easy to turn that data into action. 

Questions to ask the vendor: 

• What hiring metrics can we track and report on? 
• Can reports be customized for different stakeholders or business needs? 
• Does the system support DEI-related tracking and reporting? 

Candidate Experience 

A great candidate experience builds your brand—and helps you win top talent. A seamless, mobile-optimized application process and transparent communication make a lasting impression. Look for platforms that put candidate experience front and center. 

Questions to ask vendors: 

• Is the application process fast and mobile-friendly? 
• Can we brand the career site to reflect our employer identity? 
• Do candidates get status updates automatically? 

Integrations 

Your ATS should complement the rest of your tech stack. Choose a system that integrates with your existing tools—from your HRIS to background checks, assessments, and communication platforms like Slack or Teams. 

Questions to ask vendors: 

• Which HR and productivity tools does the platform integrate with? 
• Can integrations be customized or expanded over time? 
• How frequently are integrations updated? 

Compliance and Security 

Hiring comes with legal and data privacy responsibilities. Your ATS should help you meet compliance requirements and protect sensitive information through strong security protocols and access controls. 

• Is the platform compliant with GDPR, CCPA, and EEO/OFCCP guidelines? 
• Can we manage user access and permissions by role or team? 
• Is user activity tracked and auditable? 

Scalability and Flexibility 

Your ATS should grow with you. Whether you’re expanding into new regions or adjusting hiring volume, the system should be able to scale—without sacrificing performance or usability. 

Questions to ask vendors: 

• Can the platform handle high-volume hiring without lag? 
• How easily can we update workflows as our business evolves? 

Support and Customer Service 

Reliable support makes all the difference—especially during implementation and growth. Evaluate not just the software, but the partnership. You’ll want a vendor that’s responsive, forward-thinking, and invested in your long-term success. 

Questions to ask vendors: 

• What does the onboarding process look like? 
• Is support available via chat, phone, or email? 
• Are there self-service resources like a knowledge base or training center? 

Don’t Stop at Features 

Once you’ve identified the functionality your team needs most, there are still a few critical steps to take before you’re ready to move forward. 

This is where collaboration across your organization becomes essential. Getting input from the right people and aligning your investment with broader business goals will help ensure the solution you choose delivers value from day one. 

Here’s what to keep in mind as you move from feature evaluation to vendor selection: 

• Involve the right stakeholders: From talent acquisition and HR to IT, finance, and hiring managers—gathering cross-functional input helps ensure the platform meets everyone’s needs. 
• Clarify your budget: Pricing can vary widely based on company size, feature requirements, implementation, and support. Make sure you understand the full cost of ownership. 
• Build your business case: Leadership will want to understand how a new ATS supports business goals. Focus on outcomes like faster hiring, better candidate experiences, and improved recruiter efficiency. 

Hiring Success Starts Here 

Take the next step with confidence when you download our complete Buyer’s Guide. Inside, you’ll get expert tips, detailed checklists, and a customizable scorecard that makes it easy to compare vendors and advocate for the right solution. 

Your next great hire starts with the right technology.  

Aside from impacting team dynamics, recruitment is essential for keeping up with—and surpassing—your competition. However, larger businesses often have more resources, such as larger budgets, dedicated hiring teams, and extensive networks. So, how can a small business compete without these advantages? 

To find the perfect addition to your tight-knit team without breaking the bank, leverage tools that put big-business recruiting activities in your grasp. That’s where hiring platforms for small businesses come in. 

Researching and implementing a new hiring solution involves many moving parts. In this ultimate guide for small businesses, we will explore the essentials and top solutions. 

• What is a hiring platform for a small business?
• 12 Best Hiring Platforms for a Small Business
• Benefits of Hiring Platforms for a Small Business
• How to Choose the Right Hiring Platform for Small Businesses

What is a hiring platform for a small business?

Hiring platforms for small businesses are software solutions that streamline the recruitment process from the initial touchpoint to onboarding. More specifically, a small business hiring platform should be able to:

• Automate routine hiring tasks. No need to manually sync data across different systems and send out interview invitation emails—hiring software can handle these easy tasks for you. 

• Support collaborative workflows. You might not have a dedicated hiring team at your small business, but you still likely require input from several team members to make a well-rounded hiring decision. Streamline hiring conversations with software that accommodates numerous staff seats.

• Track complete candidate information in profiles. Spreadsheets can only accommodate so much information before becoming disorganized and difficult to maintain. Hiring software can collect all relevant data in organized candidate profiles. 

• Engage candidates at scale. Even if your business has only a few people in its hiring pipeline at once, reaching out to everyone can be time-consuming. To preserve efficiency without compromising personalization, hiring software segments recipients and automatically schedules each message. 

• Report key performance metrics. Regardless of your hiring goals, you must collect data to structure your growth. The ideal solution can transform abstract data points into straightforward and helpful visual reports. 

• Mass-post to job boards. Between niche boards and more general ones like Indeed, job boards are likely part of your outreach strategy. Software solutions that integrate with your chosen boards allow you to post to multiple simultaneously. 

12 Best Hiring Platforms for a Small Business

Now that you understand the basics of hiring platforms, let’s examine your top options. 

Top Hiring Platform for Small Businesses: JazzHR

If you’re looking for a platform custom-made to support small business needs, look no further. JazzHR is a recruitment solution that makes complex hiring processes accessible for small teams without breaking the bank. Some of our industry-leading features include:

• Advanced Visual Reporting tool that produces comprehensive reports for recruitment datasets, compliance requirements, and marketing campaigns. 
• Bulk Actions, which empower multi-tasking and help progress candidates through the pipeline quickly.
• Customizable workflows so you can curate the ideal hiring process for your needs. 
• Collaborative interface so you can involve multiple team members in the hiring process.
• Free Job Board Syndication to reach more candidates for a fraction of the time and cost.
• Knockout questions that automatically disqualify candidates based on application responses.
• Email sync, which saves email correspondences directly in JazzHR.
• Interview guides, which allow candidates to provide your team with actionable feedback.
• Comprehensive add-on features like candidate texting, offer letter and eSignature management, all-access support, and a Zoom integration. 
• Transparent pricing, which starts at only $75/month. 
• Convenient support via email, chat, and phone. 

This is only the beginning—view a complete list of our features here. 

Over 15,000 businesses (including Pure Barre, WeVote, and teambuilding.com) trust JazzHR to deliver outstanding recruitment results. Visit our case studies page to see how JazzHR can help your business excel.

