Best CRM for Recruiting

Permanent recruiters charge fees of up to 30 percent of a candidate’s first-year salary. It’s no surprise that employers expect top-notch and efficient service with consistent communication throughout the hiring process. Candidates, on the other hand, expect prompt responses to their inquiries, support throughout all interview stages, and a general reassurance that they are in the right hands — after all, recruiters shape their first impression of the company and the brand.

HubSpot’s ability to handle complex recruiting workflows, establish clear communication channels and automate repetitive tasks makes it a strong CRM choice for permanent recruiters.

On the candidate side, HubSpot excels. Create career pages and web forms to import candidate information straight into the CRM. Build a detailed candidate database, segmenting and tagging applicants by availability, skillsets and more. Use custom, AI-built templates and get HubSpot to fire off an email automatically to the best candidates when a new position opens or when they advance to the next interview stage. And once a candidate is successfully hired, you can send a follow-up satisfaction survey to improve your hiring process.

On the client side, HubSpot helps you meet and exceed the targets you’ve set. Speed up hiring by repurposing the lead nurturing tools to take candidates right through the process, using the comms tools to keep clients up-to-date. Improve hiring rates by creating content that reflects individual clients’ cultures and brands to appeal to job seekers with the built-in marketing platform. You can also run rich email campaigns in your CRM, create and manage social media and pay-per-click job ads from within the platform and log and automatically transcribe candidate calls to ensure clients have the full picture.

There are useful recruiting integrations available in HubSpot’s marketplace too, including CandidateZip, which allows you to add resumes to candidates’ records; IdentityCheck, which adds identity verification to recruiting workflows; and Zoho Recruit, which can sync recruiting data with HubSpot.

HubSpot’s workspace allows you to view tasks, schedules, leads and sales activities on one screen. Source: HubSpot

HubSpot’s ability to handle complex recruiting workflows, establish clear communication channels and automate repetitive tasks makes it a strong CRM choice for permanent recruiters.

On the candidate side, HubSpot excels. Create career pages and web forms to import candidate information straight into the CRM. Build a detailed candidate database, segmenting and tagging applicants by availability, skillsets and more. Use custom, AI-built templates and get HubSpot to fire off an email automatically to the best candidates when a new position opens or when they advance to the next interview stage. And once a candidate is successfully hired, you can send a follow-up satisfaction survey to improve your hiring process.

On the client side, HubSpot helps you meet and exceed the targets you’ve set. Speed up hiring by repurposing the lead nurturing tools to take candidates right through the process, using the comms tools to keep clients up-to-date. Improve hiring rates by creating content that reflects individual clients’ cultures and brands to appeal to job seekers with the built-in marketing platform. You can also run rich email campaigns in your CRM, create and manage social media and pay-per-click job ads from within the platform and log and automatically transcribe candidate calls to ensure clients have the full picture.

There are useful recruiting integrations available in HubSpot’s marketplace too, including CandidateZip, which allows you to add resumes to candidates’ records; IdentityCheck, which adds identity verification to recruiting workflows; and Zoho Recruit, which can sync recruiting data with HubSpot.

HubSpot’s pricing structure can be confusing because the company sells both its Smart CRM platform and several specialized products called Hubs. Smart CRM serves as the foundation for the HubSpot ecosystem, while products such as Sales Hub, Marketing Hub, Service Hub, Content Hub, Data Hub and Revenue Hub add functionality for specific business needs.

Smart CRM Pricing

Sales Hub Pricing

Note: If you select the Professional or Enterprise Sales Hub, there is an additional one-time onboarding fee: $1,500 for Professional and $3,500 for Enterprise.

*Annual subscription offers a discounted rate.

HubSpot holds an 8.4 out of 10 across more than 5,500 reviews on TrustRadius, . Users consistently praise three things: how well the platform connects to the other software businesses already run, automation depth that users credited for better lead scoring and nurturing and measurable sales gains, with reviewers pointing to quicker closes and higher conversion.

“Prior to working with HubSpot CRM, we used a CRM that lacked functionality for the customer follow-up process. There was a huge disconnect between what we were doing and what was actually working and benefiting us. Since switching to HubSpot, we have been able to implement automatic follow-up more effectively, utilize tracking and reporting features to our benefit, and have a more trackable process,” one user wrote.

