Candidate Relationship Management: Benefits, Strategies & Trends

If you work in talent acquisition, you’ll know ghosting isn’t just a dating faux pas — it’s a recruiter’s worst nightmare. But it’s also inevitable if you haven’t taken the time to build a bond through candidate relationship management.

CRM (which isn’t to be confused with customer relationship management in the marketing world) isn’t just about avoiding the dreaded “It’s not you, it’s me” email. It’s about crafting relationships as strong as your next hire is talented.

We’ve sourced expert insights to walk you through the top tips, most effective tools, and strategies so slick you’ll be rushing to implement them…like, yesterday.

Ready to turn those maybes into definitelys? Swipe right on these insights! Er, keep scrolling to see our hiring tips.

TL;DR — Key Takeaways

• Candidate relationship management takes a strategic approach to attracting, engaging, and hiring talent. CRM applies to managing talent pools and building an appealing brand, but also applies to the hiring process, ensuring a high-quality candidate experience.
• CRM improves hiring quality by targeting potential hires who have the skill set you need. It also helps you build strong, long-lasting relationships with talented individuals, broadens your talent pool, and keeps candidates engaged.
• CRM systems include automated messaging, smart talent identification, candidate filtering, and personalization. Data analysis also helps companies understand recruitment performance.
• An essential feature of CRM systems is the ability to rate candidates based on their skill set and other assessments, allowing for a prioritized and comprehensive evaluation of each candidate’s suitability for the role.
• Companies can improve candidate management by researching the talent landscape. Personalized, consistent communication and streamlined hiring processes are so important these days. It’s also important to engage failed candidates and nurture new hires.

What is candidate relationship management?

Candidate relationship management (CRM) is a strategic method for overseeing engagement with past, current, and future job candidates. At a general level, CRM helps you manage talent pools, ensuring a steady stream of qualified applicants.

Effective CRM strategies include recruitment marketing to bolster your employer brand and engage potential candidates. It also enables you to use strategic communications to reach out to them effectively. Personalizing content encourages candidates to stay informed about new openings.

When done correctly, great candidate management enhances the hiring process, offering candidates clear communication regarding interviews, assessments, and role expectations.

Why is relationship management so important in the hiring process?

The job market’s heating up, and snagging candidates with the perfect mix of skills and spark? That’s become quite the challenge.

Candidate relationship management, in this case, isn’t just about attracting candidates but keeping the crème de la crème of talent. In a sense, it’s no longer just a piece of the recruitment puzzle — it’s the corner piece.

The two most important soft skills for recruiters in the coming years are….(drum roll please)….communication and relationship-building. 

The best recruiters must be great at building relationships and creating high-touch candidate experiences that will help them rise above the bots.

John Vlastelica, CEO of Recruiting Toolbox

Companies searching for the best talent must cultivate relationships and persuade candidates to choose their workplace. Fail to charm, and watch as those top prospects waltz over to the competition. That’s something most companies these days can hardly afford.

CRM solves this business challenge in three ways. 👇

1. Enhancing the candidate experience

CRM makes candidates more likely to accept job offers, which is an issue many companies face these days due to bad recruitment experiences.

Don’t think poor hiring experiences are hurting your recruiting process? Think again. 54% of candidates have walked away from a potential new job when the employer’s communication was more miss than hit.

Good CRM keeps candidates in the loop and engaged, meaning they’re usually more open to tackling in-depth assessments, giving you a clearer window into their potential. On the flip side, candidates reporting negative experiences are less likely to refer their contacts to your company.

“Today’s candidates have more options, and they know their worth! A positive candidate experience isn’t just a perk—it’s essential,” says Morgan Hayes, Burnett Specialists Staffing & Recruiting. “This means personalized interactions, transparent communication, and a smoother, more efficient hiring process.”

2. Building a healthy talent pool

Talent pools are often treasure troves of ‘almost was’ candidates who didn’t quite fit the bill before but are primed and ready for future roles.

By maintaining great relationships with these candidates, you’re able to activate those potential hires at any time (as long as they’re still looking for a job). Tap into that talent pool to spread the word about open positions and slash your time-to-hire in half.

3. Providing a competitive advantage

CRM strategies give companies a competitive advantage in a highly demanding talent market. This is mostly due to strong employer branding, as 50% of candidates say they wouldn’t work for a company with a bad reputation, even for a pay increase.

Companies that use talent relations and CRM techniques to identify the best talent and nurture those relationships hire better workers who remain in post for longer, too. Companies with a strong employer brand experience a 43% decrease in the cost per hire, for example.

That’s a huge advantage over employers who experience high turnover and attrition rates and must constantly look for qualified candidates every few months.