Zoho Recruit

• Overview: Zoho Recruit is an entry-level recruitment platform best for professionals who are starting to ramp up their hiring efforts.
• Strengths: Affordability, beginner-friendliness, comprehensive features for the price, integrates seamlessly with other Zoho products
• Weaknesses: Users report a lack of customer service approach and antiquated interface. 
• Pricing: 
  • Free plan available 
  • Paid plan starts at $25/month per user

Freshsales by Freshworks

• Overview: Freshsales is a hiring platform that works for very small and beginner recruitment teams.
• Strengths: Easy learning curve, integration with other Freshworks products
• Weaknesses: Some users complain about slow customer service and a confusing job-posting interface. 
• Pricing: Free trial—contact Freshworks for more detailed pricing information. 

Recruitee

• Overview: Recruitee is a multi-purpose hiring solution for more advanced hiring teams.
• Strengths: Responsive customer support, integrated assessment tools, ReferralsHub for tracking employee referrals
• Weaknesses: It is relatively expensive compared to other entries on this list, and some users report trouble exporting candidate data to other systems.  
• Pricing: Starts at $199/month.

JobAdder

• Overview: JobAdder is an applicant tracking system (ATS) best for recruitment agencies.
• Strengths: Extensive reporting, user-friendly setup, integrations, high value for the price
• Weaknesses: There is no free trial available, and users say the boundaries between different job postings are unclear, and the UI is inconsistent.
• Pricing: Contact JobAdder for complete pricing information.

SmartRecruiters

• Overview: SmartRecruiters is an ATS and candidate relationship management (CRM) software solution meant for in-house recruitment teams. 
• Strengths: Highly customizable workflows, flexibility of posting across multiple platforms, user-friendly, advanced set of features, AI functionality
• Weaknesses: Users report difficulty scheduling interviews with candidates and no notifications when candidates contact them. 
• Pricing: Contact SmartRecruiters for exact pricing information. 

GoHire

• Overview: GoHire is hiring software that’s for small business recruitment teams.  
• Strengths: Affordability, responsive customer service, easy job posting management, clean layout 
• Weaknesses: Users say that there are limited integrations with local job listings and limited functionality to customize email templates.
• Pricing: Reach out to GoHire for specific pricing information. 

Manatal

• Overview: Manatal is a recruitment software made for HR teams and recruitment agencies.
• Strengths: Responsive customer service, functional Outlook and LinkedIn integrations, affordability
• Weaknesses: Users say customizing dashboards can be challenging, and the search function is lackluster.
• Pricing: Starts at $15/month per user.

Breezy

• Overview: Breezy is an HR and recruiting management software best for growing teams.  
• Strengths: Extensive integrations and partner network, many training resources available, good for recruitment team and HR team collaboration
• Weaknesses: Free plan has limited functionality and paid plans sharply increase in price.
• Pricing:
  • Free plan available 
  • Paid plan starts at $157/month per user

Greenhouse

• Overview: Greenhouse is an ATS and hiring solution best for larger small business hiring teams. 
• Strengths: Clear reports, strong support documentation, straightforward job creation interface
• Weaknesses: Users report that managing account permissions and adding notes and feedback for candidates can be confusing.
• Pricing: Reach out to Greenhouse for precise pricing information. 

Workable

• Overview: Workable is a hiring platform and HR software solution for advanced small business hiring teams. 
• Strengths: Collaborative hiring workflows, custom interview scorecards, generally feature-rich
• Weaknesses: Users say canceling their Workable subscription is challenging and that the customer service team isn’t helpful.
• Pricing: Starts at $189/month.

BambooHR

• Overview: BambooHR is an HR platform for more advanced recruiting and HR teams. 
• Strengths: Used by many high-growth organizations, numerous integrations, 
• Weaknesses: Relatively expensive and users say the UX/UI isn’t updated frequently. 
• Pricing: Contact BambooHR for exact pricing information.

Benefits of Hiring Platforms for a Small Business

Investing in a hiring platform for a small business is a big decision, so it’s essential to clearly understand the benefits it offers. Here are some common benefits of adopting a small business hiring solution:

• Cost savings. Investing in new software solutions is undoubtedly daunting to small business teams. However, by choosing the best solution for your needs, you can make every dollar count and save more in the long run. Since staff turnover can cost an employer anywhere from 50% to 200% of an employee’s salary, it’s best to mitigate that outcome by hiring ideal candidates.
• Streamlined recruitment process. With fewer team members to pick up the slack, your hiring needs might be more urgent than your corporate counterparts. Software streamlines the process from start to finish so you can fill vacancies quickly. 
• Improved candidate reach. Unlike with local career fairs or networking events, hiring software allows you to reach ideal candidates in different areas. 
• Enhanced candidate quality. Software is your fine-toothed comb when analyzing candidates. Filter applicants by their specific qualifications and experiences to advance the most promising candidates for your business.
• Data-driven insights. Managing complex recruiting datasets is what allows you to go toe-to-toe with corporations. Reduce human error and create comprehensive reports using software.
• Collaborative hiring. Leverage your team’s unique perspectives and make well-rounded decisions with collaborative hiring tools.
• Improved candidate experience. When software is used correctly, it benefits both employers and candidates. Keep applicants engaged and adhere to your deadlines with personalized, scheduled communications.  
• Scalability for growth. Software provides the foundation for you to build long-term hiring practices and offers the insights you need to grow.  

How to Choose the Right Hiring Platform for Small Businesses

1. Create an Implementation Team

Implementing software is a team-wide job, especially for smaller businesses. Create a dedicated software implementation team with people who can help with:

• Project management
• Coordinating training
• Budgetary advice
• Liaising with vendors
• Data migration
• Tech support
• Integrating current solutions
• Providing recruitment perspectives

As you approach team members for their help, outline the expected time commitment for the role and specific responsibilities so everyone remains informed throughout the process.  

2. Define Must-Have Features

If you’re concerned about costs, look for hiring solutions with flexible payment plans—that way, you only pay for the features you really need. Follow these steps to determine your must-have capabilities:

• Assess your current recruitment workflow. Define strengths and pain points to efficiently set priorities. Ask your employees what they like and dislike about your current process and note any trends in their answers.
• Create a rough budget. You don’t need to track every penny at this point, but having a frame of reference will prevent overspending in the future. Keep in mind your growth goals and how your recruitment needs might change to accommodate them.
• Take stock of your current tech stack. Choosing recruitment technology that integrates with your current solutions sets the stage for a smoother implementation process. Remember to consider which tools you plan to keep for the long-haul versus short-term solutions.
• Review common features on the market. If you’re starting from scratch, familiarize yourself with what applicant tracking systems and other recruiting systems are capable of. From your research, list the top features you’re looking for based on your priorities. 