Placing top talent is lucrative but it requires precise selection, shortlisting and management of the process right up to the job offer and beyond. monday.com’s intuitive CRM is truly intuitive and flexible, providing executive recruiters with the tools they need to manage multiple, ongoing hires.

monday’s CRM can automate workflows so you can manage job candidates easily. Source: monday.com

We were impressed at how many recruiter-specific CRM workflows come out of the box. You can create individual workflows for each vacancy or type of vacancy, from assigning a team member to arranging initial interviews or gathering references. We liked the top-down visualizations monday.com gives you on the progress of every position you’re hiring for ― choose from Gantt, timeline, chart and calendar formats.

The in-built omnichannel communications platform is excellent ― you can see all notes, emails and calendars related to a vacancy and even share them with your clients. The thorough reporting and analytics on the platform allow you to track metrics like top billers, forecast revenues and position splits. We loved the selection of third-party HR tools in the marketplace like CarbonRecruiting Suite and Jobflows to build professional branded careers pages for your agency and its clients as well as post job ads directly on sites like Indeed as well as social media.

[Are you looking for more recruiting tools? Check out our list of the best HR software.]

Monday Sales CRM prices per seat with a three-seat minimum, and all four tiers are billed either annually or monthly. Note that the top tier, formerly called Enterprise, is now named Ultimate.

Unlike other providers, monday.com has set amounts of seats you must purchase each month. The minimum is three which increases to five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 100 or 200+ users. This means you might have to subscribe to more seats than you need or limit access to certain employees, depending on the subscription level you choose.

* Annual subscription offers a discounted rate.

monday Sales CRM earned an 8.2 out of 10 across more than 200 reviews on TrustRadius. Customers routinely praised monday for its ease of use and effective automation tools, as well as its flexible customization options. However, some users reported limitations when it came to handling complex data, challenges setting up automations and high costs for adding new team members.

“monday CRM is well suited to keep everyone accountable, as it is the one source of truth for people to refer to. This prevents items slipping through the cracks and being missed. It is also good to refer back to what has been completed since the project started. It is great how people from different business units are able to access the same boards,” one user wrote.

A new agency has a problem the established firms do not: it has to win clients and place candidates at the same time, usually with two or three people doing both jobs. Most recruiting software assumes a steady flow of vacancies already coming in. Pipedrive does not, and that is precisely why we recommend it for agencies in their first few years.

Pipedrive offers many different templates to build easy workflow automations. Source: Pipedrive

The platform is built around pipelines, and there is no cap on how many you can run at any tier. We set up one for client business development and a second for candidate placement, then a third per specialism, and the whole agency’s activity became legible on a single screen. Because a placement and a new client win are both just deals moving through stages, the sales pipeline tools apply cleanly to both without the workarounds we usually have to describe when repurposing a sales CRM for recruitment.

For a firm still building its client base, the lead generation tooling matters as much as the CRM itself. The LeadBooster add-on bundles web forms, live chat and chatbots so an employer browsing your site at 10 p.m. lands in your pipeline rather than an unmonitored inbox, and the Prospector database helps you identify hiring managers at target companies. The built-in Campaigns email platform lets you build your email list of prospective clients and candidates and run segmented outreach without paying for a separate tool — a meaningful saving when every subscription is scrutinized.

We also rate the deal-rotting alerts, which flag any vacancy or client conversation that has gone quiet for longer than you specify. In a two-person agency where everyone is doing three jobs, an automated nudge is often the only thing standing between a warm lead and a forgotten one. The AI assistant on Premium and above drafts and summarizes email and suggests which deals to prioritize, which effectively substitutes for the sales operations hire an early-stage firm cannot yet justify.

The trade-offs are straightforward. Pipedrive has no free plan, so unlike HubSpot, Zoho and Freshsales there is no zero-cost way to trial it beyond the 14-day window. The Lite plan omits workflow automation and full email sync, which means an agency buying Pipedrive for the reasons above realistically starts on Growth at $39 per user per month. And it is a general-purpose CRM rather than a recruitment platform: agencies that need resume parsing and job board posting out of the box should look at the Zoho CRM and Zoho Recruit combination instead.

Pipedrive CRM earned an 8.7 out of 10 across more than 519 reviews on TrustRadius. Customers routinely praised its customization capabilities, its ability to optimize workflow and effective sales pipeline management. However, some users would value having more automation options and features.

“I would highly recommend Pipedrive as a CRM, especially for smaller businesses. The price is very reasonable for all of the functionality and features that Pipedrive provides. There are easy, pre-built workflow automations or you can create your own workflow automations, track activities across organizations, contacts & deals, along with many other additional features, some of which may be add-ons but there are a lot of features to that can be utilized like AI, webhooks, smart documents, and many more,” one user wrote.

