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You just signed on for new recruiting software. In theory, everything should flow smoother—faster job postings, better candidate tracking, unified workflows. But then reality sets in: your team is juggling login credentials, data isn’t where it should be, integrations feel clunky, and suddenly people are avoiding the system instead of embracing it. You chose a new software because it promised to make life easier, but your recruiting team now feels more frustrated than empowered.
The good news? Most adoption challenges are preventable if you know what’s coming and plan accordingly. This guide walks you through: the most common obstacles mid-market and scaling teams need to look out for, how to deal with them, what Lever’s done to stop them from occurring, and a checklist as you implement your new recruiting software.
5 Top Problems Talent Acquisition Teams Face When Adopting New Software
You’ve done the research, selected the right platform, and launched. Then your team struggles to actually incorporate it into their daily workflows. Here’s what typically happens:
- Change Management Gets Overlooked: Without structured communication, training, and feedback loops as part of your get-started strategy, even the best software feels like chaos during rollout. Teams don’t know what’s changing, why it matters, how to use new features effectively, or who to reach out to if they’re having trouble.
- Steep Learning Curves Slow Early Adoption: When on a time crunch, learning these new tools can add extra frustration, and sometimes it’s just easier to do it the old way and not take the time to learn the new system. This leads to internal resistance in adjusting to the new software.
- Lack of Flexibility Triggers Frustration: 39% of HR leaders cite lack of flexibility as their biggest system limitation, forcing workarounds that defeat the purpose of upgrading. Teams want software that adapts to their unique workflows, not the other way around.
- Data Silos Create Disconnected Workflows: When your ATS doesn’t play nicely with background check platforms, video interview tools, or marketing automation, data ends up trapped in separate systems. This fragmentation means your team has to manually copy information, creating errors, delays, and frustration.
- Missing AI Features Leave Efficiency on the Table: 37% of HR leaders want AI-driven capabilities built into their recruiting platform—not bolted on as expensive add-ons. When you choose software without integrated AI, your team inevitably needs to layer on another tool later, creating confusion just as they’re finally getting comfortable with the new software.
5 Strategies to Overcome Recruiting Software Adoption Challenges
Recruiting software adoption isn’t about forcing teams to change—it’s about choosing a platform designed for how modern teams actually work. Successful implementation doesn’t stop on your launch date; it’s about sustained adoption and real business results. Leading talent acquisition teams follow these proven strategies to ensure their new recruiting software delivers the value they expected:
- Prioritize User Experience: Choose systems with intuitive interfaces to reduce training time and increase daily usage. When your recruiting software feels natural—not clunky—adoption happens faster and sticks longer, especially for teams managing high-volume hiring.
- Embed AI Capabilities for Real Workflow Improvements: AI screening, sourcing, and interview tools are essential to reduce manual work at critical stages. Ideally, AI is built into the platform you select, not grafted on afterward, so it becomes part of your recruiting rhythm, not an afterthought.
- Create a Communication Roadmap: Plan your rollout timeline with clear milestones: pre-launch communication (explain what’s changing and why), training sessions (1–2 weeks before go-live), launch day coordination, and post-launch check-ins.
- Set Up Integrations ASAP: Platforms with native integrations eliminate data silos by default. Rather than cobbling together solutions, unified platforms keep candidate data flowing smoothly from sourcing through onboarding. Make sure to set up these connections ASAP.
- Host Training Programs for Different Tech Experience Tiers: Tailor onboarding for different experience levels—new hires, seasoned recruiters, hiring managers, and executives. This ensures everyone comes up to speed at their own pace and feels supported during transition. Make sure to record any webinar trainings so if people had to miss they can watch them later.
Lever’s Approach: Why Teams Choose Flexibility (And How They Make It Work)
When mid-market and growing teams evaluate recruiting software, they’re looking for one thing above all else: flexibility. Not rigid workflows that force your team to adapt to the recruiting software, but a platform that molds to how your team actually works.
