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An HR tool is software that handles part of the work of human resources: attracting and hiring candidates, administering employees, running payroll, tracking time, assessing and training. The essential HR tools fall into two groups: recruitment tools, from publishing the job ad to the new hire’s first day, and workforce management tools, built around the HRIS and payroll.
Many teams still hire without a dedicated tool. According to Apec (Recruitment practices for managers, 2025 edition), 78% of French companies hiring managers and professionals rely on standard office software. In 2024, half of companies with 250 or more employees used recruitment software, up from 38% in 2021; among SMEs, the share drops to 17%.
This guide reviews each family of tools: what it does, who it is for, and how to choose.
What is an HR tool?
An HR tool, or HR software, automates, centralises or measures a human resources task. It can cover a single need, such as booking interviews, or a full suite, such as an HRIS that brings together employee records, absences, reviews and training.
There are seven families:
- Recruitment tools: ATS, recruitment CRM, job multiposting, targeted distribution, pre-screening, interviewing.
- Onboarding tools: welcoming and integrating the new employee.
- The HRIS: employee records and administrative processes.
- Payroll: salary calculation and social security filings.
- Time and attendance: leave, absences, schedules, hours.
- Reviews, skills and training: annual and career reviews, skills development plan.
- Analytics: HR dashboards and indicators, often built into the HRIS.
HR tools at a glance: use, who it is for, selection criteria
| Family | What it does | Who it is for | Selection criteria |
|---|---|---|---|
| ATS | Centralise applications, move each candidate through the stages, collect hiring managers’ feedback | Any company that hires regularly or with several people involved | Configurable workflow, connectors to your channels and HRIS, ease of use for managers |
| Recruitment CRM | Build a talent pool and stay in touch with candidates who have not applied yet | Hard-to-fill roles, recurring hiring for the same profiles | Pool segmentation, email campaigns, consent management |
| Multiposting | Publish a job ad on several job sites in a single entry | Recruiters who post often on several job boards | Sites covered and relevance for your roles, tracking applications by source |
| Programmatic targeted distribution | Show the job as an ad to targeted profiles, including people who are not looking | Hard-to-fill roles, passive candidates, high volumes | Targeting precision, channels covered, budget control, measurement of qualified applications |
| AI pre-screening | Analyse and score applications to prioritise screening | Jobs that receive many applications, teams short on screening time | Explained score, criteria approved by the recruiter, sync back to the ATS, GDPR and AI Act compliance |
| Interviewing and assessment | Schedule and run interviews, compare candidates (video, scorecards, tests) | All recruiters, especially remote or high-volume hiring | Online booking, shared scorecards, link with the ATS |
| Onboarding | Organise the arrival: documents, access, programme for the first weeks | Companies that regularly bring in new employees | Customisable journeys, e-signature, link with the HRIS |
| HRIS | Keep employee records and automate administrative processes | From a few dozen employees | Available modules, access rights, data hosting and security |
| Payroll | Calculate salaries, produce payslips and social security filings | Every employer, in-house or through an accountant | Up-to-date legal and collective agreement rules, link with time and attendance |
| Time and attendance | Manage leave, absences, schedules and working time | Variable hours, shift work, multi-site organisations | Configurable company agreement rules, mobile app |
| Reviews and training | Run review campaigns, track skills and the training plan | Any company structuring its skills management | Configurable campaigns, skills framework, link with training |
Recruitment tools: from the job ad to the candidate’s first day
Recruitment has the widest variety of tools, because it chains very different steps: getting the job ad seen, receiving applications, screening them, running interviews, welcoming the new hire. Each tool covers one step. To choose, start from the step where you lose the most time or the most candidates.
The ATS, or applicant tracking system
The ATS (Applicant Tracking System) is the foundation of tooled-up recruitment. It centralises job ads and applications, moves each candidate through a workflow (new, shortlisted, interview, offer, rejected), keeps the history of exchanges and lets hiring managers give feedback in one place. It also sends replies to candidates, so no application is left unanswered.
The market counts dozens of vendors, from Taleez, Flatchr or Teamtailor for SMEs and mid-sized companies to SmartRecruiters, Workday or SAP SuccessFactors for large groups. The choice depends mainly on your volume, the number of users and the connections you need. Our guide on how to choose your ATS details the criteria.
The recruitment CRM, to nurture a talent pool
A recruitment CRM manages the relationship with candidates before they apply: sourced profiles, past finalists, spontaneous applications. It is used to segment this pool and contact it again when a role opens. Many ATS now include part of these features. The difference between the two is explained in ATS or CRM: which tool for your sourcing.
Job multiposting
A multiposting tool publishes a job ad on several job sites in a single entry, then brings the applications back to one place. It saves publishing time and lets you compare sources. Job sites remain a major channel: for 54% of the companies surveyed by Apec, the job ad is the channel that most often led them to the manager or professional they finally hired.
Its limit lies in the channel itself: multiposting only reaches people who visit job sites, meaning active job seekers. Read more: job multiposting.
Programmatic targeted distribution
Targeted distribution, also called programmatic recruitment advertising, turns the job ad into an ad. It is shown to profiles chosen on criteria such as occupation, skills, location or interests, across social networks, news sites, apps and job sites. It reaches people who are not actively looking for a job, and the budget is managed according to the applications it brings in. How it works is detailed in targeted advertising for recruitment.