Follow this winning 5-point CRM strategy

Begin by auditing your own CRM processes to understand how your current CRM strategy is working out for you. Then follow these points to get your company back on track:

1. Discover

The best way to discover the most viable candidates? Assess the talent market! This means identifying where potential hires work or listing their resumes.

Considering job locations is important here, especially for roles in specific industries. For example, a full-time position in the entertainment industry might be more attractive if located in entertainment hubs like Culver City, CA, highlighting the importance of location in attracting the right talent.

• Conduct market research to discover what your ideal candidates actually want. Do they care a lot about corporate social responsibility? Do they hang out at specialist tech hubs or familiar haunts like LinkedIn?
• Analyze previous recruitment processes. Past failures highlight areas of improvement, which allows you to refine your talent relations.
• Current employees are a goldmine for candidate discovery. Use your best-performing staff as templates to create candidate personas to guide your CRM efforts.
• Keep diversity in mind. Post job ads on a wide range of boards to reach diverse communities and consider every possible source of talent.

2. Attract

After identifying promising talent, direct those individuals toward your talent management touchpoints.

• Tell compelling stories about your culture and mission. When writing blogs or emails, ask yourself — does this message encourage the reader to engage? If not, take a second look.
• Spread your message widely. Make good use of free social media platforms and professional networks. Use them to promote new roles and showcase your brand.
• Use job ads and job descriptions to clearly communicate role requirements. Also, remember to highlight your company’s unique attractions, such as mentorship programs, on-site fitness classes, or a fantastic selection of employee benefits.

3. Engage

Engagement is more than attracting sign-ups for email lists about future jobs or your company’s culture. It involves building long-term relationships with candidates from the first point of contact.

• Personalize recruiting messages using CRM tools. Content should meet individual needs, and candidates must feel valued after signing up.
• Include helpful recruiting content. Suggest training options, highlight industry trends, or provide career advice. It’s all about adding value at every touchpoint.
• Provide feedback to applicants. Update candidates about their test scores, work assessments, and interviews. Be transparent and honest without alienating or angering potential hires.

4. Hire

Candidate management continues even after contacts apply for open positions. The selection stage of the hiring process is usually where efficient CRM kicks into gear.

• Design streamlined interview processes. Strategic interviews with fewer questions ensure you’re not wasting anybody’s time.
• Use competencies to design laser–focused assessments. Test the skill set and essential qualities for each role. Use online testing to ensure a consistent experience.
• Remove hiring bias. Use screening tests, diverse interview panels, and candidate scorecards for interviews.
• Communicate with candidates quickly and constructively. Let applicants know where they stand and provide valuable feedback for unsuccessful candidates.

5. Nurture

Managing candidate relationships continues post-hire and after rejections. Background communications and onboarding are vital to maintaining a thriving talent network.

• Onboarding programs should convey your company’s mission. Onboarding should feel like a natural extension of your recruitment marketing, meaning each new hire must be equipped with the knowledge they need to succeed.
• Stay in touch with failed candidates. Keep previous applicants in your talent pool, then inform them about upcoming vacancies. Log their skills, provide advice, and entice them back for future applications.
• Ask applicants about their experiences. Did they enjoy the recruitment process? If not, why not? Use feedback to improve your hiring process.
• Celebrate candidate successes. Content should showcase successful employees and your vibrant company culture. Promote a culture of contacts on the outside who want to join.

Tips for engaging candidates (straight from our talent team)

Our talent acquisition team here at Toggl Hire has plenty of experience with engaging candidates. They’ve shared their top tips and recruitment best practices for making candidates stay interested and feel appreciated during the application process.

Acknowledge every candidate in some way

Even a little communication with candidates goes a long way. Nearly every job seeker has been ghosted during an application process (80% of hiring managers admit to ignoring candidates after initial interactions).

Odds are, they’d prefer a firm answer and even a short explanation of why they weren’t a good match. Even a quick “Thanks for applying!” can make a world of difference. It shows you respect their time, keeps your company’s reputation positive, and who knows—that candidate might be a perfect fit for a future role. 

Know where to automate and where to highlight humans

Figure out the best tasks to automate and those where a human touch is necessary. 76% of HR leaders agree they’ll lag in organizational success if they don’t adopt and implement generative AI in the next 12 to 24 months.

AI recruitment automation is great for speeding up tasks like sending confirmations or scheduling interviews, but don’t forget that personal connections matter, too. Make sure to have real people involved in the communication mix, especially when answering questions or providing feedback. 

Actually implement the feedback you get

You should be measuring candidate engagement levels (and we’ve got more on that later). But what are you actually doing with that feedback? When candidates share their thoughts or concerns, let them know you’re truly listening. Maybe candidates are telling you your job description was a bit unclear. Actively implement their feedback where possible and update them on the changes made.  