Here’s how teams have maximized Lever’s value and gotten measurable results:
- Unify your hiring with a single system: Lever’s integrated ATS + CRM brings all candidate data, communications, and pipelines into one place, so you can ditch the spreadsheets and disconnected tools. As put by a head of global talent acquisition at a mid-market company, “We were previously using spreadsheets and random tools to track candidates, and it was a mess. Lever keeps everything in one place, which honestly saves us a lot of time. It also makes it easier for recruiters and HMs to collaborate without pinging each other constantly. We’ve also automated a bunch of small tasks like follow-up emails, so we’re not stuck doing admin work all day. It’s helped us stay more organized and spend more time actually talking to candidates.”
- Prioritize seamless integration to maintain momentum: Lever connects with hundreds of HR tools and job boards out of the box. With built-in automation (like interview scheduling, email sequences, and reminders), teams speed up time-to-fill, keep candidates engaged, and reduce busywork for recruiters and hiring managers.
- Customize workflows without adding complexity: Lever offers robust pipeline customization, automation, and analytics—combining the flexibility of a platform that grows with you and the ease of an interface even new users can pick up fast. According to a medical device professional at a mid-market company, “We need a simple but comprehensive ATS to function efficiently as a business. Lever helps streamline our hiring process without being too complicated. Hiring managers/new users pick it up quickly.”
- Build and nurture proactive talent pools: Lever’s CRM capabilities enable teams to keep up with high-volume hiring and maintain personal connections—so talent isn’t lost when roles open. With automation, you can nurture candidate relationships over time and always have a ready pipeline.
- Strengthen collaboration and accountability: Structured workflows and visual dashboards keep interviewers, recruiters, and managers aligned from approval to offer. Lever’s people-centric design means everyone has visibility, and processes don’t break down if someone’s out or changes roles.
- Support at every stage: Lever’s in-app chat and customer support are known for their responsiveness and expert guidance, helping teams navigate implementation or answer daily “how-to” questions in real time.
The combined benefits of Lever are exponential. As a head of global talent acquisition at a mid-market company shared: “I really like how clean and easy the UI is—super intuitive. We didn’t need much onboarding time, which helped since we had to move fast… setup was fast and didn’t require much support. It’s become a core tool for us, we use it constantly. I like that workflows are customizable, and the automations help a lot when dealing with volume. The LI integration is also smooth, and the in-app support chat is handy for small questions. Overall, it helps us stay on track.”
Checklist for Successful Recruiting Software Implementation
Ready to set your team up for success? Work through these steps in order, from project kickoff to post-launch optimization:
- Establish your project timeline and executive sponsorship: Aim for 1–4 weeks from project inception to go-live using a phased approach.
- Communicate change broadly: Schedule all-hands kickoff meetings and supporting emails explaining what’s changing, why it matters, and how teams will benefit.
- Conduct data audit and consolidation: Map existing data silos and plan how your new recruiting software will unify candidate information across systems.
- Configure integrations with your existing tech stack: Prioritize connections with tools your team uses daily (background checks, video platforms, HR systems, etc.).
- Run hands-on training sessions: Offer role-specific training 1–2 weeks before launch, with separate tracks for recruiters, hiring managers, and administrators, and record them for anyone who had to miss.
- Launch with coordinated support: Designate power users, set up a help desk, and ensure leadership is visible and supportive on day one.
- Schedule post-launch feedback sessions: Gather input from your team within one week, then again at 30 days, to surface early friction points and celebrate wins.
- Track adoption metrics and ROI: Monitor time-to-hire, offer rates, candidate experience scores, and system usage to prove value to leadership and refine processes continuously.
The teams winning in talent acquisition aren’t using better features in isolation. They’re using software that speaks their language, plays nicely with their tools, and actually makes their jobs easier. That’s when recruiting software drives real competitive advantage.
Download The Employ Product Guide to discover how modern ATS platforms transform recruiting from end to end, or request a demo to see these capabilities in action.
