Recruiting - A Guide To Recruitment Software

Recruitment software packages come in three main types. Front office candidate, client and vacancy matching software, back office payroll and invoicing software and all-in-one software, which combines the functions of both.

Front office software is known by a number of different names, among them recruitment database software, candidate and job matching software, executive search software, yet the function that it performs is essentially the same no matter what it is called. The major purpose of this type of software is to store information on candidates, clients, and vacancies and enable you to match the best possible candidate to a vacancy in the shortest possible time, thereby saving money and providing a competitive advantage to your agency. There are common features that all front office systems should possess. You need to know what these are so you can gauge which ones will be most useful to your business.

The database is what underpins every front office system, and should contain all the information you have on your clients, candidates and vacancies. All data fields should be completely user definable to suit the particular sector you work in. All front office software should also have a flexible job and candidate search feature with user definable fields enabling you to find the candidate or company you need in seconds. For Temporary agencies, some sort of availability browser is often included, enabling you to see at a glance who is booked out, unavailable, or available for work.

Many software packages allow you to scan in CVs and include these in a candidate profile, along with other documents such as photos, drivers' licences, qualifications and any other information you wish to include. Recruitment software should also allow you to send email and SMS text messages to the email addresses or mobile phone numbers of the candidates in your database, allowing you to contact multiple candidates with minimal effort. There should also be the ability to mail merge directly from your recruitment database into third party programs such as Microsoft Word.

Back Office recruitment software handles the payroll and invoicing functions of your agency. Because of this, it ends to be mainly used by temporary agencies that have to pay their own temps on a regular basis, or larger agencies with a lot of employees or invoices to pay. Most Back Office payroll packages run on a timesheet-based system where you either input your client, employee, contact and placement data directly, or import it from your front office system if you have one. Timesheets should be customisable so that you can enter all the information relevant to the sectors you work in.

Payroll software needs to be able to take into account all deductions and statutory requirements and should be regularly updated by your software supplier. Some of the deductions that the software will need to be equipped for include NI and tax deductions, student loans, tax credits, pension calculations and holiday pay. You will also need the software to automatically print out payslips as well as all statutory forms including P32, P45, P35, P14, and P60. You may also want to be able to customise the way you print payslips and deliver them electronically.

As well as those features specific to front and back office software, all recruitment software should include Event logging and reporting facilities. Event logging on employee and client details as well as a full audit trail, will allow you to trace the history of anything that happens in the system, enabling you to rectify mistakes if needed. Reporting facilities will help you analyze the effectiveness of your consultants. Most will generate a variety of standard reports, but it should be easy for anyone to tailor a general report to be much more specific to your needs.

The final things to take into account are scalability and connectivity. If your company continues to grow as you hope it will, can the software grow with you? The software you buy should have a future upgrade path, so that if your needs change, the software is able to adapt so that it continues to meet your needs. You may also need your recruitment software to link to any other related software packages in your office including your other recruitment systems, Microsoft Office, BACS, Time and Attendance and HR systems.