ATS vs CRM: Why Do You Need A Recruitment CRM?

October 1, 2024

Beamery Team

Why do you need a Recruitment or Talent CRM? How is it different from your ATS? These are the questions on the lips of thousands of HR professionals who are trying to get the best results from their recruitment.

Even the best software in the world can’t fix every recruiting challenge… but getting the right tech stack can save you time and money, and put you leaps and bounds ahead of competitors.

What is an ATS, and what is a Talent CRM? 🤔

ATS: Your Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is a repository for applicants and manages the application process. It’s often a compliance requirement, and it’s the system of record that recruiters traditionally rely on.

CRM: Your Candidate Relationship Management (CRM) system is for job seekers and candidates. It’s the engine that drives your sourcing team, lets you create talent pools, and helps you build and nurture relationships with passive talent.

Put simply, your ATS is a workflow and compliance tool that manages applicants, while your Talent CRM is an ecosystem of all passive and active candidates, as well as everyone who has previously applied to your company.

Think of it as a talent database and workflow management tool for Talent Acquisition to manage pre-application activities, from sourcing through to shortlisting, and for compliantly storing the details of people who were not selected for roles, in order to keep in touch.

“There is no all-in-one recruiting technology platform or vendor to satisfy all of an organization’s hiring needs.” – Gartner*

If your company is large, you no doubt have some sort of ATS. But a Talent CRM should also be part of your tech stack – it is now a core part of the “key systems required”, according to Gartner.

Why You Need A Talent CRM ✨

Spreadsheets are great for accounting but terrible for recruiting. You have to manually update everything, you don’t get any insight into candidate relationships, and you have to use them in conjunction with other tools (email etc.) so you’re always jumping around.

If you are a large organization relying on spreadsheets to manage candidate information, you are probably:

Wading through required fields and forms, wasting time with manual data entry. This is hugely inefficient, and can negatively impact time-to-hire and candidate conversion (to name just a few metrics).
Missing out on better analytics around what’s working and what’s not, in your marketing efforts. A spreadsheet is not going to automatically track engagement, show you ROI, or show you if a candidate is more or less engaged.

Proper HR technology is essential, if you have a team of people trying to hire for numerous roles. So is an ATS enough?

Some HR and Talent Acquisition leaders think they don’t need a Talent CRM if they have an ATS. But, while an ATS can do lots of cool things, there are several important things it can’t do.

An ATS usually won’t let you hold on to talent data following an application, or run nurturing activities to keep candidates warm. This means if someone was a close second (Silver Medallist) for a role, you will likely lose any record of that. That’s a really great source of talent data, lost forever.
When you ARE able to store talent data post-application in an ATS, you run the risk of keeping things you shouldn’t by mistake. You won’t be able to get consent from those people at scale, and run the risk of non-compliance (and big fines).
Data about candidates may be going out of date inside your ATS – making it unusable for filling new requisitions or targeted nurture programs.
The ATS is not designed or built for the wider TA team to run (and track) outreach programs, sourcing or recruitment marketing activities.

“As the recruiting function expands to compete for talent, TA applications evolve to cover a broader set of activities, such as recruitment marketing, candidate relationship management (CRM).” – Gartner

The Benefits Of A Talent CRM ⭐

As the role of TA evolves, and technology advances, it is time to look beyond the ATS and invest in a CRM system that lets you manage talent data compliantly; keep candidate and talent community information up to date; nurture and target people for roles, and track the impact of your recruitment marketing efforts.

And there are other benefits to choosing a good talent CRM.

1. Improve TA collaboration

You can bring talent acquisition teams together, and get them working more efficiently and collaboratively in one, shared system – with a shared view of the whole talent pool.

A good Talent CRM will centralize all the information you obtained on an individual – whether engagement in a marketing campaign, attendance at an event, direct back and forth on a particular open role, etc. – and make it easy to view, update, and match to opportunities.

Your team should be able to seamlessly share notes, track candidates, develop and nurture leads, and document activity collaboratively and transparently, across your entire organization.

Of course, the right solution will let you customize your experience and configure the tool, so that only the people who need to see something will have access to it.

