Now, the real question isn’t whether you have a recruitment tech stack, but whether it’s working for you or against you.
In our recent webinar, Your RecTech Reality Check, we brought together Nitin Sharma (Founder of RecTools & Host of RecTalk), Saeed Bor (Founder of EmbeddedOps), and Holly Langley (Founder & CEO of RE:STACK) to give recruitment leaders a practical framework for assessing ROI, data quality, adoption, and what “good” looks like in 2026.
I used to run a recruitment agency. I grew it, scaled it, and failed it. And my place in the world now is to stop you from doing the stupid sh*t that I did.
Nitin Sharma
What do we mean by “recruitment tech stack”?
Your rectech stack is any technology used in a recruitment business, including CRM/ATS, website, marketing systems, VoIP, timesheets/payroll, and back-office tools.
In other words, everything you pay for to attract candidates, win clients, and run operations.
Without clarity on what sits inside your stack, it’s impossible to assess ROI properly.
During the live session, we ran three polls to understand where leaders felt most (and least) confident in their current setup.
Here’s a snapshot of what we learned.
1. ROI starts with the business case
Most attendees described themselves as only “somewhat confident” their tech was delivering ROI.
Before asking whether a tool works, ask what it was meant to fix. Was it supposed to:
Give consultants time back?
Improve candidate experience?
Increase job flow?
Improve visibility for managers?
ROI in a recruitment tech stack isn’t always direct revenue. It might be time saved, better data quality, fewer missed follow-ups, or clearer reporting.
If you don’t define the outcome, tech spend becomes cost rather than ROI.
2. Data quality depends on the fields your tools rely on
71% of live attendees selected data quality / ownership / CRM hygiene as their weakest area.
Holly highlighted a common mistake:
“We kind of say, how is your data quality? Now, what we very very rarely do is actually look at what specific data points there are.”
Before buying anything new, you need to know:
- The 3–5 critical data points a tool relies on
- Whether those fields are consistently populated
- Who owns maintaining them
- What “good” looks like over time
Then ask the supplier directly:
- What exact data fields must be populated?
- Where must they sit?
- What minimum standard is required?
That conversation alone filters out a lot of poor-fit decisions.
3. Adoption is usually the real issue
Technology rarely fails because it’s incapable. It fails because it isn’t embedded.
You can negotiate onboarding.
You can request support.
You can build supplier relationships.
But internal adoption is an agency responsibility.
Practical ways to drive adoption:
- Split training by role (delivery, 360, managers, directors).
- Tie usage to promotion criteria.
- Connect adoption to individual targets (what’s the selfish win?).
- Revisit the original business case and re-sell it internally.
If recruiters don’t understand how a tool helps them hit a target, they won’t prioritise it.
Education is the key thing here. They all have different different sweet spots, what they want out of these things. So, making it really tailored to it. Bring them along for the journey. Get the ideas from them. Overcommunicate.
Saeed Bor
4. What does a practical recruitment tech stack look like?
We weren’t talking about more tools. If anything, the direction was simpler.
A solid 2026 setup can look like:
- A VoIP system that automatically logs and transcribes calls into your CRM
- A CRM that acts as the central place everything runs through
- Clear reporting that shows both financial performance, recruiter activity and output
If you can see what’s happening: calls made, jobs worked, data logged, placements delivered, you can make decisions early.
If you can’t see it, you’re just guessing.
5. Using AI to Improve Productivity
AI came up repeatedly but not as a silver bullet.
Use automation to take care of repetitive, administrative tasks.
Keep human judgement where it matters most: assessing talent, advising clients and building relationships.
Think call transcription flowing directly into the CRM, automatic note capture after meetings, and reporting that updates without manual spreadsheets. These tools improve data accuracy and give consultants time back, without removing them from the process.
Before introducing any automation, define the outcome you want to improve. That might be reducing compliance time, increasing record accuracy or giving managers clearer visibility.
When the outcome is clear, implementation becomes easier and easier to measure.
6. Treat your recruitment tech stack like an employee
You wouldn't just hire 10 more people to fill the gap. You would support them, give them training, and make sure you can really understand what's going on.
Holly Langley
You wouldn’t hire someone without defining their role. You wouldn’t ignore their performance for a year and you definitely wouldn’t replace them without reviewing what went wrong.
Your recruitment tech stack should be treated with the same discipline.
That means:
- Clear ownership
- Defined expectations
- Measured output
- Regular review
Without that structure, businesses layer tools on top of existing problems instead of solving them.
How to assess your recruitment tech stack in 2026
If you want something you can take straight into a leadership meeting, start here:
Run your own reality check:
- List your top 5 tech costs.
- Write the original business case for each.
- Identify the 3–5 data points each tool depends on.
- Define one measurable success metric.
- Review again in 90 days.
“Recruitment is not a sales job or a sales business. It is a data business.”
Nitin Sharma
Where do we go from here? We’re glad you asked.
Your recruitment tech stack should make performance easier to see and easier to improve.
Recruitment companies should start moving away from the headcount play and move into an efficiency, productivity and a profitability play which can only be done with effective adoption of recruitment technology, everything around it, and banging marketing.
Kris Holland
Prefer to hear the full conversation?
Watch the recording below:
Wondering how your tech, marketing and operations can really work together? We’re here to answer your questions, just get in touch.