Hiring software for small businesses
Hiring software for small businesses
8 min. read
March 1, 2024
Hiring the right employee for your business can be difficult. In an economy with strong labor demand and rising wage expectations (due to inflation), hiring becomes almost impossible: NFIB’s July Jobs Report indicates that 64% of small businesses are hiring, and 91% of those hiring businesses report finding few or no qualified applicants.
Large companies have human resource departments and outside recruiters to help them find candidates. What can you do as a small business owner to compete in the hiring market? The answer is simple: use hiring software.
This article explains what hiring software is and how it helps small businesses. Read our product reviews below and take advantage of the best small business hiring solutions on the market!
What is hiring software?
Hiring software is a tool small businesses use to simplify the process of recruiting and hiring employees. Hiring software typically includes features to automate job postings, manage applicant resumes, schedule and conduct interviews, and extend job offers. In addition, hiring software may offer features for onboarding new hires, performance management, and employee retention.
How does hiring software help small businesses?
Small businesses have limited visibility in the hiring market (and other markets in general), but hiring software can boost your presence in many ways. Namely, it gives you access to a larger pool of candidates by sharing your job postings in networks that extend beyond the usual job board sites (Indeed, Glassdoor, LinkedIn, etc). Some hiring solutions also include features for employer branding, which can help you gain recognition and build a reputation with candidates.
In addition to increasing your presence, hiring software can help you identify and target suitable candidates for your open positions. For example, most solutions offer resume targeting, which allows you to prescreen applicants based on job requirements. Some solutions will even provide candidate rankings and scoring, which further help you identify the most qualified candidates.
Hiring software also makes it easier for small businesses to engage with job applicants. For example, many platforms allow you to message candidates directly with built-in text and email.
What about interviews and onboarding? Hiring software has you covered with embedded interview scheduling tools and payroll integrations that allow you to add an employee to your books in just a few clicks. These features will enable you to spend less time on administrative tasks and more time getting to know candidates.
Recommendations
Snagajob is a hiring platform with over 6 million hourly job seekers. With Snagajob, you can manage job postings and evaluate candidates in one place. Snagajob also lets you create and publish team schedules in less than 10 minutes, with real-time messaging that empowers team members and helps you manage shift changes. Snagajob has a small business plan starting at $89 per month.
PROS:
- Access to a large pool of hourly workers
- Includes online interview scheduling tools
- Allows for immediate candidate engagement with instant notifications for location managers
- Has an option to prioritize job postings for a fee
- Includes an e-verify system to help with employee onboarding
CONS:
- Not many workers are available for businesses outside of the retail, restaurant, and hospitality sectors
- Customer support is via email, and response times often exceed 24 hours
Best for:
- Restaurant, retail, and hospitality businesses looking for hourly workers
Monster is a hiring platform that automatically matches, ranks, and scores candidates based on your specific requirements. With over 2,000 pre-written job descriptions to choose from, Monster targeted job postings are quick and simple. Monster also allows you to build your brand as an employer and makes it easy for candidates to gain insight into why they may want to work for you. Monster’s plan for small businesses is $279 per month.
PROS:
- Has a branding tool that lets you create a profile as an employer where you can add company history, locations, benefits, recent jobs, and upload videos
- Lets you contact multiple candidates at once via email or text and offers templates for standard communications, such as the initial contact and invitation to interview
- Excellent targeting capabilities, with many filters to choose from
- Easy to evaluate candidates by comparing multiple resumes at the same time
CONS:
- Very expensive compared to other hiring software, especially if you’re only hiring hourly workers
- Resume database may have redundancies, such as the same email showing up on multiple resumes
Best for:
- Small businesses hiring skilled workers for full-time jobs
WizeHire is a service that helps you design high-quality job ads and attract better candidates using preset templates and hiring experts. WizeHire posts your advertisement to 100+ employment sites and helps you evaluate candidates through their online dashboard. Wize hire has two pricing plans: a monthly $199 plan for businesses hiring now and an annual plan ($165 per month) for businesses that are always hiring.
PROS:
- Online dashboard includes resume and personality fit reports
- Includes step-by-step interview guides
- Access to hiring coaches for a small fee
- Integrates with tax software (RetroTax) and payroll software (Gusto) to facilitate onboarding
CONS:
- Does not allow for text communication with applicants
- Does not include CRM tools that help you track and search who you’ve spoken with previously
- Job posting feature costs an additional monthly fee
Best for:
- Small businesses that want a wide variety of hiring services (including access to hiring coaches) on one platform
Traba is a free hiring solution to help businesses with light industrial and event staffing needs, although they may be able to support other industries on request. Businesses in those spaces no longer have to deal with half of their workers not showing up. Traba fills 100% of all shifts with the top 1% of workers. The Traba platform allows you to create roles and shift calendars, keep time sheets, and view all your invoices in one place.
PROS:
- Users can favor or block individuals to mark who their go-to workers are
- No subscription payments are required (Traba only charges a markup fee after you hire someone)
- No contracts, no commitments, and only pay for actual time worked down to the minute
- 24/7 live support from the customer service team
CONS:
- For now, Traba only operates in Texas and Florida
- Traba is a very new company
Best for:
- Businesses looking for hourly workers to help with light industrial jobs (e.g. warehouse jobs) and events
Conclusion
Hiring software helps you save time and money on the hiring process while increasing your chances of finding qualified candidates.
If you need advice before choosing a hiring platform, reach out to info@withhansa.com and schedule a free consultation (in English or Spanish) with a Hansa expert. We can go through everything in detail - ask as many questions as you want.
Also, if you haven’t yet, read our article on when to hire employees.