Do you need candidate relationship management software?

Unlocking the full benefits of CRM requires the right software. The right technology enables data-driven hiring decisions, boosts candidate engagement, and helps reduce administrative burdens.

Relationship management software varies, just like the needs of recruiters. However, common components include:

• Automation: Automated messages allow you to contact talent pool members to inform them about job openings, which boosts candidate engagement. You can also use these tools to contact applicants during hiring to ensure a uniform candidate experience.
• Data visualization: Use the right CRM software to visualize your talent pool. Isolate the best places to look for talent and understand where the candidate pipeline is failing.
• Filtering: CRM systems help recruiters filter talent pools by qualifications, experience, or location. Recruiters can use that information to identify relevant audiences for brand communication or highlight the right talent for job invitations.
• Personalization: Most CRM software allows you to segment candidates and then deliver targeted content ideas or tasks based on data, such as job recommendations or relevant blog articles to write to attract similar talent.
• Analysis: CRM technology collects data about how candidates engage with content, web assets, and application portals. Organizations can use this information to identify weaknesses like poor diversity outreach or low click–through rates.

Best candidate management tools of 2024

The CRM market is highly competitive, with more than a few CRM platforms to choose from. Our biggest tip is to choose the recruitment CRM software that best serves your unique business needs.

For example, if you need help managing a talent pool, choose a tool that makes that easier. Or, if you need help integrating candidate management with assessments and interview analysis, try assessment-focused software.

Consider ease of use, integration capabilities, and scalability, too. If you’re unsure, contact the vendors for a demo. Free trials also let you sample providers to find a great solution.

Toggl Hire

We designed Toggl Hire’s tools with ease of use and efficiency in mind. You can screen candidates and assess skills at the start of the recruitment process, use those results to immediately filter candidates by skills, easily remove unsuitable candidates, and focus on top talent.

Toggl Hire also helps hiring teams retain the attention of top candidates after assessment. Automated communications streamline recruitment, providing valuable feedback for candidates without much work from recruiters. Additionally, recruitment gamification, such as skills tests and assignments, encourages participation while reducing candidate dropouts.

While our features don’t include branding tools like a career site, they supplement CRM systems by helping you assess potentially great applicants as soon as they enter the recruitment pipeline.

💰 Price: Toggl Hire pricing is transparent, and users can access a fully functional free account. Paid plans start at $20 per month when billed annually.

TalentLyft

TalentLyft combines standard CRM features in a single recruiting platform, allowing users to control everything from candidate sourcing and tracking applicants to marketing and data analytics.

What stands out about this CRM tool is it allows you to leverage social media and niche networks like GitHub to build a robust talent network enriched by seamless employee referrals.

However, the heart of TalentLyft is its applicant tracking system, a hub where HR can collaborate on candidate evaluations, and recruiters can easily schedule interviews and follow-ups.

TalentLyft is ideal for teams interested in automating workflows. Its comprehensive features connect sourcing and applications and integrate well with talent assessment tools.

💰 Price: Free trials are available. Starter packages cost $73.50 monthly for two job slots and unlimited users.

Beamery

Beamery is a similarly advanced CRM. However, this software focuses mainly on managing talent pools (or “talent lifecycle management”).

Beamery is ideal for organizations with constantly changing talent pools and demanding skill requirements. On the publicity side, personalized WhatsApp or SMS messaging ensures you can reach candidates directly. AI tools analyze candidate skills and enable advice–led interactions with potential hires.

These features make reaching and activating passive candidates easier. Even better, Beamery’s communications setup feeds neatly into skills-based recruitment pipelines.

💰 Price: Beamery offers free trials, while subscription prices depend on the project scope. Unfortunately, pricing isn’t publicly available.

Avature

Avature’s SaaS CRM suite is all about customization. AI–powered sourcing and marketing tools help you discover and enthuse talent, while automated workflows create clear, smooth hiring pathways for candidates and make life a whole lot easier for recruiters.

What’s great about Avature is HR teams can tailor projects for different markets. For example, companies can add referral programs, implement flexible candidate engagement strategies, or even integrate their candidate management strategy with DEI goals. Talent maps and research tools also help teams develop insights about essential skills.

Avature’s REST API also integrates with ATS and candidate assessment systems, making it easier to link every stage of the recruitment process.

💰 Price: Avature does not offer a free trial. Prices vary according to the features you need. Unfortunately, pricing isn’t publicly available.

Qualtrics

Qualtrics’ talent acquisition tools revolve around candidate experience, allowing recruiters to measure touchpoints for candidate management processes.

This includes website experience, applications, screening resumes, and interviews. Survey feedback helps you serve candidates better and cut your cost per hire.

