Best recruiting software for 2024: A buyer’s guide

Recruiters and candidates alike are feeling optimistic and resilient about 2024. Research by Google shows that employers are planning to invest significantly in hiring for 2024 — and 43% of hiring decision-makers expect to be in the market for new tools and resources to help them with hiring.

Chances are, since you’re reading an article about recruiting software, you’re considering a similar (smart!) investment. The right tools and resources make the hiring experience better for everyone involved, from recruiting coordinators to hiring managers to candidates.

The best recruitment software lets employees spend less time on repetitive admin tasks and more time sourcing and connecting with top talent.

In this guide, you’ll learn what to look for in recruiting software, including how to create a feature wishlist based on your team’s hiring needs. Then, we’ll walk through nine of the best recruiting software options for teams of all sizes.

(Already have your feature wishlist in hand? Jump right to the list of top software.)

How to choose the best recruiting software for your team

There’s no one-size-fits-all recruiting software solution, and this guide isn’t an exhaustive list. Instead, we want to empower you to decide which tools will best support your recruiting efforts.

Your recruiting tech stack might be one piece of software, like an end-to-end recruiting and HR platform, or a combination of different tools that work well together. The right fit for your team depends on your challenges and goals. 

So, before you start evaluating tools, get your team together and identify the main obstacles in your current recruiting process. Some common recruiting challenges include:

• Slow time-to-hire

• Low application rates

• Clunky application processes

• Impersonal or delayed candidate communication

• Disorganized or outdated candidate info

• Time-consuming admin tasks like interview scheduling, reminders, and follow-ups

Once you determine your team’s main challenges, create a wishlist of must-have features specifically designed to solve those issues. For example, if you need to improve the candidate experience, look for software that lets candidates self-schedule interviews, offers workflows with automated communication, and is user-friendly for hiring managers and candidates alike.

Many recruiting platforms include these basic applicant tracking systems (ATS) features:

• Candidate management

• Resume parsing

• Employee referrals

• Career page builder

• Analytics and reports

Depending on your team’s size, challenges, and goals, you might need additional features and flexibility. Whether you’re looking for a new ATS, or this is your first encounter with recruiting software, here are a few more key features to consider adding to your recruiting tool wishlist:

• Interview scheduling: Letting candidates self-schedule interviews makes booking easier and faster, without the email back-and-forth. Candidates choose the available time that works best for them, and the meeting is added to the interviewer’s calendar.

• Automated job postings: Choose an ATS that integrates with major job boards and social media platforms, so your team can reach more potential candidates without manually posting new job openings on each site.

• Integrations with the tools your team already uses: Your recruitment software should work well with your team’s existing tech stack — assessment tools, calendars, email, video conferencing, etc. — so you can boost productivity without reinventing the wheel.

• Customization options: Create a consistent experience for candidates and employees by customizing your career site and communications to match your employer brand. 

• Automated candidate communication: Customizable status updates, reminders, and follow-up emails keep candidates engaged throughout the recruitment process. Automating these messages saves recruiters time and makes sure no one slips through the cracks.

• Team collaboration and productivity features: Collaborative hiring features like shared candidate notes, team dashboards and calendars, document sharing, and centralized communications keep all stakeholders on the same page.

• Advanced data security and compliance: Job applicants entrust potential employers with a lot of sensitive information. Keep company and candidate data safe by choosing software with up-to-date security and compliance features.

• Artificial intelligence and machine learning: AI-powered recruitment apps can help teams automate administrative tasks, screen resumes to match qualified candidates with best-fit roles, and personalize the candidate experience.

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9 best recruiting software for 2024

Enterprise recruiting software

1. Greenhouse

Greenhouse is a top-rated ATS that simplifies, organizes, and automates candidate sourcing, hiring, and onboarding. While Greenhouse works for teams of all sizes, its scalability and flexible features make it an ideal recruiting solution for enterprise customers like HubSpot, DoorDash, and DocuSign. (We use it here at Calendly, too!)