To ensure you’re on the right track, discuss hiring software with colleagues in your network, especially if their business has a similar scope. Hearing external perspectives gives you a more informed view of how to proceed before you dive into product testing. 

3. Research Providers with a Small Business Focus

You’ve already started this process by reading this list, but you should also get deeper experience with tools before you make a final decision. You can do this by:

• Talking with product experts
• Booking free trials or demos
• Reading training/support materials 
• Checking unbiased third-party reviews
• Asking connections in your network for recommendations

Choosing a system made specifically for small businesses ensures that your specific priorities and perspectives will be accommodated. Ask product experts how their solution serves organizations like yours to see if your perspectives align. 

4. Choose the Best Fit

Now, you can put all of the pieces together to choose the best hiring software for your small business! In particular, make sure your solution checks the following boxes:

• Pricing within budget
• Good user experience
• Multi-seat or user availability
• Integration capabilities
• Security features
• Compliance with recruitment laws
• Scalability potential

No software will be perfect—it’s inevitable that each solution will have weaknesses. Prioritize finding the best fit, rather than the ideal solution. After all, what works for each business will vary greatly. 

5. Train Your Team

Once your solution is ready, you can start using it full-time. Investing in training is essential for starting strong with your small business hiring platform. Leverage product expertise and updated training resources to hit the ground running with your new tools. Set a standard training schedule so you know approximately how long it’ll take to get your team fully comfortable with your new hiring software.

Next Steps

Remember that implementation won’t be flawless. As you integrate your solution into your tech stack, note any unexpected issues so you can swiftly fix them with the help of customer support. Or, work with a software expert to reduce confusion and team time. 

Regardless of whether you’re looking for a comprehensive applicant system or just a straightforward solution for beginners, you’ll find the ideal choice for you by working with your team and consistently tracking progress over time. As long as you address issues efficiently, you shape your talent acquisition strategies and source the best and brightest to join your team.

The most successful hiring teams use technology to help them streamline processes without sacrificing quality. Recruiting software for small businesses can automate tedious tasks, enhance candidate screening, and help you make data-driven decisions.  

To prove just how transformative these tools can be, we’ve gathered insights from HR and business leaders who have successfully harnessed the power of technology to optimize their hiring strategies. 

Cloud-Based ATS: A Recruitment Game-Changer 

“As the CHRO for a small- to medium-sized business, implementing a cloud-based ATS helped automate key tasks like posting open roles, resume filtering, and candidate communications.” – Steven Mostyn, Chief Human Resources Officer, Management.org 

For small businesses, efficiency is everything. A cloud-based applicant tracking system (ATS) reduces administrative headaches, speeds up hiring, and keeps teams organized. This means less time spent on admin work and more time engaging with top talent. Plus, built-in analytics provide insights into hiring trends, helping businesses refine their recruitment strategies for even better results.  

Video Interviews: The Ultimate Time-Saver  

“As a national company, coordinating interviews across multiple offices was a challenge. With video interviews, key decision-makers can still evaluate candidates even if they can’t attend live.” – Matt Erhard, Managing Partner, Summit Search Group 

“We use video software for initial screening, allowing candidates to record their answers to preset questions. Recruiters can then review and assess responses at their convenience, eliminating scheduling conflicts and respecting everyone’s time.”  – Alari Aho, CEO and Founder, Toggl Inc 

Coordinating interviews across different time zones and schedules can drag out the hiring process. Video interview platforms allow hiring teams to conduct live or recorded interviews, making it easier to collaborate on hiring decisions. One-way video interviews also let candidates respond on their own time, helping SMBs evaluate more applicants efficiently and without scheduling bottlenecks. 

ATS-Powered Screening: Less Guesswork, More Quality Hires 

“Our ATS automatically filters candidates, saving us hours of manual screening. Now, we focus on the best talent from the start.” – Manobal Jain, Founder, Trainerfu 

Manually sorting through applications can take hours, slowing down the hiring process. An ATS automates initial screening by flagging candidates that match job criteria, cutting down time spent on unqualified resumes. This ensures recruiters can quickly move forward with top talent, reducing hiring delays and improving the overall candidate experience. 

Resume Parsing: Speeding Up Selection 

“Our team struggled to quickly sift through growing piles of applications. Once we integrated resume parsing with our hiring software, everything changed.” – Lucas Botzen, Founder, Rivermate 

Resume parsing software extracts key skills and qualifications instantly, cutting manual data entry and speeding up time-to-hire. Integrated with an ATS, it creates a seamless pipeline from application to interview, helping SMBs make competitive offers faster. With real-time parsing, recruiters can quickly identify top applicants, reducing the chances of losing talent to competitors. 

Always-On Hiring: The Power of Constant Recruitment  

“In industries like home services, continuous recruitment is key. Our ATS keeps our pipeline full and makes hiring seamless.” – Bryan Eisenberg, Co-Owner, A Place At Home – North Austin 

For SMBs in high-turnover industries, waiting until a position is open to start recruiting can create delays. Having an ATS that automatically updates and redistributes job postings ensures your business always has a pipeline of potential hires. This proactive approach prevents last-minute hiring scrambles and helps companies maintain staffing levels effortlessly. 

Cut Time-to-Hire in Half with the Right ATS  

“Having an ATS cut our time-to-hire in half. It gave us the infrastructure to scale rapidly while maintaining a structured, metrics-driven approach to recruiting.” – Sunaree Komolchomalee, Head of HR, Cupid PR 

“We recently switched from manual processes to an automated ATS, and it has streamlined the entire hiring process. Tasks that used to be repetitive and manual are now fast and seamless.” – Jarir Mallah, Human Resources Manager, Ling 

A well-integrated ATS streamlines hiring with structured workflows, automated scheduling, and data-driven insights. By eliminating bottlenecks, SMBs can make faster, more confident hiring decisions and stay ahead of competitors. When hiring speed is critical, having a system that keeps everything on track makes all the difference. 

