Evaluation scorecard
Score your shortlist on what actually matters
Most CRM comparisons are feature checklists, and every system ticks most of the boxes. The reason rollouts fail is almost never a missing feature — it is that the thing is slow to use, so people stop using it. These eight categories are weighted for that.
We've filled in our own column, including where we lose
Deskspark scores 2 out of 5 on sourcing reach, because there is no job-board multiposting and no LinkedIn integration. If your desk runs on inbound applications, weight that category up and we will come out behind — which is the correct answer for you, and better learned now than in month three. Change any weight; the totals renormalise.
| What you're judging | Weight | Bullhorn | Option 2 | Deskspark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Speed of everyday actions “Too many clicks for everything” is the single most repeated complaint about incumbent recruitment CRMs. Count the clicks to log a call and move a candidate a stage. | 5 · Excellent Voice or chat writes to the record directly; every common action is two clicks or a keyboard command. | |||
Search that finds the right person Can you describe who you want in plain English, or do you need Boolean syntax and exact keywords? | 5 · Excellent Meaning-based search over your database, plus plain-English questions. Boolean still available. | |||
Data quality and duplicates Three quarters of CRM users say under half their data is accurate. Ask whether dedup is built in or sold as an add-on. | 4 · Good Duplicate detection at entry and a daily background scan. Merging is still a manual review step. | |||
Pricing you can predict Look for metered add-ons, mid-contract seat true-ups, and whether implementation or support sits outside the subscription. | 5 · Excellent One price per seat, every feature at every tier, no add-on menu and no implementation fee. | |||
Candidate and client communication Does the system close the loop automatically, or is “radio silence after applying” still the candidate's experience? | 4 · Good Automatic stage-change emails, a client submission portal, SMS and WhatsApp in one inbox. | |||
Getting your data in and out How long from signing to working? And can you export everything again if you leave? | 5 · Excellent Self-serve signup, guided CSV import with Bullhorn auto-mapping, full JSON export of everything you hold. | |||
AI that does work, not chat Separate “summarise this” from anything that writes to a record or acts without being asked. | 5 · Excellent Drafts outreach, shortlists against a role, flags quiet deals unprompted, runs a whole job launch from one instruction. | |||
Sourcing reach and job posting Job-board multiposting and LinkedIn sourcing. Weight this heavily if your desk lives on inbound applications. | 2 · Weak Honestly weak. There is a Chrome sourcing extension, but no job-board multiposting and no LinkedIn integration. If this is how you fill roles, score us down. | |||
| Weighted score | 100 | 0 | 0 | 92 |
Scores are out of 100, normalised against whatever weights you set — so changing a weight never makes one column mean something different from another. Nothing here is sent anywhere; it all stays in your browser.
Score it on your own data
Ask each vendor for a trial with your own contacts loaded, not a demo tenant. A CRM that feels fast with 40 seeded records can crawl with 40,000 of yours.
Time the boring action
Log a call and move a candidate one stage. Count clicks and seconds. Do it on all of them, on the same day. That number predicts adoption better than any feature list.
Ask what isn't in the price
Implementation, data migration, support tier, storage, automation task limits, extra seats mid-contract. Ask for it in writing before you compare monthly figures.
Put us in the trial, not just the spreadsheet
Fourteen days, your own data, no sales call. Time the boring action yourself.