SmartSearch ATS vs. ZipRecruiter

I think our environment has stretched SmS and their capabilities (positively) but we have grown together and developed an enormously capable system together that is now very well integrated into our business. For doing applicant tracking, requisition management and offer management that has really been strong. I think we can partner together and build some better analytics and reporting capabilities that would be better suited for our business.

Its geo targeting and search features made it easy to source people from specific sites and places, also it post the jobs to various platforms at the same time. AI should be more advanced so that we can get some high position profiles because it does not work as good on the high end roles as compared to the low end roles.

Incentivized

• The search functions are outstanding. It is the reason we originally went with SmartSearch many years ago. The ability to do very simple or complex searches gives the recruiting staff great flexibility in how they look for and narrow down candidates.
• The hire and onboarding traks allow us to create very specific processes we want our staff to follow to insure a consistent and repeatable result. I can create traks that can be very general or traks that literally provide emails and reminders to all of the players (recruiters, managers, candidates, etc...) every step of the way. This is particularly helpful where we have customers who have extremely stringent contractual guidelines that must be followed.
• Support. Their customer support is second to none. We always joke that they are our favorite vendor to deal with.... Anytime we have an issue or question. They are there to walk us through it. The training is on target and the staff has always been friendly and more than eager to help make us successful with the tool.

• TSP Restaurant Manager in Chapel Hill, TN currently on ZipRecruiter since yesterday (9/26) and already have an inbox filled with qualified applicants.
• ZipRecruiter has easy access to chat or email with admins if I encounter an issue, and it is quickly resolved, the only time I did have an issue, the response was pretty much immediate.
• ZipRecruiter is attractive to both the job poster and the job seeker. Easy to navigate.

Incentivized

• SmartSearch has a steep learning curve if you want to extensively use the features like automated tasks and the report writer
• Technical support is spotty and sometimes very frustrating, they don't respond for weeks at a time.
• SmartSearch user interface is old and has far less ability to customize the interface than other tracking systems
• SmartSearch has virtually no ability to connect directly with other software and allows now other software to connect in - so no Microsoft Flow, no Zapier, no mail parser, etc. and since Smart Search capabilities are limited, not being able to integrate it with other platforms easily is unfortunate.

• The only thing I can think of is, I don't prefer the unecessary emails I get from ZipRecruiter that don't pertain to my business, or what we use ZipRecruiter for.
• I can't think of anything else that needs to be better
• I can't think of anything else that needs to be better

Incentivized

I believe over the past 30 or so pages (or so it seems), you have every reason for my business to continue as a SmartSearch ATS client and user. The support is off the charts great the few times I need them (generally not even once per year). My business has been a client since 2004. That should say it all.

Results. The bottom line is the results we are getting. We are seeing not only quality applications, but quality hires that can directly be tied to our use of ZipRecruiter. The ROI is second to none - a simple and easy to use tool that is driving healthcare professionals to my various clients.

Incentivized

There are so many facets of SmartSearch, that to know everything about it is nearly impossible. While it is mainly straight forward, there is a lot. After using the program for a while, you become pretty comfortable with the basics and can start adding some of the other features.

Incentivized

ZipRecruiter is very user-friendly and is extremely reliable when searching for new talent. There are numerous features to help you when you have questions about a posting or your profile. The filtering process is awesome and you have so many ways to find the right talent with the screening questions provided by ZipRecruiter.

Incentivized

My license for SmartSearch goes back to 2004. It has always been available for me - don't remember a single time it was not available in all of those years.

big fat zip zilch nada crappy ball of unwanted ear wax

pages load fine ... it's not easy to know where to go -- you have to know to click on this or that because it's not intuitive.

Once you get the 1 person on the phone they are very knowledgeable and tend to solve the problem. The issue is there are not enough resources to handle all the clients. Their primary clients are "recruiting firms" and I think that is where most of the their support resources go

Have not had to utilize support recently, but in past instances they have reached out within 12 hours to help rectify any problems or answer any questions about features and functionality. The only issue I ever had with them was trying to clarify, when they previously advertised that they posted on 200+ job boards, if that meant that your job would for sure be posted on each job board. Turns out, by the way, that they only guarantee distribution, not posting

Incentivized

Using the basic functions of SmartSearch is an easy implementation. But consider carefully what your organization needs to really drive placements. Because we only did a basic implementation first, we were caught off guard when later trying to implement more functions and realizing that the capabilities were limited or were difficult to learn and implement and realizing that tech support was not going to be consistent.

onboarding process was very easy.

Incentivized

Functionally, SmartSearch is not on the same page as ZipRecruiter. ZipRecruiter as a platform is much more geared toward helping applicants and is essentially a glorified resume database. SmartSearch offers so much more in terms of features and abilities, that would not really be appropriate to try and compare the two. Similarly, the overall use of SmartSearch is an apples and oranges comparison to LinkedIn Talent. LinkedIn is great for sourcing and attracting talent, but in terms of tracking candidates all the way through a hiring process and tracking a heavy volume of job orders across a variety of states and locations, the two just don't really compare.

Incentivized

ZipRecruiter is inferior when it comes to comparing it to Indeed. I use both because I want more platforms to advertise my job. However, I find myself obtaining more applicants from Indeed over ZipRecruiter. I don't count ZipRecruiter out, though, because every once in a while, you can find a gem in a haystack.

Incentivized

because they did not provide qualified candidates so they cannot be relied upon to do what they say they do

• That's easy - they have helped us grown and make more money. The core element of their technology (e.g. the ability to search for, identify and contact candidates is excellent).
• They are a business partner and do their very best to help us succeed.

• ZipRecruiter helped us to reaching our hiring goals for 2018. We have been able to source, exempt and non-exempt candidates, in a timely fashion for our roles in the NY Metro area.
• From a cost perspective, ZipRecruiter is more affordable than others that we have used in the past. In the end the results speak for themselves and we have had better success with Zip than other job boards we have used in the past.

Incentivized