AI-Powered Hiring: Reducing Bias, Improving Efficiency 

“AI-powered resume analysis means that our team doesn’t have to spend time reviewing applications and comparing them to find the best talent. Plus, it ensures fair, unbiased candidate selection so no one gets overlooked.” – David Weisselberger, Founding Partner, Erase The Case 

AI hiring tools analyze resumes objectively, reducing unconscious bias and surfacing the best candidates based on skills and experience. This approach helps build diverse, high-performing teams while improving efficiency. With AI-powered insights, recruiters can focus on strategic hiring instead of admin tasks, making the process more equitable and effective.  

Skill Assessments: Hiring with Confidence  

“Integrating pre-employment screening tests with our ATS completely transformed our hiring process. We were able to match candidates to roles with more precision, leading to a 25% drop in turnover within the first year.” – Konrad Martin, CEO, Tech Advisors 

Pre-employment tests ensure new hires align with company needs and culture. These assessments provide deeper insights beyond resumes, helping businesses hire with confidence and improve retention. By measuring critical thinking, problem-solving, and technical abilities upfront, SMBs can avoid costly mis-hires and build stronger teams. 

The Future of Hiring for SMBs 

Hiring software isn’t just about saving time — it’s about making smarter hiring decisions. The right tools eliminate inefficiencies, improve candidate quality, and give SMBs a competitive edge in today’s talent market.  

Whether it’s an ATS, video interviews, or AI-driven analytics, investing in technology means spending less time on admin and more time building a great team. The SMBs that embrace these tools today will be the ones thriving tomorrow. 

Start your TA tech journey today with JazzHR. Request a demo and see how we’ve helped industry leaders slash recruiting time by 60% and save 10-15 hours per hire each week.  

Recruiting today isn’t just about instincts—it’s about insights. For teams juggling fast-paced hiring demands, lean resources, or high applicant volumes, a data-driven recruitment strategy can help you move faster, work smarter, and make confident decisions at every step. 

In this blog, we’ll break down: 

• Why data matters for high-impact recruiting 
• The top recruiting metrics to track 
• How to build a data-backed strategy with the right recruiting tools 
• Tips to continuously improve hiring results 

Let’s dig in.

Why Data-Driven Recruitment Matters 

Whether you’re managing hiring solo, leading a small team, or balancing recruitment with ten other responsibilities, the right data can help you: 

• Identify bottlenecks in your process 
• Focus efforts where they’ll have the most impact 
• Optimize time and budget 
• Align hiring with business goals 

A data-driven recruitment strategy ensures every hire is backed by evidence—not guesswork. 

Key Recruiting Metrics to Track 

Not sure which recruiting metrics matter most? Focus on the data points that connect directly to your recruitment goals. Here are the top metrics to guide your hiring strategy: 

• Application completion rate: How many candidates start vs. finish an application 
• Funnel conversion rates: Where candidates drop off in the hiring journey 
• Nurture engagement: Open and click rates on candidate emails 
• Candidate feedback scores: Ratings on their experience with your process 
• Recruiting and hiring speed: Time to move candidates from apply to offer 
• Hiring manager satisfaction: Internal confidence in the process and outcome 
• Average cost per hire: Total spend per hire across your channels 
• Sourcing channel effectiveness: Which platforms deliver quality candidates 
• Quality of hire: Performance and retention of new hires 
• Offer acceptance rate: How often offers turn into signed deals 
• Employee retention rate: How long new hires stick around 

Choose the metrics that best reflect your current goals—whether you’re attracting talent more efficiently, reducing time-to-fill, or improving retention. 

The Benefits of Data-Driven Recruitment

Hiring is an ever-evolving process. That means you must continuously track your key recruiting metrics and make changes to meet the needs of your evolving business. By using analytics in your approach to recruiting and hiring, you ensure all hiring stakeholders can make decisions based on real-time, unified insights. 

Here are some other key advantages of data-driven recruitment to keep in mind: 

1. Focus on the Most Effective Channels 

When it comes to recruitment channels, such as job boards and career fairs, less is more, especially for teams with a limited timeline and budget. Data from your recruitment channels helps you hone your efforts where they matter most and reach the right candidates faster.  

Metrics that gauge recruitment channel value:  

• Nurture engagement levels 
• Funnel conversion rates 
• Candidate feedback scores 

2. Build a Future-Ready Hiring Strategy 

Planning for the future can be challenging when you don’t have a clear idea of your projected growth. In the face of uncertainty, data is crucial for making a relevant, realistic, and actionable long-term recruitment strategy. 

Metrics that help form long-term hiring plans: 

• Average cost of hire 
• Quality of hire 
• Employee retention rate 

3. Strengthen Recruitment Marketing 

If your brand isn’t widely known yet, recruitment marketing practices like targeted messaging and optimized sourcing can help you stand out. Understanding how to look at your recruitment funnel like a marketer can help you allocate resources efficiently and plan for the future.  

Metrics that enhance recruitment marketing and sourcing: 

• Sourcing channel effectiveness 
• Candidate feedback scores 
• Funnel conversion rates  

4. Consistently Find Qualified Candidates 

Regularly pivoting your recruiting approach to find qualified candidates reduces your recruiting ROI and puts strain on your hiring team. Use data to determine which candidates are qualified and how to source them. 

Metrics that help you find qualified candidates consistently: 

• Quality of hire 
• Hiring manager satisfaction 
• Employee retention rate 

How to Build a Data-Driven Recruitment Strategy 

Creating a smart, scalable recruiting strategy starts with understanding your data. Here’s how to put it to work. 

Step 1: Choose the Right Recruiting Tools 

Strong recruitment software features make all the difference in how easily and effectively you collect and act on data. Look for solutions that are easy to use, fast to implement, and built to support your real-world hiring flow. 

Core tools to consider: 

• Applicant tracking system (ATS): Centralizes candidate data and hiring workflows 
• Workflow management: Organizes tasks and improves team collaboration 
• Candidate sourcing tools: Builds talent pipelines for high-volume hiring 
• Candidate feedback collection: Gathers experience insights to improve your process 
• Communication tools: Automates and personalizes candidate outreach 
• Skills assessments: Validates core competencies before the offer 

Pro tip: Choose recruiting software that meets your current needs and scales as you grow. JazzHR was built to support lean teams, busy hiring managers, and growing businesses alike. 

Step 2: Define Your Hiring Scope 

Hiring one person? Fifteen? More? Whether you’re planning for a seasonal surge or building out a growing team, your recruiting scope sets the stage for your strategy. 

