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Hiring is one of the most challenging tasks for small and midsize businesses. With limited bandwidth and tight budgets, SMBs need hiring tools that are not just effective, but also intuitive, scalable, and fair. Here are some of the standout platforms for 2025:
CLARA
CLARA is designed to move beyond resumes by focusing on what candidates can actually do. Instead of emphasizing past job titles or educational pedigree, it uses structured assessments to evaluate job-relevant skills directly. That makes it especially valuable for SMBs that want to uncover talent from nontraditional backgrounds.
By using curated training datasets and neuro-symbolic AI models, CLARA minimizes bias and creates standardized candidate profiles that are easy to compare. Hiring teams can enable anonymization features that remove identifying details until after assessments are complete, helping reduce proxy bias from creeping into decisions.
Features: Assesses real job-relevant skills and produces structured, standardized profiles using neuro-symbolic AI models trained on carefully curated hiring data.
Pros: Reduces bias, focuses on capability, and scales with growing teams.
Cons: Requires a shift in mindset from traditional hiring practices.
Considerations: Ideal for SMBs committed to evolving toward equitable, skill-based evaluation.
Breezy HR
Breezy HR has built its reputation as a lightweight but capable applicant tracking system (ATS) for small teams. Its drag-and-drop pipelines make it easy to visualize candidate progress, and built-in scheduling tools save time on coordination. For SMBs without a dedicated recruiter, Breezy’s simplicity is a big advantage.
The platform also integrates with major job boards and enables team collaboration through candidate scoring and shared notes. While not the most advanced ATS on the market, it offers a balance of affordability and usability that fits the realities of smaller businesses.
Features: Automates screening, interview scheduling, email and SMS outreach, candidate feedback gathering, and reporting.
Pros: Intuitive, affordable, collaborative.
Cons: Lacks advanced reporting and complex workflow capabilities.
Considerations: Great for teams that want speed and simplicity without sacrificing structure.
JazzHR
JazzHR is a budget-friendly ATS that caters specifically to the needs of small and midsize businesses. Its standout strength is customizable workflows, allowing hiring managers to adapt the system to their unique processes rather than the other way around. This flexibility makes it a good option for SMBs juggling multiple roles across departments.
The platform includes tools for job posting, interview coordination, and candidate evaluation, and its AI-powered “Talent Fit” ranking helps hiring teams prioritize applicants. While its interface shows its age compared to newer platforms, JazzHR remains one of the most accessible tools for SMB recruiting.
Features: Enables streamlined job posting, applicant tracking, interview coordination, tailored workflows, and AI-powered "Talent Fit" candidate ranking.
Pros: Affordable, easy to use, and fast.
Cons: Interface may feel dated; lacks the polish of newer systems.
Considerations: A strong choice for SMBs that need speed and flexibility.
HireEZ
HireEZ positions itself as an AI-powered sourcing engine rather than just an ATS. Its strength lies in proactively searching across social networks, job boards, and existing ATS databases to surface candidates who may not actively be applying. For SMBs struggling to attract inbound applicants, this outreach-first model is compelling.
The platform also offers tools for personalized candidate engagement, helping small teams run outreach campaigns that feel tailored rather than generic. While it requires more recruiter involvement than fully automated systems, HireEZ can help level the playing field in competitive talent markets.
Features: Searches across social, job boards, and ATS databases, matches profiles using AI.
Pros: Surface candidates, personalize engagement, scale sourcing.
Cons: Requires some recruiting bandwidth to manage campaigns.
Considerations: Ideal for SMBs sourcing in competitive markets and expanding their candidate pipelines.
BambooHR
BambooHR is best known as an all-in-one HR software platform, with recruiting as one of its many features. For SMBs that want a single system for employee records, payroll, performance, and hiring, it’s a convenient way to consolidate HR functions under one roof.
Its recruitment module includes job posting, applicant tracking, and integrated onboarding, making it especially attractive for companies that don’t want to manage multiple vendors. While it doesn’t go as deep as specialized ATS platforms, BambooHR’s broad coverage is often exactly what resource-constrained SMBs need.
Features: Integrated ATS, job board integrations, candidate tracking, mobile-friendly hiring interface, offer letter templates, and analytics dashboards.
Pros: All-in-one HR solution with cohesive hiring capabilities.
Cons: Less specialized in recruiting than dedicated ATS tools.
Considerations: Great for SMBs seeking an efficient, end-to-end HR experience.
When it comes to finding hiring tools there’s no best or worst, just what works best for the needs of your team. To find out if CLARA is best for your team, click here to get started.