In this guide 6 sections
Ask if the software holds fee terms per client and blocks duplicate submissions. Check that it counts the replacement window from joining, builds daily reports from the pipeline and keeps the database under the owner’s control. Migration, Tally and cost matter too. Put the same questions to GullySystem’s Recruitment Agency Management Software and to any rival.
Questions about mandates and fee terms
Many applicant tracking systems are built for company HR teams. They track candidates well and clients poorly. An agency earns from the client side, so start there.
During the demo, request one real client record on screen. It should carry the fee basis, the payment trigger, the replacement clause and every open mandate. If those live in a notes field, the software was not built for agencies.
- Can each client have its own fee basis and payment days?
- Does each mandate carry seat count, salary band and closing date?
- Is the replacement clause stored per client?
- Can a closed mandate be hidden from recruiters?
Questions about duplicates and the pipeline
The same résumé sent twice to one client damages trust quickly. How does the software catch it? The check should run before a profile leaves the agency, at the moment of submission, and not after the client has already replied.
Stage names should match what your recruiters already say, so check that. Then ask where pending client feedback shows up. Candidates waiting at L1 for a week need someone to chase the panel.
Questions about joining and the replacement window
The fee is earned on joining day and kept only if the candidate stays. Ask how notice periods and joining dates are followed. A reminder in the week before joining catches many backouts.
Then ask where the replacement clock starts. It should run from the joining date on each placement. An early exit inside the window should be logged against the invoice that was raised.
Questions about data, access and migration
Your candidate database is the agency’s main asset. Ask who can see which records and who can export in bulk. Role-based access lets a recruiter see his own desk while the owner sees everything.
Ask how your existing CV folders, client lists and past closures will move across. Ask who checks them before go-live. Résumés from job portals usually depend on your own portal subscription, so confirm what is imported and how.
- Who can export candidate data in bulk?
- Is every export logged?
- Who loads and checks the old records?
- Who owns the data if the contract ends?
Questions about reports, accounts and cost
Recruiters lose evening time typing the day’s numbers into a report. Find out if calls, submissions and interviews are counted from the pipeline itself. Ask to see recruiter targets against closures.
Check if invoices reach Tally directly or through an export, and if that costs extra. Is a price published at all? A demo run on one of your own mandates tells you more than a feature list.
Recruitment software vendor scorecard
A sheet listing the questions from this guide down the left, with one column per vendor. Score each answer as shown in the demo, promised later or not offered. Totals matter less than the gaps in the first two sections.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Is an ATS the same as recruitment agency software?
Not quite. An applicant tracking system handles résumés, screening, submissions, interviews and offers. Agency software adds the client side: mandates, fee terms, placement invoices and collection.
Can GullySystem’s software post our mandates to job portals?
No. Résumés downloaded from portals or forwarded by mail can be imported. Posting a mandate out to a portal is not part of it.
Does it run payroll for contract staff we deploy?
Not on its own. Deployed workers, their client sites and monthly billing can be recorded. Timesheets, muster rolls and wages need a payroll-led system beside it.
Does a lone recruiter need agency software?
No. A recruiter closing two or three mandates a month manages well with a spreadsheet and a mail folder.