It is the tool to use when applications are scarce for a hard-to-fill role. According to France Travail’s 2026 Labour Needs survey (BMO), French employers consider 43.8% of their 2.275 million hiring projects to be difficult.
AI pre-screening of applications
When a job ad receives many applications, screening becomes the bottleneck. Pre-screening tools analyse each application against the criteria of the role and suggest a reading order. A good tool explains its score: what matches, what is missing, what remains to be checked in the interview. The full method is in automating application screening with AI.
Two frameworks apply. The GDPR (Article 22) gives everyone the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing that significantly affects them. The AI Act classifies AI systems used for recruitment as high-risk, with obligations applying from 2 December 2027 according to the European Commission. AI helps with screening; the decision remains the recruiter’s. The obligations are detailed on our GDPR and AI Act compliance page.
Interviewing and assessment tools
This family covers online booking, video calls, asynchronous video interviews, shared scorecards and tests (work samples, technical tests, personality questionnaires). It reduces the back-and-forth needed to set a time slot and lets you compare candidates on the same criteria. A first remote conversation has become the norm: according to Apec, 69% of French companies used phone or video pre-screening for at least one managerial hire in 2024.
A scorecard built before the interviews matters more than the tool. Our interview question generator helps you prepare it.
Onboarding tools
Onboarding starts when the contract is signed. Dedicated tools send the documents to sign, prepare access and equipment, schedule the first meetings and offer a programme for the first weeks. They prevent a new hire from arriving without a workstation, or from disengaging between signing and day one. Practical methods in 5 techniques to optimise onboarding.
HR management tools: HRIS, payroll, time and training
The HRIS
The HR information system keeps each employee’s record (contract, position, pay, documents) and acts as the reference for the other tools. Depending on the vendor, it also covers absences, reviews, training or a recruitment module. Solutions such as Lucca, Factorial or Workday target very different company sizes: the question to ask is which modules you actually need.
Payroll
Payroll software calculates salaries from variable items and produces payslips and social security filings (the DSN in France). The deciding criterion is keeping legal and collective agreement rules up to date. Many SMEs outsource payroll to an accountant: the tool must then exchange data cleanly with them.
Time and attendance
Time and attendance software handles leave requests, absences, schedules and hour tracking. It becomes essential as soon as working hours vary from one team or site to another, and it feeds payroll directly.
Annual reviews, skills and training
These tools organise annual and career review campaigns and track skills and the training plan. They give a factual basis to internal mobility decisions, often the first option to explore before opening an external hire.
How to choose your HR tools
- Start from the bottleneck. Measure where time and candidates are lost: too few applications, too many off-target applications, delays between stages, drop-outs before the start date.
- Lay the foundation before adding building blocks. An ATS for recruitment, an HRIS and payroll for management. Specialised tools then plug into them.
- Check the integrations. A tool that does not send its data back to your ATS or HRIS creates double entry. Ask for the list of connectors and what actually appears in each record.
- Check compliance. Data hosting, retention period for applications, candidate information; for AI, an explainable score and a human decision.
- Count the full cost. Subscription, setup, user training and the time managers need to adopt the tool.
- Test on a real case. A trial on a live job ad tells you more than a demo on dummy data.
Which recruitment tool to choose for your situation?
- You receive too few applications: widen distribution with multiposting, then target people who are not looking with programmatic distribution.
- You receive many off-target applications: review the job ad and its criteria, then add pre-screening.
- Applications are scattered across inboxes and spreadsheets: start with an ATS.
- You often hire the same profiles: a recruitment CRM keeps the pool warm between openings.
- New hires leave in the first weeks: invest in onboarding.
Frequently asked questions about HR tools
What are HR tools?
HR tools include recruitment software (ATS, recruitment CRM, multiposting, targeted distribution, pre-screening, interviewing), onboarding tools, the HRIS, payroll, time and attendance, and review and training tools. They automate repetitive tasks and centralise candidate and employee data.
Which recruitment tool should I choose?
The one that addresses your main bottleneck. If you have no tool, start with an ATS. If applications are scarce, add multiposting and targeted distribution. If they are too numerous or poorly targeted, add pre-screening.
What is the difference between an ATS and an HRIS?
The ATS manages candidates up to the hire. The HRIS manages employees from their arrival: records, absences, reviews, training. Some HRIS offer a recruitment module, usually less complete than a dedicated ATS.
Does an SME need an ATS?
Yes, as soon as hiring becomes regular or several people are involved in screening: an ATS prevents lost applications and unanswered candidates. Apec notes that 17% of French SMEs use one for managerial hiring, against half of companies with 250 or more employees.
Can AI screen applications instead of the recruiter?
It can analyse, score and rank applications, not decide. The GDPR regulates decisions based solely on automated processing, and the AI Act classifies recruitment as a high-risk use. In practice, AI suggests a reading order and justifies its score; the recruiter validates.
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The Match Agent enriches every application, even one without a CV, gives it a score out of 5 explained criterion by criterion and prepares an interview guide. The report goes back to the candidate record in your ATS. The decision stays human. Seeqle connects to 60+ ATS and CRMs.
The next step
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