Recruitment today is more demanding than ever: digitalization and a shortage of skilled workers are increasing the pressure on your HR team. You need to find the right talent quickly and efficiently while meeting growing demands for transparency and a seamless candidate experience.
Recruitment tools support you with these challenges. They automate time-consuming processes, optimize your talent search and improve your position in the competition for the best talent.
There is a huge range on offer: there are now recruitment tools for every step of the recruitment process. But which ones really suit your company? Which solutions will advance your recruiting?
In this article, we present the most important tools for the year 2025. You will find out what types of tools there are and how exactly they can help you find suitable candidates.
Contents
What are recruitment tools?
Recruitment tools are specialized software solutions and digital tools that companies can use to optimize their recruitment processes and make them more efficient. They mainly focus on the stages of job advertisement, applicant management and communication as well as employee selection. In recent years, the onboarding of new employees has also been increasingly included.
The difference between recruitment tools and HR software
The terms “recruitment tool” and “HR software” are often used interchangeably, although they cover different functions and areas of application.
Recruitment tools are specifically designed to optimize the recruitment process by supporting companies in the search, selection and management of applicants. In contrast, HR software focuses on the comprehensive management of employees throughout their entire “life cycle” in the company. It is primarily used after an employee has been hired and provides support in areas such as payroll accounting, absence management, contract management and the planning and implementation of further training.
Both recruitment tools and HR software are important, but are used at different times. Ideally, you should combine the two to create a precisely tailored system that ensures smooth data transfer.
If you want to find out whether HR software or a recruiting tool is more suitable for your company, have a look at our article HR Suite or Recruiting Software: a guide for businesses .
Advantages of recruitment tools
For many, but by no means all companies, recruiting tools are already an indispensable part of the recruitment strategy. No wonder, as they offer a whole range of advantages:
- Gain time for the essentials: With recruitment tools, you can automate typical time-wasters such as creating and publishing job advertisements and focus entirely on convincing promising candidates to join your company.
- Improve your candidate selection: Simplify and accelerate internal matching, keep track of everything and identify the best talent faster than ever.
- Save costs: Targeted tools tailored to your processes reduce your recruiting costs.
- Make more informed decisions: Recruiting tools offer increasingly better analysis functions and thus provide you with an optimal basis for decision-making.
- Optimize the candidate experience: Good recruitment tools ensure more transparency in the application process, enable candidates to have a smooth, positive experience and thus maximize your chances with top talent.
Recruitment tools to attract candidates
With recruitment tools for attracting candidates, you can reach exactly the talent that will drive your company forward faster and in a more targeted manner. These tools help you to draw the attention of suitable candidates to your company and communicate with them. Below we take a closer look at the most important types.
Multi-posting solutions
Multi-posting solutions are superspreaders in the best sense of the word. They allow you to distribute your job ads on all common job platforms with just a few clicks. This saves you an enormous amount of time, ensures the greatest possible reach and allows you to manage your ads conveniently from one place. Many tools offer sophisticated analysis and reporting functions that you can use to further optimize your job ads.
Tool tip: Multi-posting from softgarden
softgarden makes multi-posting child’s play: publish your job ads on over 1,200 job boards, Google and social media – quickly, easily and efficiently. You can reach thousands of potential candidates with just one click.
Our AI-powered solution turns your job descriptions into engaging ads that showcase your open positions perfectly.
You can also benefit from attractive special conditions and low-cost packages for your job ads. Maximize your reach, minimize your costs.
Employee referral programmes
Employee referral programmes are one of the most efficient ways to find suitable new recruits. Incentives such as bonuses encourage your employees to share an open position in their own network.
Employee referrals are so effective because they come from people who know your company well. These employees can realistically assess which of their acquaintances are a good fit for the position in question. And indeed: employees who join a company through recommendations often turn out to be a stroke of luck.
Digital employee referral programmes give you decisive advantages: They make it easy to share job advertisements and ensure better traceability for all parties involved, for example by showing which employee made the referral.
Digital referral programmes cover the entire process, from submission to referral tracking, and provide transparency for rewards. Analytics immediately show which referrals are successful. This saves you time, minimizes errors and motivates employees with a user-friendly platform.
