Glossary
A plain-language definition from the Curriculo hiring glossary.
A recruiting CRM is software for building and keeping relationships with potential candidates over time, including people who haven't applied for a job.
Why it matters
An ATS manages people who applied to an open role. A recruiting CRM manages people you might hire later. If an ATS is your inbox for applications, a CRM is your contact list for future hires. When a role opens, you start with warm contacts instead of a blank search.
What a recruiting CRM does
- Stores profiles of potential candidates, with notes and tags.
- Groups people into talent pools, such as senior engineers or past finalists.
- Schedules follow-ups and tracks every message sent.
- Shows when you last spoke with someone and what they said.
A short example
A candidate finishes second for a product role in March. Instead of losing touch, the recruiter tags her as a past finalist and sets a reminder for three months. In June, a similar role opens. The recruiter reaches out first, and she's interviewing within a week.
How to judge whether it's working
Track the share of hires that came from your CRM pools. If you made 10 hires and 3 came from people already in your CRM, that's 30 percent. Also track reply rate on follow-ups. Low replies often mean messages are too generic or too frequent.
Common mistakes
- Adding hundreds of contacts and never following up.
- Sending the same message to every pool.
- Keeping CRM contacts and ATS candidates in separate systems with no link.
- Forgetting to ask people how often they want to hear from you.
Read the full recruiting CRM guide, learn how to build a talent pipeline, and see how candidate sourcing fills it.