The 15 Best Productivity Tools for Recruiters
There’s a reason why a quick search for ‘productivity’ on Amazon generates tens of thousands of results. Time is the only resource that we cannot get more of, no matter how hard we try.
As a result, we’re all under pressure to optimize our output, be more productive, and ensure that we’re not wasting any precious time.
There are heaps of resources out there including books, apps and websites that can help boost recruiter productivity. In this article, we’ve done the work for you, and collected the best productivity tools for recruiters.
Insights
When it comes to interacting with candidates, a ‘one size fits all’ approach will only get you so far. These three tools can help give you the necessary insights to personalize your approach and ultimately improve your results.
1. Crystal
Every person is different, so it stands to reason that the way you approach each candidate should be different... The question is — how do you know what tactics are suited to each individual?
This is where Crystal comes in. While this tool is traditionally meant to be used by salespeople, it works for recruiters too. Crystal analyzes public data to give you tips on how to communicate with different individuals across a variety of platforms including LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and email.
Using personality detection technology, Crystal creates unique personality profiles for every person with an online presence, to show you how to communicate with them in the most effective way.
In other words, it helps boost a recruiter’s candidate response rate by helping you speak and write in the preferred style of your chosen candidate.
2. Clearbit
Knowing exactly who someone is makes it far easier to build a strong relationship with them. The problem? Researching individual candidates in detail can be time consuming, and is often neglected as a result.
Clearbit is a tool that makes this a whole lot easier. You can use their Gmail extension to get ‘people insights’ sent to your inbox, or you can use their API to find candidate email addresses and other personal information. When it comes to enriching candidate information to help create connections, there are few better tools out there.
3. Gender Decoder
Looking to improve gender diversity in your organization? One of the best places to start is with your job ads. Are they appealing to women as well as to men? Is the language you’re using too masculine or too feminine? Take the copy of the last job ad you wrote, and paste it directly into the Gender Decoder.
This clever tool will then tell you whether your job ad is feminine-coded (i.e. if your job is written with more of a leaning towards a female candidate), masculine-coded (i.e. if your job is written with more of a leaning towards a male candidate) or neutral (i.e. if your job has no leaning towards male or female candidates), based on the language you’ve used.
This can be helpful because, as an organization with goals to become more inclusive, the last thing you want to do is be gender exclusive (even unintentionally) with your job ads.
Email and Scheduling
Recruiters typically spend a sizable chunk of their day in their inbox. Email can weigh you down if you’re not careful, so take a look at these useful productivity tools to help recruiters avoid the dreaded overflowing inbox:
4. Boomerang
Do you ever get the feeling that your email inbox is overwhelming you? If so, Boomerang could be the tool for you.
Boomerang is a Gmail plugin that lets you take messages completely out of your inbox until you actually need them. Just click the Boomerang button when you have an email open, and choose when you need to see it again. Boomerang will archive your message.
At the set time you choose, they’ll bring it back to your inbox, marked unread, starred or even at the top of your message list. You can also use the plugin to schedule messages and set yourself reminders.
5. Sortd
Sortd is a nifty tool that helps you transform your static email inbox into a flexible set of lists and priorities.
You can drag and drop emails between different lists (which you can sort by topic, project, person — whatever you choose), attach reminders or tasks to specific messages and generally make some sense of your inbox madness.
6. Mixmax
Mixmax claims to “make email awesome” and they certainly live up to this lofty promise.
Complete with scheduling, templates, shortcuts, email tracking and mail merge, Mixmax is your complete email toolbox — everything you need to make inbox management a piece of cake. It has a paid option for advanced users, but everyone can get started for free.
7. Outlook Mobile App
Not usually known for design and usability, Microsoft has hit it out of the park with the Outlook mobile app — hands down the best way to manage your email and calendar on the go (big requirements for the average recruiter).
Outlook combines email, calendar and file management (e.g. Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive) into one unified inbox. All your important emails are filtered into a ‘focused inbox’ so you never miss anything important. And you can set smart shortcuts to handle mail more effectively.
