Off-the-shelf CRM, on the shelf
You pay for a well-known recruitment CRM but half the consultants keep their own spreadsheet because the workflow doesn't match how the desk actually sells.
✦ Recruitment
A CRM for recruitment built around how your desks actually work
Candidate and client pipelines, split fees, compliance tracking and client portals, built around your desk structure rather than forced into someone else's workflow.
✦ Where it hurts
The usual state of play in a growing agency
Split fees by hand
Multi-consultant placements and referral splits are worked out on a calculator at month end, and disputes follow.
Compliance chased manually
Right-to-work checks, references and ID documents tracked on a spreadsheet, and something is always about to expire.
Clients ring for status
Every 'how's my shortlist coming along' question is a phone call because there's no portal to check.
Data locked in per-seat licences
Growing the desk means buying more seats of software that still doesn't fit how you work.
Duplicated candidate records
The same candidate exists three times across email, CRM and a WhatsApp thread, and nobody's sure which is current.
✦ Modules
What we build for recruitment agencies
Delivered one module at a time, each live and in use before the next begins.
- Candidate and client pipelines matched to your actual desk structure, not a generic sales funnel
- Split fee and commission calculation for multi-consultant placements and referrals, encoded once
- Compliance tracking for right-to-work, references and certifications, with expiry alerts before they lapse
- Client portal for shortlists, interview scheduling and approvals, without a phone call each time
- CV parsing, search and matching against your own taxonomy of skills and roles
- Timesheet and placement tracking for temp and contract desks, feeding invoicing directly
- Job board and LinkedIn integration so postings and applications land in one pipeline
- Consultant performance and billings reporting by desk, sector and consultant
✦ Buy or build
When an off-the-shelf recruitment CRM is the right answer
For a single desk running a conventional perm or temp model, an established recruitment CRM is usually the right first purchase, and cheaper than a bespoke build. We will tell you that on the call if it's true.
Bespoke earns its keep once you're paying for seats across multiple desks that each work differently, once split-fee and compliance rules have become too specific for the product's settings, or once the licence cost has grown past what owning the system outright would cost.
✦ The wider view
A CRM is a CRM, whatever the industry
A recruitment CRM is a specialised version of a general problem: tracking relationships, pipelines and revenue against people who move through defined stages. If your requirements go beyond recruitment - for example a CRM that also needs to manage supplier or partner relationships - our [custom CRM development](/services/custom-crm-development) service covers the broader build, and a recruitment-specific build usually sits on the same foundation.
✦ Questions we get asked
Recruitment CRM questions
Should we just buy Bullhorn or a similar product?
For a conventional single desk, often yes. Bespoke pays off once your desk structure, fee splits or compliance rules have outgrown what the product's settings allow.
Can it handle split fees between consultants?
Yes. Split and referral rules are encoded once against your actual commission structure, so calculations are consistent and disputes drop away.
Will candidates and clients get a portal?
Yes, if you want one. Clients can review shortlists and approve interviews, and candidates can track application status, without a call to the desk.
Can it track compliance and right-to-work expiry?
Yes. Documents and their expiry dates are held against each candidate record with alerts before anything lapses.
Does it replace our job board postings?
No, it integrates with them. Applications from your job boards and LinkedIn land in the same pipeline as everything else.
Talk to us about your desk We'll tell you what we'd build.
Bring your fee structure and your worst compliance near-miss. We'll tell you honestly whether bespoke is the right answer.
No pitch deck · We map your process · You own the software