The employee referral programme by softgarden
With softgarden’s referral manager, you can enjoy all the benefits of a digital employee referral programme. It’s a cost-effective way to increase your reach and boost your chances of finding top candidates.
A prime example is our client Damovo, where one in three employee referrals results in a hire. Find out more in our case study: Hire top candidates faster thanks to employee referrals
Test now: Employee referral programme by softgarden
Career website builder
A convincing careers website is the basic prerequisite for successful recruitment. Oftentimes, it’s the first point of contact between applicants and your company and should therefore present you as an attractive employer.
Accordingly, a good careers page needs a clear, applicant-friendly structure as well as appealing content in text, images and video. All relevant information must be clearly visible. Candidates should be able to apply as quickly and easily as possible via the careers page. It is also important that the site is optimized for mobile devices. (You can find more tips in our free checklist: The ultimate career page checklist)
A career website builder makes it much easier to set up and manage your career pages. With a recruiting tool like this, you don’t need any special technical knowledge to create an appealing and convincing career website. Good career website builders use proven structural elements and seamlessly integrate job ads, forms and analytics.
Tool tip: Career websites powered by softgarden
With softgarden’s career page Pro, you can create a career website in no time at all that is not only visually impressive, but also delivers concrete results, as in the case of Testronic, which achieved 45% of its new hires via the softgarden career site. (Click here for the case study: Testronic – 45 % of our hires are from our own career page)
You can customize the page to your corporate design and exchange content as you wish. The career page is also impressive on mobile devices and can be continuously optimized thanks to the integrated analysis function.
Test now: Career Websites powered by softgarden
Social media recruiting solutions
With social recruiting, you cast your net on social networks, precisely on the channels where your ideal candidates are active: This is ensured by target group targeting, finely tuned campaigns and seamless tracking of the performance of your job ads.
Social recruiting tools help you to reach potential candidates via social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram or Xing. This allows you to reach not only actively seeking applicants, but also passive candidates who are open to new positions. Direct contact via social media facilitates communication and by sharing job ads with users, you can achieve a high reach even with a small budget.
Tool tip: Social recruiting with Hokify
Hokify is a good example of a powerful social recruiting tool. Thanks to the automatic distribution of your job ads on over 50 job boards and on all relevant social media platforms, you can maximize your reach and the visibility of your candidate search with this tool.
Recruitment chatbots
The rapid rise of AI makes it possible: Recruitment chatbots support your recruitment around the clock by guiding applicants through the application process, answering frequently asked questions and presenting the most important information about a position.
Chatbots respond in real time and relieve you of a lot of routine work through automation. They take the pressure off your team and give you time for personal contact with the most promising candidates.
Thanks to their constant availability and fast response time, they speed up the application process and improve the candidate experience. This in turn increases the likelihood that top talent will choose your company.
Tool tip: Text recruiting by softgarden
Text recruiting by softgarden is a good example of an efficient solution in the field of recruitment chatbots. You offer applicants another direct and uncomplicated application channel.
You can freely define and easily customize the questions that the chatbot should ask applicants. Time-consuming forms and registrations are no longer necessary. This lowers the inhibition threshold for applications, speeds up the process and leaves a positive impression on applicants.
Test now: Text recruiting by softgarden
Recruitment tools to manage and select candidates
Digital recruitment tools such as applicant management systems, video interview solutions and online assessments make it easier to select and manage your candidates.
Applicant management systems
An applicant management system is a digital solution that simplifies your entire recruiting process and makes it more efficient. You manage applications and messages in one central location.
The best applicant management systems automate a variety of processes and support you in selecting the right candidates for a position. They speed up your recruiting processes and enable faster feedback and a better candidate experience.
Download our free whitepaper to find out more about what makes a good applicant management system: Whitepaper – What a modern applicant tracking software should do
Tool tip: Applicant tracking software by softgarden
Digitize your entire recruitment process, fill vacancies faster, convince even demanding candidates and strengthen your employer brand. The applicant tracking software by softgarden simplifies both your internal recruitment processes and the candidate experience. This helps you find the right candidates faster.