To define your scope, consider: 

• Your business growth trajectory 
• Budget and hiring timelines 
• Turnover trends 
• External economic or industry conditions 
• Your team’s current capacity 

Build flexibility into your hiring plan—because things rarely go exactly as expected. You might plan to bring on two new team members, but a market shift or unexpected growth could change that overnight. A flexible scope helps you stay ready for whatever comes next.  

Step 3: Improve Your Data Collection 

Determining the most important recruitment analytics for your business to track is only the first component of a data-driven strategy. You also need to optimize how you collect your metrics, so you can draw actionable insights from them. Try these data collection best practices: 

• Respect privacy: It’s easy to focus on collecting as much data as possible—but quality and consent matter more than quantity. Stick to the essentials, get clear permission, and make sure your data practices align with current privacy regulations. 
• Prioritize data hygiene: Your insights are only as good as your data. Standardize form fields, run regular audits, and back up your database to ensure your recruiting metrics stay accurate, organized, and easy to report on. 
• Empower your team: Even if only a few people manage recruiting data, everyone benefits from understanding the basics. Set aside time for quick training sessions so your whole team knows how to collect, handle, and use data responsibly. 

Keep Evolving Your Strategy 

Your hiring needs will evolve—and your strategy should, too. By continuously tracking key recruiting metrics, you’ll have the insights needed to adapt quickly, prioritize the right efforts, and make informed, confident decisions. 

Ready to get started? JazzHR makes it easy to build a smarter, faster, more consistent recruiting process backed by data. From guided workflows to automated sourcing and real-time insights, it’s everything your team needs to hire better—without missing a beat. 

In today’s competitive business environment, employee loyalty is a key pillar of organizational success. This loyalty hinges on positive experiences throughout the recruitment and onboarding cycles. Sectors such as nonprofit and healthcare face unique staffing challenges, making the need for efficient recruitment and onboarding processes even more critical.

This blog explores how integrating an ATS (applicant tracking system), Payroll, and HR (Human Resources) system is key to building employee loyalty, with insights from Greenshades and JazzHR on their approach to simplifying these critical processes.

The Importance of an End-to-End Recruitment Process

A seamless recruitment process, stretching from candidate sourcing to onboarding, lays the foundation for building a loyal workforce. Integrating ATS, Payroll, and HR systems plays a critical role in streamlining this journey, ensuring a smooth, efficient, and positive experience for new hires.

Such integration not only increases operational efficiency, but also significantly improves the interaction between the organization and its potential employees, setting the stage for a lasting relationship. Organizations with strong onboarding processes experience an 82% increase in new hire retention and a 70% improvement in productivity.

The Challenges Across Sectors

Different sectors experience unique challenges in their recruitment processes. For instance, nonprofit and healthcare sectors demand quick placement of candidates due to the urgent need for staff and the high turnover rates typical in these industries.

However, a staggering 79% of healthcare candidates have abandoned the recruitment process because the placement wasn’t quick enough.¹ A strategic integration of ATS, Payroll, and HR systems makes the recruitment process steadfast, enhances communication, and ultimately boosts worker satisfaction and loyalty.

Benefits of Integration for Employee Loyalty

Integrating ATS, Payroll, and HR systems creates a cohesive ecosystem that allows information to flow smoothly across systems and processes. This integration significantly boosts the employee experience, cultivating loyalty through streamlined processes.

Automated forms and onboarding processes reduce administrative tasks, allowing new hires to concentrate on their roles instead of on paperwork. This shift bolsters their initial engagement and their loyalty from the start. Moreover, with data flowing seamlessly to payroll, employee compensation is both timely and accurate, a crucial element in promoting job satisfaction.

Integration of ATS, Payroll, and HR systems brings benefits that directly contribute to employee loyalty through:

• Timely & Accurate Payments: Workers are more likely to stay when payments are correct and timely. Data suggests that half of all workers would seek new jobs after just two payroll errors.²
• Streamlined Operations: Automating time tracking, scheduling, and payroll reduces frustrations, enhancing worker satisfaction and reducing turnover.
• Compliance Assurance: Integrated systems ensure adherence to labor laws and regulations, which helps to foster a compliant work environment.

Integrated Solutions Offered by Greenshades and JazzHR

Integrating ATS, Payroll, and HR systems is a strategic approach to enhancing employee loyalty across various sectors. By streamlining recruitment processes and ensuring a positive onboarding experience, organizations can build a strong, loyal workforce ready to contribute to their success.

Greenshades and JazzHR offer innovative solutions to meet the unique challenges faced by sectors like nonprofit and healthcare by integrating ATS, Payroll, and HR systems to optimize hiring and HR operations.

• JazzHR focuses on refining the recruitment process to make it more efficient and less time-consuming, directly addressing the urgency and complexity challenges faced by nonprofit and healthcare sectors.
• Greenshades offers a flexible, cloud-based payroll and HR solution that ensures proactive compliance, detailed tax reporting, and user-friendly employee self-service, contributing to a positive onboarding experience.

Enhance Your Employee Loyalty

For organizations looking to improve their employee loyalty through efficient recruitment processes, exploring the solutions offered by Greenshades and JazzHR is a step in the right direction.

About Greenshades

Greenshades provides mid-market businesses with flexible Payroll, HR, and Tax solutions. Our ERP-agnostic platform boosts in-house operations with proactive compliance, detailed tax reporting, and user-friendly employee self-service. Designed to meet diverse business needs, Greenshades offers dedicated support, ensuring efficiency and reliability for thousands of US-based clients. To learn more, visit our website.

¹Bullhorn. (2023). 2023 Talent Trends Report: Healthcare Spotlight. Bullhorn. https://www.bullhorn.com/grid/grid-2023-talent-trends-report-healthcare-spotlight/

²Miller, R. (2017, June 14). Just two payroll errors can cause 49% of employees to start job hunting. HR Dive: https://www.hrdive.com/news/just-two-payroll-errors-can-cause-49-of-employees-to-start-job-hunting/444377/

How are other growing companies navigating this hiring landscape? Their secret weapon is an applicant tracking system (ATS) for small business.

An ATS is a powerful tool that can drastically speed up the hiring process, especially for small business owners. By automating tedious tasks, such as job posting, resume screening, and scheduling interviews, SMB owners and hiring managers are afforded more time to focus on the other aspects of their jobs that require more human interaction. Here are a few ways ATS can make your hiring process faster and more effective.