Temporary recruitment agencies have to find the right people fast and match them to short-term roles from an ever-changing talent pool. To recruit in volume and at speed, Zoho’s feature-packed CRM is the best option.

Zoho uses its built-in AI assistant, Zia, to forecast anomalies. First, it identifies sudden sales deviations, and then sends a notification to your sales reps so they can take action. Source: Zoho

The combination of Zoho CRM and Zoho Recruit creates a powerful, versatile business management solution to support recruitment agencies. It offers a full omnichannel marketing and communications platform so you can canvas and close clients by phone, email, social media and more from one interface. When a job comes in, there’s a one-click uploading of positions to multiple job boards and social media. We like that Zoho lets you create custom-branded, mobile-friendly career sites for both your agency and your clients.

Zoho’s AI assistant, Zia, saves time by presenting only the most suitable candidates. From resume collection and candidate communication to placement, you can customize the recruiting process with tools like auto-scheduling, updates to keep clients and candidates engaged and informed at every stage and automatic alerts to ensure recruiters never miss a sourcing opportunity. We like how you can involve clients at all stages too from bringing them in on live video interviews through the integration with Google Meet and Microsoft Teams to selecting a shortlist.

The reporting and analytics on Zoho are first-class. Create custom CRM dashboards for yourself and your team to identify hiring patterns, review costs and assess performance. Add widgets to co-workers’ dashboards and run reports on a range of key metrics from time-to-hire to offer acceptance rate.

Zoho CRM offers a free plan available for up to three users. It includes basic lead and deal management, limited workflow automation, standard reporting, email integration and mobile app access.

* Annual subscription offers a discounted rate.

On TrustRadius, Zoho CRM sits at 8.5 out of 10 from more than 1,000 reviews. What users return to most is how far the platform bends to fit their processes, how readily it connects to the rest of their software stack and how well it keeps lead and contact records organized. The complaints are narrower but consistent: reviewers found the interface awkward to move around in, and several wanted more from the reporting tools than Zoho delivers.

“This is very useful and handy software for initial use and sometimes later on. Its low price and rich features make it one of the most suitable software for small and midsize organizations. Customer management and tracking make your daily tasks easier,” one user wrote.

Placing top talent can be lucrative, but it requires precise selection, shortlisting and management of the process right up to the job offer and beyond. monday CRM is intuitive and flexible, providing executive recruiters with the tools they need to manage multiple, ongoing hires.

We were impressed by how many recruiter-specific CRM workflows come out of the box. You can create individual workflows for each vacancy or type of vacancy, from assigning a team member to arranging initial interviews or gathering references. We liked the top-down visualizations monday gives you on the progress of every position you’re hiring for — choose from Gantt, timeline, chart and calendar formats.

monday CRM’s communication tools help recruiters keep track of candidate interactions in one place. Through Emails & Activities, you can connect Gmail or Outlook to manage emails, while integrations help bring in other communications and calendar information. The platform also offers reporting and analytics to track metrics like top billers, forecast revenues and position splits. We loved the selection of third-party HR tools in the marketplace, including CarbonRecruiting Suite and Jobflows, which can help create professional branded careers pages for your agency and its clients, as well as post job ads directly on sites like Indeed.

Freshsales offers a sales metrics overview on its Sales Essentials Dashboard. Source: Freshsales

Freshsales offers three paid CRM plans ranging from $9 to $59 per user per month when billed annually. There is also a free plan for up to three users that covers contact and deal management, built-in chat and phone, and email integration, though it excludes workflow automation, sales sequences and AI features. Here’s a look at what each paid plan includes.

Note that Branded Documents, Freshsales’ configure-price-quote (CPQ) and proposal-generation tool, is available as an add-on for $19 per user per month. Freddy AI Agent is also sold separately and starts at $49 per 100 sessions.
* Annual subscription offers a discounted rate.

Freshsales earned an 8.9 out of 10 across more than 140 reviews on TrustRadius. Reviewers frequently praise Freshsales for its ease of use, claiming it has an intuitive user interface that is easily navigable without any training. Additionally, users often cite strong third-party integrations. Commonly referenced drawbacks include the platform’s reporting, as well as its mobile app experience.

“Generally speaking, for small to mid-sized teams, I really cannot recommend it enough. It has an excellent feature set, good amount of integrations, fairly customizable and backed by solid support. And the pricing is very competitive too. I feel like if your team is larger than that, you might want to look at other alternatives, but for teams that size, it’s really perfect,” one user wrote.