Test now: Applicant tracking software by softgarden
Video interview solutions
The greatly improved range of video interview solutions is probably one of the very few positive legacies of the coronavirus pandemic.
Video interviews save you and your candidates time, effort and money. These tools enable interviews to take place anywhere and at any time and can be used as a preliminary stage for a face-to-face interview or even as a substitute for a face-to-face interview.
The best solutions offer seamlessly integrated functions such as evaluation tools, intelligent appointment schedulers or options for analyzing calls.
Video interview solutions expand the circle of potential candidates beyond your own region and offer maximum flexibility to everyone involved.
Tool tip: Video interviews with Cammio
One recommended video interview tool is Cammio. The platform enables both time-shifted and live interviews. Features such as smart scheduling ensure flexibility and sometimes significantly speed up the recruiting process.
Test now: Video recruiting with Cammio
Online assessment solutions
Online assessments are digital tests that you can use to assess and evaluate the suitability, skills and personality traits of your applicants. They run on specialized platforms and combine standardized tests with gamification elements and, increasingly, AI-supported analysis.
The advantage for your recruitment: Your candidates can take the test from anywhere and the results can be compared objectively.
Properly prepared and adapted to the specific requirements of your company, online assessment solutions save you a lot of time and improve the quality of the pre-selection based on easily comparable data. They also ensure that subjective impressions play as little a role as possible in the candidate selection process.
Tool tip: Online assessments with Aivy
Aivy is an impressive online assessment tool with its focus on gamification. This playful approach appeals to applicants and highlights their personal strengths.
With Aivy’s objective assessment options, you promote equal opportunities and reduce unconscious bias that can occur in the recruitment process. Online assessments from Aivy help you to find the best talent faster.
Test now: Online assessments with Aivy
Recruitment tools to hire employees
Recruitment tools support the recruitment phase by automating processes, improving communication, centralized document management and close integration with existing HR systems.
This lays an important foundation for the successful onboarding of new employees.
Digital personnel file
The digital personnel file heralds the end of the paper age: it is a recruiting tool for storing and managing employee data. All relevant documents such as employment contracts, application documents, references and other evidence are stored in the digital personnel file. They are stored securely, either locally or in the cloud. With the digital personnel file, your team can quickly access and edit employee information and share it across departments.
The digital personnel file is a great benefit for your recruiting processes: it enables more efficient document management, faster access to important information and better integration into existing applicant management systems. Leading solutions are also adapted to the legal framework in terms of data protection.
Tool tip: Digital personnel file by hr works
As a recruitment tool, the digital personnel file by hr works is a real boon for your HR employees. The software keeps all employee data and documents in one secure location and gives your teams access from anywhere. This speeds up the management of documents and ensures an efficient recruiting process. Less paper, less stress.
Test now: Digital personnel file by hr works
Recruitment tools to onboard employees
Onboarding software, learning management systems and feedback and survey software support you in training new employees. They promote a smooth start and provide you with valuable insights to optimize your processes.
As they work regardless of location, these recruitment tools enable a quick and flexible start to the new position – perfect for the era of remote work.
Onboarding software
With the right onboarding software, you can integrate new employees into your company quickly and smoothly. The software automates administrative tasks, provides clear access to relevant information and also supports you in developing customized induction plans.
Powerful onboarding software enables personalized content, ensures clear processes and thus creates the basis for a successful start in the new company.
Good onboarding lays the foundation for your new employees to reach their full potential. As softgarden found out in the “Onboarding Reloaded” study, 17.8 % of new hires quit within the first 100 days – a significant increase compared to 11.6 % in 2018. Despite this, only 18.4 % of companies use onboarding software. This is despite the fact that new employees greatly appreciate digital onboarding tools. Effective onboarding reduces uncertainty and strengthens employee loyalty in the long term.
Tool tip: Onboarding Solution by softgarden
The onboarding solution from softgarden takes the pressure off your HR team and turns the onboarding process into a success story. With automated messages, process templates and seamless support from the very first moment. Improve internal communication, make the work of your HR employees easier and ensure optimal integration of your new hires.
