Candidate Relationship Management

(CRM)

Glossary of HR Terms What is Candidate Relationship Management (CRM)

What is Candidate Relationship Management (CRM)?

Candidate Relationship Management (CRM) in HR refers to the use of software and strategies to build, nurture, and manage long-term relationships with potential candidates, even before they apply for a job. Similar to customer relationship management in sales, CRMs help recruiters maintain a talent pipeline by organizing candidate data, tracking interactions, and personalizing outreach.

Why it matters

Recruitment is no longer just about filling open roles, it’s about cultivating relationships with top talent over time. A CRM enables organizations to engage passive candidates, improve candidate experience, and shorten time-to-hire by tapping into pre-built pipelines when new positions open.

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CRM software helps you track candidates. Plum helps you understand them. By revealing the durable soft skills that drive long-term success, Plum turns your CRM into more than a database—it becomes a pipeline of high-potential talent ready to thrive in your organization.

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Where it fits in the HR stack

CRMs sit in the talent acquisition and sourcing layer of the HR stack. They integrate with ATS platforms for application tracking, sourcing tools for candidate discovery, and sometimes marketing platforms for automated communication.

Common use cases/Examples

  • Nurturing passive candidates through personalized email campaigns.
  • Building talent communities around specific skills or roles.
  • Tracking candidate touchpoints across events, job boards, and referrals.
  • Automating follow-ups to keep candidates engaged.
  • Segmenting candidate pools by role, location, or skill set for targeted hiring campaigns.

Examples of companies that use it

  • Large enterprises like Deloitte, Accenture, or Amazon, which rely on CRMs to manage massive talent pipelines globally.
  • Tech companies using CRMs integrated with LinkedIn Recruiter or Greenhouse to nurture specialized talent pools.
  • Growth-stage startups and SMBs using modern recruiting CRMs such as Beamery, Avature, SmashFly, or SmartRecruiters CRM.

FAQ

An ATS manages applicants in active job processes, while a CRM is designed to manage relationships with prospects who may not have applied yet, focusing on long-term engagement.

No. While enterprises benefit most, SMBs can also use CRMs to build strategic pipelines and reduce dependence on reactive hiring.

Yes. By nurturing wide, diverse talent pools and reducing reliance on last-minute sourcing, CRMs help organizations make progress on DEI goals.

Yes. Most CRMs integrate with ATS, sourcing platforms, and even HRIS systems to ensure a seamless candidate journey.

Key metrics include candidate engagement rates, pipeline growth, conversion of nurtured candidates into hires, and time-to-fill improvements.