Item: SmartRecruiters
Rating: 10
Author: David Acosta

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use SmartRecruiters to manage recruiting and hiring for Home Office employees, and we also train our franchisees to use the system so they can hire their teams.The main problem that it addresses is the management of applicants from several different sources. Outside of SmartRecruiters, a sponsored job ad can be individually posted directly to a number of different sites. However, then the applicants would simply respond to the ad and flood the hiring manager's inbox. This is very difficult to manage. SmartRecruiters allows a user to post to a large variety of job sites through one single portal, and then manage all applicants through the process, communicate via email templates, send screening questions, leave notes on applicants for internal review, and basically have a "one-stop" access to easily manage the flow of applicants from new to hired. The system makes it very easy. And after the hiring process is complete, users can view sourcing statistics to identify where the most applicants came from, and then adjust strategy to reduce cost-per-applicant to maximize ROI. The system provides valuable data, and it is intuitive and easy to use throughout all processes.

Pros and Cons

Customer support is excellent. Very responsive, very helpful, always polite.
They have made the system very intuitive. It is user-friendly, visually appealing, and easy to learn.
The ease of managing a large number of applicants is the main reason we enjoy using it.

They use to have a referral feature that interfaced directly with your LinkedIn profile. I don't know where that went, but I wish it would come back!
You can purchase ads on Indeed through the portal, and it is frustrating not being able to monitor the clicks on a par-per-click ad. I'd like to be able to see more details on exactly where that money goes.
I would like to see the referral feature link with my Facebook friends list to identify people that are in the desired area and industry.

Candidate Experience

I rated "10" here because of the term "enabled". They system makes it easy to communicate immediately and clearly with applicants. It is widely known in the recruiting world that the number one complaint is lack of communication - specifically with applicants who are not hired. I can certainly understand their frustration there. So, I very much appreciate the alerts that SmartRecruiters gives to let users know as soon as an applicant applies or sends a message. At that point, it is up to the user to use the tools and respond promptly back to the applicant. I personally do not have any issue doing this within SmartRecruiters.

Usability for Hiring Managers

SmartRecruiters is easy to use for anyone - not just hiring managers. It has more features AND it is easier to use than any stand-alone job site that I have utilized in the past. We have had a significant portion of our franchisees (who are the effective hiring managers in our organization) adopt the program. Some have become quite proficient and really enjoy all of the features. Even people who are approaching retirement have been able to jump in and effectively use the system. If there is an issue with adopting it, it is likely because a person simply does not want to.

Return on Investment

The time savings are the most valuable benefit to me. Managing multiple jobs and applicants without SmartRecruiters would be a much more involved and time-consuming process.
The sourcing statistics have made it clear where it is most effective to advertise for which position. No more throwing money way on ineffective job sites.

Alternatives Considered

iCIMS Talent Acquisition Software Suite

SmartRecruiters has less features, but therefore it is easier to learn and costs less. We had a much lower participation rate from franchisees when utilizing iCIMS. iCIMS is great for those that are willing to invest the time in learning it and of course the extra money. But our franchisees (hiring managers) were not using it because it was too complex. So for us, it proved to be a poor investment. Our users vastly prefer the more user-freindly SmartRecruiters system.

Likelihood to Recommend

SmartRecruiters is best suited for an entity that may have multiple job openings and a large number of applicants to manage. Our organization typically has nearly 100 opening posted around the country at any given time. Another great feature for larger companies is the retention of all applicants and their contact information. So, industries with higher turnover have a digital rolodex of previous applicants that they can easily access and search in one place. Our organization has a database of close to 20,000 applicants. That would be nearly impossible to manage via the old "we'll keep your resume on file" system of the Dark Ages. Overall I'd say the larger the organization, the more value SmartRecruiters provides.

SmartRecruiters Review: A Smart Choice!

Software Version

Overall Satisfaction with SmartRecruiters