IBM Kenexa vs SmartRecruiters comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IBM Kenexa and SmartRecruiters based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed IBM Kenexa vs. SmartRecruiters Report (Updated: March 2024).
765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The most valuable features are that we can upload documents and download them on demand.""IBM Kenexa is fairly stable. We don't have any downtime.""It is extremely user friendly. It is very flexible in managing recruitment, especially when you have thousands of applicants as we did. We easily had over 20,000 applicants within a year for some of our positions, so it made it very easy to manage a large application pool. It was very easy to customize by recruiter preference. When you open up someone's profile to see their experience, education, or other things, you can customize that for yourself. It was flexible in that, and each recruiter could set up their preferences. It didn't have to be set up so that everyone had to have the same landing platform, which was very helpful. As someone who trained other HR people on how to use the system, it was very easy to pick up and learn.""The ease of scaling is one of BrassRing's biggest strengths, making it a trusted choice for large companies."

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"I found the core product quite useful. It is easy to use and quite user-friendly. They have also got other options, such as CRM and HRS. They have other versions such as smart distribute, which is an HRS type of system to analyze and get permissions needed from the applicants. In terms of pricing, SmartRecruiters is much better than its competitors.""It is a really user-friendly tool, and its implementation is quite wide. It is very easy to manage users and build your workflows. Overall, it works very well for the customization of the workflows for us. The recruitment team has generally found the whole platform useful. We were looking to kind of expand it by using the CRM functions that it has. However, with COVID and recruitment being on the freeze, we weren't really able to make the most of the tool. They are, however, finding it useful to actually build up their talent pools and client candidates to be able to contact them when we kind of have this freeze off.""With just a click of a button, we can manage the process. Even generating offer letters and obtaining electronic signatures through DocSign are integrated into this application.""Job publishing and application tracking are the most valuable features. You can keep the flow of a candidate's application into one system. The whole collaboration can also be done within the system, which means that you can schedule interviews and add your feedback and ratings there. You can also communicate with the candidates. The analytics part of it is also very valuable. It is a useful feature that we use quite a lot. We don't really use other features such as recruitment marketing or CRM candidate relationship management in SmartRecruiters.""It has a neat functionality built in where it rates candidates. So, before you even look at the resume, you see a rating, and it is based on keywords. For example, it will tell you that an applicant is a frontend engineer and has used React, Angular, etc. It gives you a heads up so that you don't have to go through a hundred resumes on Monday morning eliminating applicants. It will tell you that this applicant's skills match 87%, which is pretty neat. You can skip the ones that are rated 25% or something.""I used the free version, which I found valuable.""With this solution, I was able to add diversity to my recruiting. I was able to source from multiple locations, and I could show where applicants came from. The reporting tools that are on offer, allowed us to expand our reach. We were able to add meaningful diversity into recruiting.""What I really like about it is that it feels minimal, but is also dynamic. There aren't a lot of ways to get lost, which is good."

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Cons
"The reporting tool is helpful, but it is not the easiest to train on or is not as understandable for other HR pros. Their Workbench site, which is the administrator site that you use to update your website, is not user-friendly. When updates are required, it is not that easy to manage because Workbench is not user friendly. It required more work from the admins. They have Workbench training, which actually was very unhelpful. It took eight hours to complete, and it was not very helpful. Their customer service when it comes specifically to their Workbench site is not helpful.""I would not recommend IBM Kenexa to others.""It needs to update its reporting and analytics tools.""I would like to have a better and more user-friendly interface."