Test now: Onboarding solution from softgarden
Learning management systems (LMS)
Learning management systems (LMS) are regularly used in personnel development. They control access to and distribution of knowledge, improve learning processes and strengthen personnel development.
Thanks to LMS, your employees have access to training materials and learning content regardless of time and place. With a learning management system, you promote flexible and independent learning within your company.
In recruiting, LMS support the induction of new employees and thus help to ensure that they use their talents to achieve your goals as quickly as possible.
Tool tip: TeamTrainer by wissen.online
The TeamTrainer by wissen.online is a recommended learning management system. This solution is browser-based and enables maximum flexibility and easy access thanks to its modular structure. You can use TeamTrainer for all types of training and adapt it precisely to your company’s requirements.
With features such as event management, reporting and certificate management, TeamTrainer is the ideal support for your recruiting. Organize training courses quickly and easily and always keep an eye on learning progress thanks to transparent tracking.
Test now: TeamTrainer from wissen.online
Feedback and survey software
Feedback and survey software are tools that you can use to systematically collect and evaluate feedback from applicants and employees.
The best solutions use automated survey invitations that you can easily and quickly adapt to the individual needs of your company.
Feedback and survey software is indispensable if you want to continuously improve your recruiting processes. It provides you with the valuable information you need for optimization. This allows you to identify weak points, rectify them in a targeted manner and increase your attractiveness as an employer.
Tool tip: Feedback Solution by softgarden
The feedback solution by softgarden goes feedback hunting for you – and it’s completely automated. The solution collects employer reviews from employees and applicants and thus contributes to an authentic, transparent and trustworthy employer brand. Agaplesion Bethanien Diakonie, for example, was able to increase its kununu score to 4.28 with the softgarden feedback solution and is now well above the industry average of 3.43. (Find out more in the case study: Actively scoring bonus points for the company image as an HR department )
You can integrate the collected reviews on your career page, on Google and also on kununu and thus improve your visibility and your chances of attracting top employees.
Test now: The employer review solution by softgarden
Choosing the right recruitment tools
So how do you choose the right recruiting tool for your company? To avoid getting lost in the sea of possibilities, you should be guided by very specific criteria. In the end, you will find the recruitment tools that really suit your company, take the pressure off your employees and win over applicants.
Integration capability
Can the recruitment tool be easily integrated into your existing HR systems? The best recruitment tools can be easily linked to your applicant management system, your onboarding software or your calendar tools and can also be connected to other solutions via an interface.
softgarden solutions offer interfaces to each other and to the numerous partner solutions in the softgarden Marketplace – for a seamless recruiting and candidate experience.
User friendliness
Does the tool offer you an intuitive interface and is it easy to use? Complicated recruiting tools not only put HR employees off, but also applicants. A good tool is clear and makes things easier for you not only in theory, but also in practice.
Cost efficiency
Are the costs of the recruiting tool transparent and comprehensible? Consider not only the license costs, but also possible extra costs for support, additional features or training.
Range of functions
Does the recruitment tool offer all the functions required for the respective recruiting step? The framework is usually formed by job advertisements, applicant management and reporting. Other functions such as feedback and surveys are valuable additions that improve your recruiting process.
Conclusion
Digital recruitment tools are already indispensable in modern recruiting. In 2025, their role will continue to grow in light of rapid technological developments, particularly in the field of AI.
Recruitment tools fulfill a variety of tasks throughout the entire recruiting process. They ensure greater speed, greater efficiency and simpler, more pleasant processes that make life easier for both recruiters and applicants.
Regardless of whether you want to draw candidates’ attention to your vacancies, check the suitability of applicants or optimize onboarding: recruiting tools such as applicant management systems, feedback tools or onboarding solutions are precisely tailored to the challenges of recruitment.
They enable your HR employees to concentrate fully on building trusting relationships. Because AI or not: in the end, people choose your company because they trust you.
Make 2025 the year in which you take advantage of all the possibilities offered by digital recruitment tools and find the employees who will drive your company forward in the long term more quickly and efficiently.
