Tested by real recruiters. We do the signups, the trial periods, and the deep dives into pricing so you can skip the guesswork and choose hiring software that actually sticks.
Alexandra is VP, People and Culture. She brings over 30 years of experience in the tech industry, with a background spanning marketing, people, culture, and business transformation.
Talent acquisition software is a category that sounds like it should mean one thing and then turns out to mean about seven different things depending on who built the product. Some of these platforms are applicant tracking systems with a rebrand. Others are full sourcing engines, interview intelligence layers, or candidate CRMs that happen to process applications on the side.
By Alexandra RashedMost recruitment CRMs are not recruitment CRMs. They are sales CRMs with the word 'recruitment' pasted over 'deals' in the navigation. I tested 11 platforms over three weeks - importing the same 200-contact candidate list into each one, running outreach sequences, and tracking how many clicks it took to move a passive candidate from first touch to interview scheduled.
By Alexandra Rashed
Javier is the Head of People. He brings over 10 years of international HR leadership experience across global organizations, with a strong background in global HR strategy, HR Mergers & Acquisitions.
After testing 14 applicant tracking systems against the same nursing recruiter workflow - credential verification, multi-facility job distribution, compliance documentation - the gap between platforms that understand healthcare hiring and those that treat it like any other category became obvious within the first day.
By Javier RiveroMost background check platforms promise fast, accurate results. After running the same screening scenario through 11 providers - a standard criminal search, education verification, and employment history check for a mid-level hire - the gap between marketing claims and actual turnaround times was striking.
By Javier Rivero
Samantha is a Senior People Partner and global HR leader with 12+ years of experience shaping people strategy, employee experience, and organizational growth across multiple industries including consultancy, oil & gas, pharma and tech.
After spending three weeks inside 13 applicant tracking systems - posting the same job, routing the same candidates, building the same interview loops - the biggest surprise was how little the category name tells you about what these products actually do.
By Samantha AstorgaAfter running the same 200-candidate placement scenario through 14 applicant tracking systems, the gap between platforms built for staffing agencies and those bolted onto corporate HR software was obvious within the first hour.
By Samantha AstorgaStaffing software is one of those categories where the name on the box tells you almost nothing about what is inside. Some of these platforms are glorified applicant trackers with a client portal bolted on. Others run your entire operation - recruiting, timesheets, payroll, invoicing - from a single login.
By Giovanna ZolfiHow we test HR platforms: real accounts, honest verdicts, and absolutely no rankings for sale. Read our methodology.
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