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As an agency recruiter I've been underwhelmed by some of the software on the market. Is Lever designed for use by agencies as well as hiring companies, or is it

by fecak 11y ago

As an agency recruiter I've been underwhelmed by some of the software on the market. Is Lever designed for use by agencies as well as hiring companies, or is it specific to internal hiring? There would be a fair amount of overlap in functionality, but significant differences as well.

nateps 11y ago
As you point out, there is overlap, but there are some pretty large differences between the needs of recruiting agencies and companies. We believe we can create the best product by keeping focused on the needs of companies doing internal recruiting. As well, the industry is trending in the direction of internal recruiting being used for a larger percentage of hires at most companies. We think this makes sense, because employee tenure is shortening. Companies are learning that recruiting must be an ongoing operational function they are always doing even to remain the same size. Thus, we've kept focused on the needs of companies doing internal hiring for now.
AJ007 11y ago
Can you list one or two of the things/features that you feel are the biggest failures with what you have tried?
- fecak 11y ago
  Categorizing candidates beyond just buzzwords, integrations with other common tools/sites, general applicant tracking issues through full process, effective mail lists/merges. I've used a few systems but none that I've seen seem to entirely "get" agency recruiting needs, so I've typically bought based on cost and tried to modify as much as possible or used several tools where one great one would suffice.
  - nateps 11y ago
    Wow, that sentiment rings incredibly true. While the specific use cases may be a bit different, many companies are similarly fed up with the legacy ATS products for internal recruiting. Every time we encounter a recruiter or a hiring manager using a spreadsheet we ask ourselves why. We take design very seriously at Lever, and the workarounds extreme users do are some of the most insightful ways to learn what the real needs are.
    - fecak 11y ago
      Agreed - I used spreadsheets longer than I care to admit. If you ever want to pick an agency recruiter's brain to get another perspective I'm happy to help.
  - AJ007 11y ago
    When you say categorizing, this would be placing them in categories yourself, or some sort of smart categories the software creates?

by fecak 11y ago

nateps 11y ago

As you point out, there is overlap, but there are some pretty large differences between the needs of recruiting agencies and companies. We believe we can create the best product by keeping focused on the needs of companies doing internal recruiting. As well, the industry is trending in the direction of internal recruiting being used for a larger percentage of hires at most companies. We think this makes sense, because employee tenure is shortening. Companies are learning that recruiting must be an ongoing operational function they are always doing even to remain the same size. Thus, we've kept focused on the needs of companies doing internal hiring for now.

AJ007 11y ago

Can you list one or two of the things/features that you feel are the biggest failures with what you have tried?

fecak 11y ago
Categorizing candidates beyond just buzzwords, integrations with other common tools/sites, general applicant tracking issues through full process, effective mail lists/merges. I've used a few systems but none that I've seen seem to entirely "get" agency recruiting needs, so I've typically bought based on cost and tried to modify as much as possible or used several tools where one great one would suffice.
- nateps 11y ago
  Wow, that sentiment rings incredibly true. While the specific use cases may be a bit different, many companies are similarly fed up with the legacy ATS products for internal recruiting. Every time we encounter a recruiter or a hiring manager using a spreadsheet we ask ourselves why. We take design very seriously at Lever, and the workarounds extreme users do are some of the most insightful ways to learn what the real needs are.
  - fecak 11y ago
    Agreed - I used spreadsheets longer than I care to admit. If you ever want to pick an agency recruiter's brain to get another perspective I'm happy to help.
- AJ007 11y ago
  When you say categorizing, this would be placing them in categories yourself, or some sort of smart categories the software creates?