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"We ran into some serious issues related to language barriers.""Sometimes, there is this language or communication barrier in terms of what the applicants mentioned. SmartRecruiters sometimes has trouble understanding certain types of keywords or has certain types of language, translation, or grammar issues.""Around 2015 and into '17, I worked at a federal contractor. I had to switch to a different applicant system as I didn't know if SmartRecruiters was OFCCP compliant, which is something that, as a US-based federal contractor, you have to ensure. They should work to appeal to the contractor industry and get the product OFCCP compliant.""One of the areas that we would like them to improve is the self-scheduling feature. They have a self-scheduling feature that can be made a little bit more automated when it comes to scheduling. We are trying to use it, but it doesn't feel very user-friendly. This is something that could be improved. They have launched WhatsApp connections in the system, where instead of sending emails, you can WhatsApp candidates directly from the system, but currently, it mainly works in a few countries. Spain, where I'm based, is not one of them. If we use the system, the phone number for the candidates would be from the UK, and we don't think that would be the best. This feature is good for some countries, but not for all at the moment. It was first launched in the USA and then in a couple of countries in Europe. It is not yet launched fully in Europe. Reporting is always something that can be improved. Even though it is working well for us, its reporting can be better. Currently, it is a little bit complicated when it comes to reporting. It has a few pre-made reports that are easy to access, but if you want more details, you need to build your own reports. In order to do that, it is a bit tricky to learn and understand how it works. Even though you have help agents and support for help, it takes some time to learn, but it is not impossible. We have very recently made some integrations with Tableau. We are building dashboards in Tableau where we can get daily updated reports, and they are definitely helpful. That's something we would recommend. SmartRecruiters has recently implemented an inbox. You can have an inbox where you can see all your conversations, but currently, it is not filtering between the recruiters, so you see everyone's emails in there. They have already announced that they are working on the filtering feature for a specific inbox to make it more personalized per recruiter. This way the recruiters can have an overview of their own work.""One thing that has been a bit of a struggle is getting tech support. It is a little more difficult to get support from SmartRecruiters. They want you to have your own in-house person to help you with any issues, whereas with both Lever and Greenhouse, you can just click a button at the bottom of the screen and chat with someone almost instantly.""There were problems with integrations around other systems and each one had to be custom-built, which took a little while to get set up and running.""The major improvement area is how it integrates with other systems. That's where we've had some sort of pain points. They've done a lot of work with their development team in setting up integrations with other types of software like SuccessFactors, which we use, but we have found some glitches there. This is probably where they need to do some work. Sometimes, when it refreshes or there is any sort of update in SmartRecruiters, it has a direct impact on the integrations that we have with other tools. We are not always notified when that takes place. We have had HR say to us, "We've just hired this guy. He is not there in our end board at all. What's going on?" That's when we realized that the integration is actually broken. When we have other solutions like SuccessFactors, it would be very helpful to have knowledge articles for such integrations. We have found some of the templates that we want to use and some of the customizations that we do around the offer letters and the contract letters to be a little bit more difficult, which hasn't made this process any more efficient than it was. We still have to do a bit of manual intervention there. I don't know if it is just our company, but we need to have different clauses and things in place. We have stopped using DocuSign as well, and we are trying to look at other ways of doing that. They are aware of this.""The filters are not accurate. The results are inaccurate when filtering multiple criteria, such as country and hiring manager."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "Kenexa was fairly priced. However, in 2019, before I left my previous organization, they significantly increased their pricing. It can be affordable, but their pricing is going up. It is not just licensing; it is how many applicants you have in your system on the database side."
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  • "Back in 2018, when I engaged with their sales, they wanted to charge around $10,000 for an annual subscription. Depending on your organization, that either could or couldn't be expensive. I personally think it's a fair price. However, I engaged them and negotiated a lower price with them. I think I got closer to $6,000. It came with a commitment of three years."
  • "There were implementation costs in the first year to get everything set up and running, and then they have various modules on top, which are optional and available at an extra charge."