Post to Multiple Job Boards at Once

One of the biggest advantages of using an ATS is the ability to post job listings on multiple popular job boards with a single click. This means that in an instant, your job listing will reach a much larger pool of candidates, especially compared to the time it takes to manually post on one job board.

An ATS also makes it easy to track your job postings and see how many views each one gets so you can adjust your strategy if necessary.

You can also manage your entire candidate pool, allowing you to view qualified candidates right away or add them to your list for future hiring.

Hiring managers also have the option to purchase job traffic through pay-per-click and pay-per-post job boards around the web. With all of these capabilities at your fingertips, you’re far more likely to find the perfect candidate for every role.

Screen Candidates in a Fraction of the Time

Another way an ATS makes the hiring process faster is by screening resumes automatically. Instead of manually sifting through stacks of resumes, an ATS can match resumes to specific job requirements.

With advanced filtering capabilities, an ATS can quickly narrow down the pool of applicants to those who are the most qualified for the job. This not only speeds up the hiring process, but ensures that you are selecting the best candidates for the job. This means that you can quickly identify the most qualified candidates and focus your attention on them, rather than wasting valuable time on candidates who don’t meet your needs.

As an added bonus, an ATS can keep your entire hiring team up to date with a real-time stream of the latest activities related to the candidate.

Empower Faster Communication

Another way that ATS can speed up the hiring process is by streamlining communication between you and your candidates. Responding promptly to inquiries and scheduling interviews can be a challenge, especially when you have a high volume of applications coming in.

With ATS, you can send automated emails and reminders to ensure that all communication is logged and organized, allowing you to easily track progress and follow up with candidates.

An ATS also simplifies the interview scheduling process. With the right system, you can send out automated emails with interview invitations and use an online calendar to schedule interviews without the hassle of back-and-forth email exchanges.

This saves time for both you and your candidates, and helps ensure that you don’t miss out on hiring top talent because of scheduling conflicts.

Identify Bottlenecks and Improve Processes

Finally, an ATS can help you track your hiring progress and identify any bottlenecks in the process. Applicant tracking systems provide reporting and analytics tools that give you real-time insights into your hiring process. This ability allows small business owners to better see how long each stage is taking and where they might need to improve.

The experience a candidate has with your company is a direct reflection of your employer brand, so it’s vital to ensure it’s a good one. An ATS provides built-in workflows, customizable blueprints you can tailor to outline each stage of your hiring process. This allows you to take full control of how you hire.

Ironing out your internal hiring process not only makes things easier on your team, it improves the candidate experience as well.

Reach your Hiring Goals with JazzHR

At JazzHR, we understand the unique challenges that small business owners face when it comes to recruitment. That’s why we have developed a powerful ATS tool that is specifically designed to meet the needs of small businesses.

With our software, you can easily automate many of the time-consuming tasks involved in hiring, save valuable time, and select the best candidates for the job.

JazzHR is a leader in providing comprehensive recruitment software for SMBs. This easy-to-use ATS is designed with small businesses in mind, offering flexibility and affordability that can accommodate your hiring needs in particular.

JazzHR’s Applicant Tracking System helps streamline the recruitment process with customizable templates and automates routine tasks such as sending email reminders and follow-ups.

If you’re a small business owner or hiring manager looking to streamline your hiring process, an ATS like JazzHR can make a big difference. Don’t let the hiring process weigh you down – contact JazzHR today for a free demo today.

Small businesses can benefit from tools that help them streamline hiring, but they don’t always need  complex solutions to support their hiring efforts. Often, it’s in between these two options where SMBs should focus on improving their recruiting and hiring processes.

Growing companies need an easy-to-use, yet powerful applicant tracking system (ATS) that serves as their go-to hiring hub to attract and engage qualified candidates.  

The trick for your small business is finding the right ATS — purpose-built recruiting technology that your staff and hiring managers can both use to connect with job seekers and hire top talent. 

What to look for in recruiting technology

Nearly half of employers indicate they will invest in new recruiting technology and processes in 2024 to future-proof their hiring strategies, based on findings from the 2023 Employ Recruiter Nation Report.

Given how many growing companies are looking to invest in recruiting software and advance their hiring approach, your small business should consider how to strengthen your recruiting tech stack and set your hiring team up for success.

With this in mind, here’s what your SMB should look for in new recruitment technology today.

Configurable options to align with all current hiring processes

One thing preventing some small businesses from adopting an ATS is uncertainty around how they can configure the solution to align closely with their existing recruiting and hiring processes.

In other words, SMBs need an ATS that allows them to tailor the solution, so that hiring team members can use the tool with ease and workflows can be seamlessly synced in the system. 

• Consider how JazzHR customers customize our ATS to sync up with their processes.

Recruiting software from JazzHR offers role-based permissions and privileges to make the ATS accessible to all hiring stakeholders while factoring in their specific function in the hiring process.

For instance, recruiters, hiring managers, interviewers, offer approvers, and ATS admins can all be auto-assigned to their distinct roles in JazzHR, which informs their data/screen access.

This simple user management functionality also ensures JazzHR customers can comply with consumer data regulations and avoid any issues with inappropriate data access across their team.

Automation to streamline hiring and help engage candidates

Reaching and connecting with candidates where they are is the foundation of a strong small business recruitment process today. The problem SMBs often face is that manual approaches have been used to publish job postings, promote job ads on social media, schedule interviews, and message candidates to keep their hiring efforts moving along at the desired pace.

• With JazzHR, you can move past these manual efforts.

For instance, JazzHR’s applicant tracking system helps SMBs create Workflow Helpers. This recruitment automation functionality creates reminders for and triggers emails to specific hiring team members to take certain actions, like providing candidate feedback.

Workflow Helpers also allow growing companies to set up custom hiring funnel stages tied to screening, interviewing, and evaluating candidates throughout the recruiting lifecycle.

This standardizes the typical hiring process and ensures it matches the hiring process of the business.

In terms of engagement, Workflow Helpers can be used to auto-send emails to recent applicants to alert them of application receipt, invite them to self-schedule an initial phone screen or other interview, and deliver rejection letters to passed-on job seekers.

Built-in talent analytics and hiring reporting capabilities

“By collecting data and tracking KPIs in an automated way, recruiting software provides decision-makers with visibility into the effectiveness of their current [hiring] initiatives,” Employ SVP, People & Talent Corey Berkey wrote for business and industry news publication SpiceWorks.