Features

• Advanced candidate profile filtering to match the right candidates with open jobs

• Customizable interview kits and interview scorecards to create a consistent, informed experience for candidates and interviewees

• Onboarding features that make it easy to share important info and to-do’s with new hires

• Multiple permission levels for easier internal and external collaboration

• Features designed to support diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives

• Over 30 built-in reports to help teams make data-driven decisions about recruiting processes

Integrations

Greenhouse has an API and built-in integrations with 400+ tools, including:

• Job boards (like Glassdoor and Indeed)

• Background check platforms (like Checkr and Equifax)

• Collaboration and productivity tools (like Calendly and DocuSign)

• Payroll and HR software (like Zenefits and Workday)

Pricing

Greenhouse offers three pricing tiers: Essential, Advanced, and Expert. You’ll need to request a quote for specific cost info.

2. Lever

Lever’s popular recruiting platform, LeverTRM, combines an ATS with candidate relationship management (CRM). Customers like Netflix, KPMG, and Sendoso use Lever to manage and automate the recruiting process.

Features

• Customizable dashboards that give recruiters and hiring managers more visibility into their talent pipeline and hiring processes

• Offers: Create offer letter templates, integrate with e-signature providers, and easily generate and share offers with candidates

• Team features like shared interview notes, feedback forms, and automated workflows to keep interviewers, recruiters, and hiring managers on the same page

• Automated, personalized candidate communication, including candidate nurture templates to maintain relationships with both active and passive candidates

• Tools to measure, track, and continually improve your organization’s DEI efforts

Integrations

Lever’s Integration Ecosystem includes 300+ integrations, including:

• Job boards (like LinkedIn and Wellfound)

• Payroll and HR software (like ADP Workforce Now and Zenefits) 

• Assessment and background check tools (like Criteria Corp and Verified First)

• Collaboration and productivity apps (like Slack and DocuSign)

Pricing

Lever offers two plans and several add-ons. For specific pricing details, you’ll need to request a demo or quote on their website.

Recruiting software for startups and small businesses

3. JazzHR

JazzHR’s ATS is designed to help small businesses find qualified candidates, track applicants, and simplify the hiring process by automating time-consuming, manual hiring tasks.

Features

• Customizable career pages to create a consistent experience that matches your employer brand

• Task automations for different roles

• Personalized, automated candidate communications, including interview invitations and offer letters

• Evaluation templates that automatically generate applicant scores, so you can compare candidates fairly and consistently

• Collaborative recruiting features, including shared interview notes and feedback, @ mentions and alerts, and task management

Integrations

JazzHR integrates with 15 different types of technology providers, including:

• HRISs, payroll, and benefits platforms (like Gusto, TriNet, and ADP)

• Job boards (like ZipRecruiter and Talent.com)

• Assessment and screening tools (like Crosschq and Career.place)

• Interview scheduling apps (like Calendly)

Pricing

JazzHR offers three pricing plans:

• Hero: $75 per month (billed annually)

• Plus: $269 per month (billed annually)

• Pro: $420 per month (billed annually) 

4. BambooHR

BambooHR is an all-in-one HR platform for managing employee data, payroll, time tracking, benefits, employee experience, performance, and, of course, hiring. The platform was built specifically for small businesses looking to simplify their HR processes. (89% of BambooHR customers are SMBs!)

Features

• Collaborative hiring features like custom permissions, automatic alerts, in-system messaging, and centralized candidate data

• Customizable offer letter templates with e-signature options

• Over 50 built-in reports to track key metrics like time-to-hire, team headcount, and employee turnover

• Custom onboarding and offboarding workflows and checklists

• In-depth training resources, customer support, and templates for new users

Integrations

BambooHR offers 130+ integrations, including:

• Assessment and background check tools (like Criteria Corp and Checkr)

• Collaboration and productivity apps (like Slack and Zapier)

• Employee development and performance (like Lattice and Small Improvements)

• Payroll and benefits (like Deel and Human Interest)

Pricing

BambooHR’s recruiting features are only available on the Advantage plan.

You’ll need to submit a quote request for specific pricing. For companies with more than 20 employees, BambooHR is priced on a per-employee, per-month basis. For companies with 20 employees or fewer, pricing is charged at a monthly flat rate.

Software for staffing agencies

5. Bullhorn ATS and CRM

Bullhorn provides staffing software built specifically for recruiting agencies working to source, screen, and place candidates. The Bullhorn ATS and CRM platform helps agencies of all sizes manage relationships with both job seekers and clients.

Features

• Career portals that make it easy for candidates to view and apply for open positions

• Pulse: Bullhorn’s patented relationship intelligence tool captures and analyzes email and phone communication with candidates and clients

• Resume parsing by availability, qualifications, credentials, and custom fields.