8. Calendly
Getting tired of playing calendar tennis with candidates? Calendly is a simple, professional scheduling tool that will save you loads of time.
You simply connect your calendar, block out any times when you’re unavailable, and then send your unique URL to a candidate. Once they receive your URL, the candidate will be able to pick any free time in your calendar that works for them and can schedule an interview or call with you in just a few clicks.
Notes and Tasks
To say recruiting is a time pressured job is an understatement. This makes effective task management all the more important, and these four tools are a great fit for recruiters.
9. Evernote
Evernote is designed for more than just note taking. You can prioritize your to-dos, plan projects and collaborate with your team.
You can even save important emails, entire PDFs or ‘clip’ webpages as new notes and everything you record is just a few keystrokes away.
10. Bear
Bear focuses on writing, note taking and organization. The app is beautifully designed and syncs across all your devices.
Bear will even tell you how long something takes to read (which is perfect if you’re trying to write catchy job ads or careers site copy).
11. Asana
Project management is tricky. The more people that are involved in a project, the harder it can be. Fortunately, Asana can take some of the weight off your shoulders.
Asana makes it easy to track projects from start to finish, and manage your team’s tasks and deadlines in a highly transparent and collaborative fashion. Everyone can see exactly what the team is working on, and all deadlines are clear (particularly when you use the handy ‘calendar’ view).
12. Monday.com
There’s a reason why Monday.com is one of the most popular task management tools on the market. From tasks, to reminders, to collaboration, it’s got you covered.
You can also easily share specific tasks, files, and more in a variety or formats with colleagues if you’re working on something together.
Time Management
If you’re not careful, the day can slip away without you ever feeling like you got anything done. These three time management tools will help you track your days more effectively and optimize your efficiency.
13. Forest
Are you easily distracted? Do you find it hard not to check out the new TikTok that your friend sent you or check what’s trending on Twitter? You’re not alone. Most of us are addicted to the warm fuzzy feeling we get when we see a new notification. The issue with that is it’s a serious drain on productivity.
Forest is here to help. Soothing, as well as highly effective, this app helps you focus on the tasks that really matter.
The app is very simple. You open Forest to plant a ‘seedling’. If you leave the app in the next 30 minutes or visit any ‘blacklisted websites or apps’, your new tree dies. If you’re successful, you’ve just taken the first step to planting your new Forest.
14. Pomodoro
Do you find yourself hopping between tasks like a madman, juggling new emails with requests from your boss, jumping between candidate calls and email follow-ups? Again, you’re not alone.
Many people find it tough to settle down to a single task and get into what is known as our ‘flow state.’ The Pomodoro Technique is a highly effective antidote for this state of affairs. It’s a simple time management technique devised by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980’s.
You split your workday into 25 minute blocks of intense, focused work, that are each followed by five minute breaks. The method is based on the idea that frequent breaks can improve mental agility.
I use the 25 minute stretches of focus and tackle my major tasks for the day, (I usually plan these tasks the evening before) and then use the five minute breaks to ‘switch off’ and respond to emails, texts or to check other notifications.
15. Toggl
Do you ever get the feeling that you’re totally rushed off your feet but unable to really pinpoint exactly what you’ve achieved at the end of the day? If you’re not careful, different recruiting tasks can blend together, and it becomes pretty difficult to make sure you’re moving forward each day.
You can use Toggl to keep track of exactly how you’re spending my time. The app lets you track individual tasks, or measure how long you’re spending on different projects each week. It’s essentially a timesheet, but it’s a timesheet that gives you analytics at the end of every day to show you exactly how you’re spending your time. Not only does this help you become more productive, but it’s easy to share with your boss or your wider team to demonstrate what you’re working on and how efficient you really are.
There’s a common theme with the tools that are highlighted in this article. They all require a certain level of commitment from the user. Technology can only take you so far and ultimately, you’re responsible for your own productivity. If you’re prepared to make that commitment, then you might be surprised at the per-hour efficiency that’s possible.