And Corey’s right. Using top-rated recruiting technology with out-of-the-box talent analytics, your business can access real-time insights tied to your hiring efforts.

JazzHR even offers Advanced Visual Reporting (AVR) with easy-to-use filters and rich data visualizations that provide insight into recruiting workflows, timing, and sources. This data can then inform changes that should be made to certain hiring activities and processes. 

• Let’s say you’re analyzing your candidate sourcing channels in AVR.

The analytics dashboard can show which sources, including specific internal referrers, job boards, and career communities, actually lead to the most and best candidates.

Channels that add a high volume of qualified candidates to your talent pool should be prioritized as top sources for talent. On the flip side, those that AVR reveals as leading to lower-quality candidates should be typically eliminated from your sourcing strategy altogether. It’s as simple as that.

Administrative features, seamless integrations, and helpful support

Small business ATS software like JazzHR simplifies and streamlines hiring teams’ work with powerful applicant tracking functionality. That said, these solutions also provide:

• Administrative features: Because strengthening employer branding and providing a positive candidate experience should be a top priority for your business, it’s essential to leverage automated recruiting technology that fits your hiring workflows and allows you to focus on other important initiatives. With JazzHR, you can automate these admin tasks with ease.
• Direct integrations: Video conferencing tools, assessment solutions, background check platforms, job boards like LinkedIn: Best-in-class applicant tracking systems help hiring teams ensure they can easily sync their ATS with other critical recruiting tools, so they can strengthen their candidate sourcing, engagement, interviewing, and analysis.
• Hands-on customer support: Top small business ATS providers like JazzHR aren’t just vendors you buy from once and the relationship is over. You need a talent acquisition partner you can trust for the long term to help you make the most of your investment and enhance your recruiting efficiency and hiring results over time.

Reduce friction in the recruitment process, streamline repetitive tasks, and help your business realize its hiring goals faster: That is what top HR recruiting technology offers today. 

And that’s why so many small businesses invest in JazzHR.

Get insight into what makes JazzHR a leading small business recruitment technology provider — and discover how our ATS can transform your SMB hiring efforts for the better. Book a demo today.

• The good news? These time-consuming tasks don’t have to be so laborious or tedious.

That’s because an applicant tracking system (a.k.a., applicant tracker software) can put the bulk of duties tied to your recruitment process on (relative) autopilot and make it easier to execute your talent team’s candidate relationship management (CRM) strategy.

Applicant tracker software: A centralized platform for today’s SMBs

Put plainly, it’s (well) past time to track your top candidates with a Google or Excel sheet and implement a more modern recruiting approach to promoting job openings, monitoring applicants’ status, engaging job seekers of interest, and hiring top talent.

And that means onboarding a powerful yet easy-to-use ATS — but one that offers much more than mere applicant tracking and empowers your recruiters to work smarter and faster.

• “Identify solutions that go beyond applicant tracking and integrate a wide range of capabilities to support your hiring goals,” said Employ SVP People & Talent Corey Berkey.

Here’s the bare-bones explainer about how applicant tracking systems work and help small businesses just like yours — not just large corporations and Fortune 500 companies).

Simple UI and hands-on support

The top applicant tracker software (see: JazzHR) provides an easy-to-navigate user interface that helps recruiters and HR pros find info they need to move forward with a hiring cycle in seconds.

Moreover, the best ATS providers offer ongoing support to users to help them make the most of the tech. Consider what North Carolina Outward Bound School Staff Recruitment Manager Devin Kearns had to say shortly after onboarding our recruitment platform.

“What we liked … was the customer service, the user interface … and the easy customization that can be set up: from emails, to interview flows, to onboarding paperwork,” said Devin

Universal job posting capabilities

No recruiter wants to have to jump from one job board to another to post the exact same listing. In short, it’s a waste of time. With the right leading applicant tracker, though, this task is one-and-done and saves recruiting teams lots of time. (That is, time they can spend building and strengthening relationships with qualified candidates and filling positions quickly and efficiently.)

Deliver individual or bulk emails

Have a “hot” lead (i.e., one who matches all the preferences in the job description) who just applied for an open role? Using an ATS like JazzHR, you can send that prospect a personalized email right after they submit their application to set up a phone screen (or let them know you’ll pass and why).

Similarly, you can email multiple job seekers with our applicant tracker software to schedule interviews, send them assessments, or keep them up to speed on their status in the hiring cycle.

Streamlined interview scheduling

Speaking of interview scheduling, that’s yet another formerly burdensome task that can be mostly automated with a purpose-built applicant tracker like JazzHR. Consider how one customer uses our automation workflows to streamline scheduling.

“Our candidate flow is so high,” Solis Mammography Director of Talent Acquisition Dan Cady. “So, have hundreds of candidates for one position. We set up a Workflow Helper so that as soon as they apply, we send them out the video interview [link].”

Real-time reporting and analytics

Old-school applicant trackers lack any data-driven recruiting capabilities whatsoever. More modern recruiting platforms, like JazzHR, offer out-of-the-box analytics to help HR teams better track hiring metrics (and in real-time) to make insights-backed adjustments.

Our native analytics offering, Advanced Visual Reporting, makes it simple to set up, send, and schedule reports so that recruiters and HR leaders alike can share updates regarding hiring progress with business leaders — and, in turn, showcase their successes.

Searchable database of candidates

Using keyboard shortcuts to find the first or last name of the prospect who applied a couple weeks back that your team like for a particular opening isn’t exactly the most productive way to keep tabs on talent. That’s where an ATS’s recruitment database can help.

JazzHR offers various search options, including exact, partial, and Boolean (i.e., using “AND” and “OR” to find info). What’s more, talent teams with our ATS can filter candidates in their system to sort them by various traits (e.g., apply date, rating, source, funnel stage).

Investing in the right applicant tracker software for your business

These are the foundational elements of modern applicant tracker software solutions. You’ll also find a number of other useful features and functionality in top-rated ATS, including:

• Easy text-to-apply functionality
• Storage for offers and other docs
• Integrations with recruiting tools
• Hiring and feedback collaboration

The point is, with a best-in-class ATS system, you can move away from manual, taxing talent acquisition work and simplify (and modernize) your recruiting and hiring efforts.

Looking for new, more advanced hiring software? Speak with our team today to learn about our applicant tracking system — and how it can simplify your HR team’s day-to-day recruiting efforts.

