How to Build a Recruiting Tech Stack for Startups
Dover
August 12, 2025
•
3 mins
Let's be honest, the tech used for startup hiring has progressed, but most startups still stick to the old methods. You post a job, hope for the best, and manually sort through hundreds of resumes in your inbox.
This approach falls apart quickly as you scale.
Companies using recruitment automation tools have seen a 75% reduction in time-to-hire and a 30% decrease in recruitment costs.
Even though most recruiting technology is expensive and complex, you can't afford not to have a proper recruiting infrastructure. Every bad hire costs you 30% of that person's annual salary, Yikes!
The good news is, modern recruiting tech stacks can be affordable if you start with free tools that scale with your growth. You just need to know which components matter most and how to implement them strategically in your hiring workflow. So let's figure that out.
Your recruiting tech stack should solve four fundamental problems: tracking candidates, finding talent, screening efficiently, and maintaining consistent communication. This is everything your team uses to find, attract, assess, and onboard talent.
Start with ATS: This is your central hub where all candidate data lives, from initial application through final offer.
Sourcing tools: Don't rely solely on job boards. You need proactive ways to find and engage passive candidates who aren't actively job hunting but might be perfect for your role.
Screening and automation tools: Free up your time by automating resume parsing, candidate scoring, and interview scheduling.
Communication platforms: Keep candidates engaged with automated updates, personalized outreach, and smooth interview coordination.
Here, you want to focus on tools that integrate well together. Data silos kill productivity and create inconsistent candidate experiences. You want information flowing smoothly from sourcing through hiring without manual data entry or duplicate systems.

An Application Tracking System (ATS) improves hiring operations and allows recruiting teams to hire as many high-quality employees as their growing organization needs by automating job posting, resume screening, candidate communications, and interview scheduling.
The numbers back this up: 94% of HR professionals say their ATS positively impacted their hiring process, while 86% said it greatly decreased their time-to-hire.
Most ATS platforms charge per user or per job posting, making them expensive for small teams hiring quickly across multiple roles.
That's where Dover's approach is different. Our free ATS provides unlimited users and unlimited job postings at no cost. You get the full functionality: candidate tracking, automated job board posting, team collaboration tools, and analytics.
And the setup takes only a few minutes. You can create job postings, start collecting applications, and have your entire team collaborating on candidates the same day you sign up. As you grow, the system scales with you, with no per-seat fees or upgrade requirements.
“It is incredibly easy to get started, it took me 15 minutes to get onboarded, and at the end of it, I was already calibrating whether or not a set of candidates were a good fit based on what I wanted in a hire.”
Eric Martin, Head of Sales, Vanta
Expanding Your Reach with Sourcing Tools
Job posts only reach active candidates. But the best talent is often passive, happily working but potentially open to the right opportunity. That's where sourcing tools become important.
The most effective approach combines multiple sourcing channels. Use LinkedIn for professional networking and sourcing tools to efficiently find contact information and manage outreach at scale.
Dover's sourcing platform includes a free Chrome extension that integrates directly with LinkedIn. You can find candidate email contacts and send personalized outreach in just two clicks, then automatically track those prospects in your ATS.

Employee referrals are also an option to consistently produce the highest quality hires, and modern sourcing tools make it easy to tap your network. You can solicit referrals from your team, investors, or advisors with zero setup, then track those referred candidates from introduction through hire.
Maintain consistency across all sourcing channels. Whether candidates come from job boards or employee referrals, they should all flow into the same tracking system with the same professional experience.
Effective talent sourcing requires both the right tools and the right strategy.
Using Automation and AI for Screening
Ever seen a LinkedIn hiring post? When you find one, you'll observe: It's viral, and it's filled with hundreds of applications. Suddenly, someone needs to spend 20 hours reading through hundreds of resumes to find the 10 worth interviewing. Dependency on manual resume screening is where most startup hiring processes break down.
AI-powered screening tools solve this by automatically parsing resumes and scoring candidates based on your criteria. Dover's AI candidate scoring automatically identifies the most qualified applicants based on custom criteria you set. The system learns from your hiring decisions, getting better at identifying good fits over time.
When to Add Fractional Recruiting Support
Even with the best technology, there are times when you need human expertise. Maybe you're hiring for a specialized role outside your network and need extra bandwidth for a few weeks. Traditional options like full-time recruiters or agency contracts often don't make sense for startups.
Full-time recruiters typically cost $150K+ in salary and benefits. Recruiting agencies often require large upfront fees or percentage-based payments that can reach $30K+ per hire.
Fractional recruiters offer a middle path. Instead of paying $150K+ for a full-time recruiter, you might spend $3K-5K monthly for fractional support, that's 60-70% cost savings while still getting access to senior-level expertise.

Dover's recruiting marketplace connects startups with experienced fractional recruiters who work directly within your ATS. This maintains data consistency and workflow continuity while adding specialized expertise exactly when you need it.
Knowing when to hire fractional support comes down to capacity and expertise. If you're spending more than 20 hours per week on recruiting activities, or if you're struggling to find qualified candidates for specialized roles, it's time to consider additional support.
Integration and Data Flow Management
Measuring Success and ROI
Frequently Asked Questions
Building Your Competitive Advantage
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