• Business development and client management features to help you hit your acquisition and retention goals

• Support for onboarding new hires and managing the end of assignments

Integrations

For additional HR functionality, including time tracking, payroll, billing, and invoicing, it’s easy to connect Bullhorn’s other tools to the ATS.

Bullhorn also offers 100+ pre-built integrations, including:

• Job boards (like Indeed, Monster, and LinkedIn)

• Email and calendars (Google and Microsoft)

• Vendor management systems (like UpGlide and Pixid VMS)

• Workforce management and human resources information systems (HRIS) for collaboration with clients’ HR teams

Pricing

Bullhorn offers four plan options: Team, Corporate, Enterprise, and Enterprise Plus. You’ll need to request a quote for pricing details.

6. Zoho Recruit

Zoho offers a suite of cloud-based business apps, including a CRM, marketing tools, an HRIS, team collaboration software, and a recruiting system: Zoho Recruit.

Zoho Recruit is an ATS and recruiting CRM that helps hiring teams find candidates, parse resumes, and automatically communicate with applicants throughout the hiring process.

(Many in-house recruiting teams use Zoho Recruit, too — we’re including them in this section because the app includes key features for recruiting agencies to collaborate with clients.)

Features

• Candidate database with information about direct applicants, partner referrals, and passive candidates

• Advanced recruiting analytics, including 75+ pre-built reports/dashboards and collaborative reporting to share key metrics with clients

• Customizable workflows to automate communication with candidates and clients

• AI-powered candidate matching: Instantly compare candidate skill sets with client openings

• Assessment tools to screen candidate backgrounds, skills, and personalities

• Recruitment marketing features like job listing SEO, employee referrals, and employer branding

Integrations

Beyond the expansive suite of Zoho apps, Zoho Recruit offers 75+ integrations and add-ons, including:

• Job boards and social recruiting (like CareerBuilder, Indeed, and LinkedIn)

• Collaboration and productivity apps (like Slack, Calendly, and Outlook)

• Background check tools (like Checkr and HireRight)

• Document signing platforms (like DocuSign and Adobe Sign)

Pricing

Zoho Recruit has different pricing options for in-house corporate HR and staffing agencies.

For corporate HR:

• Free: Basic candidate management and one active job listing at a time

• Standard: $25 per recruiter per month (billed annually)

• Enterprise: $50 per recruiter per month (billed annually)

For staffing agencies:

• Free: Basic candidate management and one active job listing at a time

• Standard: $25 per user per month (billed annually)

• Professional: $50 per user per month (billed annually)

• Enterprise: $75 per user per month (billed annually)

All plans include a 15-day free trial.

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How do you navigate recruiting roadblocks in a highly competitive market? Learn tips for using scheduling automation to connect with more top candidates and speed up time-to-hire.

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Other essential integrations for your recruiting tech stack

7. Calendly

In a Calendly survey, 78% of recruiting professionals said they’ve lost a candidate because they couldn’t schedule interviews quickly enough.

Calendly’s scheduling automation platform helps recruiters coordinate interviews in just a few clicks, cutting down on time-consuming email back-and-forths — whether it’s a group interview or one-on-one. A study conducted by Forrester Consulting found that enterprise recruiting teams achieved a 26% shorter recruiting cycle with Calendly.

Features

• Candidate self-scheduling: Candidates can see interviewers’ availability and select the time that works best for them. Once they pick a time, Calendly automatically adds the interview details to everyone’s calendar.

• Chrome, Firefox, and LinkedIn extensions and mobile apps for iOS and Android make it simple to use Calendly wherever you work. Easily share scheduling links and meeting availability in emails, LinkedIn messages, and more.

• Round Robin scheduling: Instead of recruiters having to sort through multiple schedules, candidates simply choose their preferred meeting times, and the system automatically assigns the meeting to the next available team member

• Managed Events: Establish standard practices for interviews (title, duration, branding) and push those out to all hiring managers and interviewers

• Workflows: Automate and customize communications before and after interviews, including templates for interview reminders and follow-ups

Integrations

Calendly offers over 100 integrations, including:

• Recruiting software and ATSs (like Greenhouse and LinkedIn Messaging)

• Calendars (like Google Calendar, iCloud, and Office 365)

• Video conferencing platforms (like Zoom and Microsoft Teams) — automatically add video interview links to calendar invites

• Sales automation and CRMs (like Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics 365)

• Marketing automation (like HubSpot and Marketo)

• Collaboration tools (like Slack and Notion)

• Payment processing (like Stripe and PayPal)

• Process automation (like Zapier and Outfunnel)

Case study: How Calendly reduces time-to-hire

Before Calendly, Odlenika Joseph, Muck Rack’s Talent Operations Specialist, spent 80% of her time scheduling and rescheduling candidate interviews.