  • "SmartRecruiters is much better than its competitors. Considering the type of features and services it provides, it is probably one of the best solutions in the market. Others may offer a similar price, but their services won't be that good or the user-friendliness won't be that great. The licensing works based on how many users are there in a company. If you are using other functionalities, like CRM and HRS, the price increases."
  • "I haven't been so involved with pricing, so I don't have all details, but I know that we are paying per head when it comes to different countries. There is an additional fee for new features that they release. If it is something that we would like to use, we need to pay some extra for it."
  • "They are pretty competitive. As the product matures, it has much more functionality and different pricing models. It can relatively cost a lot more if you want to use additional features, but, in general, it is competitive in the industry. We work on a yearly license agreement based on the company size. There are the support costs, which are a part of the additional cost based on the percentage of the licensing fee. So, it has a license plus support cost. Then, of course, there are other add-on options that we can purchase and procure whenever we want to based on certain negotiated arrangements."
  • "I wasn't involved in its acquisition, but I would assume that SmartRecruiters is pretty pricey."
  • "SmartRecruiters is an expensive solution."
  • More SmartRecruiters Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:The ease of scaling is one of BrassRing's biggest strengths, making it a trusted choice for large companies.
    Top Answer:As a large company, we first bought the complete BrassRing package, which had various features. Later on, we paid extra for specific features like customer test management. When we integrated with… more »
    Top Answer:BrassRing needs improvement in a few areas. First, it should update how it tracks where candidates come from and avoid duplicate entries. Right now, it is not very flexible. Also, its way of making… more »
    Top Answer:The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that amongst all the other ATS platforms that I have used, SmartRecruiters is the most user-friendly tool.
    Top Answer:With SmartRecruiters, compatibility with other HRIS systems is an area with certain shortcomings that require improvement. SmartRecruiters is a tool that we use as an ATS platform in our company, but… more »
    Ranking
    Views
    96
    Comparisons
    62
    Reviews
    2
    Average Words per Review
    710
    Rating
    4.5
    Views
    666
    Comparisons
    278
    Reviews
    4
    Average Words per Review
    655
    Rating
    7.8
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    IBM Smarter Workforce, Outstart
    Learn More
    Overview
    Kenexa provides business solutions for human resources. We help global organizations multiply business success by identifying the best individuals for every job and fostering optimal work environments for every organization.
    SmartRecruiters social recruiting platform combines awesome free recruiting software with the best on-demand services to make hiring social, collaborative, and enjoyable. Social and mobile recruiting enablement platform that supports 1-click application submissions.
    Sample Customers
    Sweet Spot International (SSI), Leo Burnett Worldwide (LBW), Sika AG, Legacy Health, Apollo Group Inc., Regeneron, Transurban Group, National Health Service, New Zealand Police, Overland Footwear, Yealands, Johnson Controls, Allscripts, Kerry Foods, Masterpet, AMD, Balfour Beatty
    Atlassian, Aol, IBM, Napa, Skechers
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Retailer19%
    Financial Services Firm19%
    Hospitality Company11%
    Healthcare Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm14%
    Computer Software Company9%
    Real Estate/Law Firm8%
    Comms Service Provider7%
    REVIEWERS
    Non Profit25%
    Manufacturing Company17%
    Healthcare Company8%
    Comms Service Provider8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company11%
    Financial Services Firm9%
    Real Estate/Law Firm7%
    Government7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business9%
    Midsize Enterprise3%
    Large Enterprise88%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business29%
    Midsize Enterprise12%
    Large Enterprise59%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business25%
    Midsize Enterprise25%
    Large Enterprise50%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business24%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise61%
    Buyer's Guide
    IBM Kenexa vs. SmartRecruiters
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Kenexa vs. SmartRecruiters and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    IBM Kenexa is ranked 15th in Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software with 30 reviews while SmartRecruiters is ranked 1st in Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software with 15 reviews. IBM Kenexa is rated 7.6, while SmartRecruiters is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of IBM Kenexa writes "Suitable for larger-scale companies aiming to streamline and automate their processes digitally". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SmartRecruiters writes "Efficiently automates tasks but lacks certain features in terms of usability". IBM Kenexa is most compared with HR Software Solutions, SAP SuccessFactors and Workday, whereas SmartRecruiters is most compared with Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, Oracle HCM Cloud, Greenhouse and Zoho Recruit. See our IBM Kenexa vs. SmartRecruiters report.

    See our list of best Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software vendors.

    We monitor all Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.