On the art side, experience leads to knowledge. But, the science component — using data-driven recruiting technology that provides analytical insights into each individual hiring cycle and candidate engaged — is equally important to your long-term talent acquisition success.

How to recruit employees: 5 tips for your small business

Looking to learn how to recruit employees in a more scalable and repeatable way? You’ve come to the right place. Here are five expert SMB recruiting tips to help your human resources team.

Specifically, ones that can lead to more efficient interview processes, smarter candidate sourcing and nurturing efforts, and higher hiring conversion rates for your small business in the long term.

1) Eliminate manual recruiting processes — and invest in an ATS

Some small businesses continue with manual recruitment processes because they can’t see just how inefficient their current approach (likely one that utilizes spreadsheets) truly is. Others think moving to an actual hiring software solution would be too costly or take too much time to learn.

Regardless of which reason you have for sticking with the status quo, as it relates to carrying out your recruiting activities, just know there’s a better way to execute your strategy.

• More to the point, there are built-for-purpose, easy-to-use solutions that can automate key recruitment tasks and save you time — time you can use to tackle other critical hiring-related responsibilities and HR duties.

Consider Comfort Dental. The business recognized it could streamline many daily recruiting tasks with an applicant tracking system (ATS) — specifically, JazzHR. Now, the company can now use our SMB hiring platform publish and syndicate postings to multiple job boards with a single click.

(That is to say, as opposed to having to manually promote new job openings to each individual online career community and social media site — a formerly painstaking and time-consuming task.)

“I like that JazzHR sends our job posting everywhere, so that I don’t have to have five different accounts to post to various job boards,” the Comfort Dental team noted. “I just post once within JazzHR and I am done.”

2) Optimize (and test new tactics with) your recruitment strategy

Onboarding a small business applicant tracking system is essential for your long-term hiring success.

But, remember: A purpose-built ATS for SMBs like JazzHR is much more than simply a place where you can store data tied to job seekers. It’s also your single source of truth where your HR team and hiring managers can work from to enhance every element of your recruitment strategy.

Just look at how HR teams with JazzHR make the most of our powerful ATS system:

• Customizing job applications and their careers site: Ensure your job postings feature questions of relevance to your small business and the role/team in question to ensure you can qualify and disqualify potential candidates with greater ease. For instance, many JazzHR customers use knockout questions to automatically disqualify poor-fit job seekers.
• Testing different candidate engagement messaging: Not every candidate prefers the same kind of communication from recruiters. Some like getting InMail messages on LinkedIn. Others don’t mind receiving cold emails and/or texts from HR teams. So, be sure to see which types of communications mediums
• Analyze their workflows, sourcing, and hiring speed: Using Advanced Visual Reporting, JazzHR customers can easily see how efficient their hiring workflows are, which sourcing channels generate high-quality candidates, and their average time to hire (i.e., how quickly recruiters and hiring managers have offers accepted by engaged job candidates).

The list goes on. The point is, with leading recruiting software for small businesses at the center of your HR tech stack, you can consistently strengthen your entire hiring process: from the moment you initially engage top talent regarding open positions, to when you send a formal offer.

3) Ensure your employer brand and company culture stand out

Consider this item a prerequisite to recruiting success (and use of an ATS) — but one that can’t be ignored.

Let’s start with your employer branding. How your small business is perceived externally doesn’t just impact sales. It also affects the number of qualified candidates who consider applying.

Many active job seekers certainly get sucked into postings due to an attractive job title.

• But, many of them also do additional research (e.g., checking Glassdoor reviews) beyond the application to ensure any prospective employer they consider joining is one their existing employees like working for.

So, do a bit of research to see how your employer brand is regarded internally (i.e., by sending in-house employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) surveys to current employees) and the general public (i.e., learning what customers and previously engaged candidates say about you online).

As for your company culture, well, that’s an initiative that isn’t solely owned by your HR team. Your people managers and executives also play a pivotal role in building a strong, attractive culture.

The decision tree here is fairly simple:

1. If your eNPS survey results show your employees are mostly (if not entirely) thrilled with your company culture (i.e., feel like they contribute to business growth, are rewarded for their hard work, and are satisfied with their current jobs), that means you have lots of brand evangelists who can help spread word about how great your SMB is and even promote open roles on social media.
2. If your eNPS survey results show your workforce isn’t all that happy with or excited about your culture, new employee engagement approaches and internal mobility and training programs likely need to be implemented to address workers’ concerns around work-life balance, promotion opportunities, and the like.

In the latter case, only when culture improvements are instituted can you even think about approach any employees to aid with your recruiting efforts (e.g., take part in a brand testimonial video to share how much they like working at the company).

4) Build an employee referral program to bolster your sourcing

“Finding talent is tough, and recruiters need to arm themselves with tools to find quality candidates for open roles,” Employ SVP People & Talent Corey Berkey recently wrote for Undercover Recruiter.

Yes, Corey’s referring to an ATS, but not just for the obvious reasons. Rather, he’s also referring to an advanced yet intuitive recruiting platform for SMBs like JazzHR that enables HR teams to secure referrals from existing employees — and, in turn, alleviate the sourcing stress on recruiters.

• Developing an employee referral program isn’t as daunting a task as it sounds. Well, with the right applicant tracking system in place, that is.

JazzHR gives HR generalists and hiring managers the ability to modify the referral email template in our ATS to ask existing members of their staff to share referred candidates with them using JazzHR.

Those who do get a bespoke referral link that makes it easy for recruiters to know where a referred job seeker came from (and, thus, can ensure they get paid for the referral, should they get hired.

The added bonus of generating a high volume of referred leads? Your recruiters don’t have to spend nearly as much time sourcing. Instead, they can address other pressing needs and action items.

5) Understand what “good” and “bad” hires look like using data

This is a pretty short-and-sweet tip on how to recruit employees for your small business. Use the data in your ATS of choice (ideally, one with out-of-the-box analytics) to track quality-of-hire metrics.

For example, JazzHR customers can “drill down” into their sourcing data in AVR to learn which channels led to the most candidates moving far into their hiring process (those who are hired and make it to the final selection phase) and those who “exit” their process in the early stages.

Commonalities tied to both of these types of (e.g., certain types of skills and other qualifications, the job board or career community where they were sourced) can inform where your recruiters should spend their time sourcing and posting job openings — and where they should stop doing so.

Learn how to recruit and hire employees more efficiently and effectively with our easy-to-use applicant tracking system built specifically for small businesses like yours. Schedule a demo today.