Now, with scheduling automation, candidates can book interviews directly with the right team member’s calendar. Calendly has helped Muck Rack reduce time-to-hire by eight days.

Odlenika uses Calendly’s Managed Events to standardize meeting templates and ensure each stage of the hiring process contains pre-planned meeting Workflows, custom redirects, and follow-up events.

“It’s about efficiency and making more out of less. Leveraging Calendly has enabled everyone on my team to take on a ton of projects that are really impactful to the recruiting team and the organization at large.”

Erica Raphael

VP of People at Muck Rack

Pricing

Calendly has four pricing tiers:

• Free: Includes one connected calendar, unlimited event scheduling, Meeting Polls, and automated event notifications

• Standard: $10 per user per month (billed annually)

• Teams: $16 per user per month (billed annually)

• Enterprise: Custom pricing for larger organizations that need advanced security, control, and customer support

Explore Calendly’s Teams features with a 14-day free trial. 

8. LinkedIn Recruiter

A giant in the recruiting space, LinkedIn Recruiter gives employers access to LinkedIn’s network of more than 740 million professional users. Recruiters use LinkedIn to find and connect with top talent.

Features

• Advanced search and recommended matches to find ideal candidates

• Customizable templates and bulk messaging via InMail to contact more candidates, faster

• Centralized candidate search results, applications, information, and activity history

• Collaboration tools that make it easy to organize candidates in your pipeline and share candidate profiles, feedback, and communications

• Analytics and insights into how your job posts and candidate outreach are performing

Integrations

LinkedIn Recruiter integrations include:

• ATSs (like Greenhouse, Lever, and JazzHR)

• Talent CRMs (like Beamery and Jobvite)

• Communication and collaboration tools (like Microsoft Teams, Gmail, and Calendly)

Recruiter also integrates with other LinkedIn Talent Solutions products, including Talent Insights and Landing Pages.

Pricing

There are three versions of LinkedIn Recruiter. For the full LinkedIn Recruiter features, you’ll need to reach out to the sales team for a quote.

• Recruiter Lite: $1,680 per year (single license) or $2,670 per year per license (two to five licenses)

• Recruiter Professional Services (for staffing firms): Custom pricing 

• Recruiter Corporate (for corporate companies): Custom pricing

9. Zapier

You can fast-track even more pieces of the hiring and onboarding process with Zapier, a task automation platform that lets you connect applications and automate workflows.

Unlike more complex APIs, there’s very little learning curve — Zapier asks what you want to do, and the intuitive app sets up the tasks (called Zaps) based on your answers.

Features

• Multi-step Zaps to automate several tasks at once

• Filters and Paths that make Zaps run based on if/then logic or only when certain conditions are met

• Webhooks: Receive data from any service or send requests to URLs — without writing code or running servers

• The opportunity to join Zapier Early Access and test new features, including custom AI chatbots and no-code webpage and app builders

• Advanced roles and permissions that let Super Admins manage everything in the organization’s account, from Zaps to team members

Integrations

Integrations are Zapier’s bread and butter! With options to connect 4,000+ apps, the possibilities for automating tasks and integrating applications with Zapier are nearly endless. 

For example, you can use Zapier to connect Calendly and DocuSign, then automatically send an e-signature request to a new hire when an onboarding meeting is scheduled. That way, you can jump right into the meeting without spending valuable time reviewing long documents.

Pricing

Zapier offers five pricing plans:

• Free: Automate 100 tasks per month, single-step Zaps only

• Starter: $19.99 per month (billed annually)

• Professional: $49 per month (billed annually)

• Team: $69 per month (billed annually)

• Company: Custom pricing

Create a better experience for recruiters, hiring managers, and candidates

Adding the right recruitment software to your tech stack takes manual tasks off your team’s plate and gives them more time to connect with top talent.

The results? Better hiring decisions, lower cost-per-hire, higher employee retention rates, and faster time-to-hire.

Happy hiring!