💰 Price: Qualtrics isn’t cheap, costing $1,500–$5,000 annually. However, you can combine basic packages with other hiring tools like Toggl Hire to keep costs low.

How to measure CRM success

So, you’ve got your CRM system up and running — that’s great! But just like any other hiring strategy, you need to keep tabs on whether all that effort and investment is actually moving the needle. After all, you didn’t splash out on a CRM just for fun, right? 

It’s important to align your metrics with your recruitment goals, making sure every effort supports your strategic hiring objectives. This means tracking both quantitative and qualitative recruiting metrics:

• Candidate engagement levels: Keep an eye on email open rates, response times, and how often candidates interact with your communication — these will give you an idea of their interest. High numbers in these areas mean your CRM is working its magic to keep candidates hooked.
• Time-to-hire: This metric clues you in on how well your CRM is fast-tracking your recruitment process and shrinking those hiring timelines. A low time-to-hire means you’re efficient at filling roles, which is great for both your team and candidates.  
• Quality of hire: Want to make sure your CRM is getting the job done? Tracking post-hire performance and retention rates shows you the quality of your recruitment pipelines, letting you see the results of your recruitment efforts in action. 
• Candidate satisfaction scores: To gauge candidate satisfaction, try sending out quick surveys or asking for casual feedback to get a candidate net promoter score. Depending on the verdict, you’ll know if your CRM is making the application process a breeze (or a headache) for candidates.

Emerging candidate relationship trends to keep an eye on in 2025

Innovation never takes a break, and your innovative recruiting strategies shouldn’t either if you want to keep up with the competition. As we step into 2025, here are the top trends HR leaders identify regarding candidate relationships.

🦾 AI will streamline the hiring process

What recruiter doesn’t want their job to be more efficient? AI is transforming every industry and every department—HR is no exception. 

“For the first time in years, there’s a fundamental shift coming to talent acquisition, and it’s driven by AI and automation,” says John Vlastelica, CEO at Recruiting Toolbox.

AI can automate mundane tasks like writing job descriptions and sorting through applications. It can also assist in customizing outreach messaging and candidate sourcing, something HR leaders and job seekers will appreciate.

🫂 Empathetic leaders will attract more engaged workers

It’s no secret employees value a good work-life balance and leadership that truly cares about them. But being an empathetic leader also makes you a more effective recruiter.

If you can understand candidates’ needs and perspectives, you’ll build a better rapport and make smarter hiring decisions. And it’s been proven that empathetic and supportive work environments reduce stress and burnout, leading to better job performance.

“The best recruiters are true advocates for their candidates,” says Pooja Singh, Senior Executive of Talent Acquisition at Taggd. “It’s not just about filling roles; it’s about genuinely caring for people and ensuring they are set up for success.”

Empathy is a skill that can be learned and improved upon all the time. Check out this video from Simon Sinek on why empathy matters:

🪜 Companies will need to provide opportunities for advancement or upskilling

Setting your employees up for success also sets you up for success. Job seekers value companies willing to invest in them and help them grow. This strategy helps you fill critical skill shortages and boost employee retention rates by promoting internal career progression.

Employers believe 44% of workers’ skills will be disrupted in the next five years, so it’s time to start future-proofing your workforce. 

“Opportunities for upskilling and career advancement are crucial,” says John Cooper, Managing Director at Alexander Lyons Solutions. “Companies are now investing more in training and development to attract top talent.”

📩 Replies and feedback will become more standard

Right now, it’s not uncommon for job seekers to get ghosted (92% of candidates admit to this happening). It’s not a great feeling, and it reflects poorly on your company.

With applicant tracking systems (like Toggl Hire) becoming more commonplace in 2025, there’s no excuse not to get back to applicants, even when you’re engaged in high-volume hiring. 

“The very least we can do for our company reputation is ensure every candidate who applies for a job receives a reply, and everyone who is interviewed receives feedback,” says Ruth Miller, HR trainer and consultant. “99% of companies don’t do this, so you will stand out in a crowded market.” 

Start building relationships with Toggl Hire

There’s no doubt about it. Nurturing relationships with potential hires improves your chances of attracting top talent.

And just to reiterate how true that is, remember: 58% of job seekers have turned down roles due to poor candidate experience.

The solution? Strategic candidate relationship management strategies that help you create a reservoir of suitable, engaged, and qualified applicants. However, we understand it’s hard to cover all those bases (and more) without the right tools.

Toggl Hire can help you achieve your CRM goals. Our easy-to-use screening tools make maintaining a healthy talent pipeline effortless. Candidates receive instant feedback about their scores, and they (and you) also benefit from blind hiring practices that avoid unconscious bias.