2. Source talent proactively

The ATS is entirely reactive: you can only use it to deal with candidates that have already applied. There’s an obvious issue here. If you’re actively sourcing candidates, you need a Recruitment CRM where you can easily add contacts, add notes about them, and ensure the data is always up to date for whenever a suitable role comes up.

With a good CRM, you can get proactive, target the prospects that you really want, and build new relationships.

3. Hire for hard-to-fill roles

Certain roles will always get floods of applicants. For many positions, though, the river of applications is running dry.

If you’re hiring for leadership positions or STEM roles, for example, your success relies on the ability to build a pipeline of candidates and nurture relationships. Simply posting job adverts won’t do the trick!

It’s here that the CRM comes into its own: its very purpose is to help you build a talent pool of non-applicants that fit your culture and your open roles.

4. Produce candidate shortlists in an instant

With an AI-powered Talent CRM, it is really easy (and fast) to uncover possible candidates that might be a good fit, to discuss with the Hiring Manager. This can all happen before any roles have even been advertised.

You don’t want to start screening and interviewing until you’re sure you’re in the right ball park – it would be a waste of time and money. Collaborate around potential candidates with Hiring Managers, and quickly decide if the search needs some different criteria. Or, snap up a top performer before your competitors do!

5. See greater ROI from other tools

A great Talent CRM works best when well integrated with your ATS. Prevent loss of talent data between systems, eliminate the need to update two systems, or constantly jump between systems to find information, and empower recruiters with the same ‘truth” in each system.

Make sure there is a super smooth transition from when candidates are selected for an open vacancy to officially entering the application process.

When your CRM is integrated with your HRIS, you can see your alumni and employees alongside external candidates, and create nurturing journeys that help with internal mobility and boomerang hiring – even better for your ROI on your CRM tech.

6. Get more from Careers fairs & events

Careers fairs and online campaigns are a great way to build your brand and attract passive candidates. The problem is that ROI is tricky to measure. It’s hard to track candidates that came to your event or saw your campaign.

Too often you’re unable to articulate the value of the event in the first place!

A good CRM will track attendees to your events and prospects from your campaigns automatically. It will help you nurture those fledgling relationships and give you the numbers you need to prove to your boss exactly how valuable the initiatives are.

Things to look for in a Talent CRM ✅

Hopefully you are convinced that a system designed for managing candidate data and interactions is a worthwhile investment. But there are certain features and functionalities that will maximize your ROI, and ensure you can get all the benefits listed above.

Centralized information

A good CRM centralizes all information related to candidate interactions, from marketing campaign engagement to event attendance and direct communications. You should be able to collect contact information from various channels, at scale, to power your CRM database.

Scalability and customization

Ensure your CRM can support large volumes of data and offers customizable configurations. You should be able to tailor the system to your specific needs, automating workflows and setting user permissions appropriately.

Compliance

When we are talking about people’s data, of course we need to think about compliance with data protection laws, and taking privacy seriously. Choose a CRM vendor that builds consent capture into their workflows, and ensures you comply with new regulations as they emerge.

Integration with ATS and HRIS

Not every CRM is compatible with systems like Workday and SAP. Integration with your ATS prevents data loss and ensures a smooth transition for candidates moving from sourcing to application. Integration with your HRIS allows you to manage internal mobility and alumni engagement effectively, enhancing your talent pool.

“Successful talent acquisition (TA) technology deployments function as an ecosystem of multiple recruiting (and HR) technologies working together.” – Gartner

Automation and AI Assistance

Modern CRMs can automate administrative tasks, and often leverage AI to identify and engage suitable candidates quickly. Check if your vendor has had their AI models audited for bias, and ensure you have flexibility around when and where to deploy AI (not every organization is ready for this – although they will need to be soon!)

“By 2027, 80% of recruiting technology vendors will have embedded AI capabilities into their offerings.” – Gartner

Integrations beyond HR

Does your CRM connect with workplace communication tools like Slack and Teams? This helps you discuss and evaluate potential candidates with Hiring Managers in a way that guarantees fast feedback, to help you collaborate better and make important decisions with speed.

Connected to accurate job descriptions

Standardization of roles and the skills required speeds things up, creates clarity over your requirements, and helps the organization ensure you’re hiring the critical skills you need today – and tomorrow. If your CRM doesn’t speak to your Job Architecture, you will struggle to get as much value from it.