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Industries

Permanent Placement
(Direct Hire)

Move candidates through your pipeline faster, keep clients informed, and turn every placement into a relationship that generates repeat business.

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Why Permanent Placement Agencies Need Purpose-Built Software

Permanent placement revenue depends on one thing: getting the right candidate in front of the right client before anyone else does. The agency that presents a strong shortlist first wins the fee - typically 15-25% of first-year salary. Second place pays nothing.

That makes your technology stack a direct competitive advantage. But most ATS and CRM platforms were not built for how permanent placement actually works. They were built for high-volume applicant processing or enterprise sales pipelines, then retrofitted with recruitment labels. The result: recruiters spend more time fighting the system than filling roles.

Purpose-built permanent placement software should solve five specific problems that generic tools consistently get wrong:

Speed from job intake to shortlist

Clients expect candidates in days. AI matching surfaces the best fits from your database in seconds using context from calls, notes, and CVs.

A database that gets stronger, not weaker

Candidate data decays fast. Auto-updating profiles and continuous enrichment keep your talent pool current - no manual research or maintenance needed.

Client relationships that compound

Structured pipeline management and automated follow-ups give full visibility into every touchpoint. One-off fills become repeat mandates.

Candidate context beyond the CV

Know what candidates said in their last call, why they turned down a similar role, what they want next. Every conversation logged, searchable, and connected to their profile.

Proof that justifies your fee

Time-to-shortlist, interview-to-offer ratios, fill rates - tracked by recruiter, client, and role type. Walk into client meetings with real numbers, not anecdotes.

From job intake to shortlist in record time

Speed to shortlist wins mandates.
Spott matches job requirements against your entire database and ranks candidates by fit, so your team spends time selling, not searching.

Semantic AI matching
Semantic AI matching

Describe the role in plain language or upload a job description. Spott finds the best fits across your entire talent pool.

Reach candidates across every channel
Reach candidates across every channel

Run outreach sequences across email, LinkedIn, and WhatsApp from one place. Get responses faster.

Kanban-style task board with columns: To Do (3 tasks), In Progress (2 tasks), Awaiting Response (1 task), and Done with no tasks.
Kanban task board showing columns To Do with 3 tasks, In Progress with 2 tasks, Awaiting Response with 1 task, and Done with no tasks; tasks include schedule technical interview, send offer letter, review portfolio, follow up on application, prepare interview questions, and request references.
Task list showing task name, assignee with initials, priority levels, and due dates, with filters for location and industry expertise applied.
List or Kanban view

Choose the layout that fits your workflow in one tap.

Drag-and-drop stage changes

Move candidates or jobs between stages instantly.

Auto-saved views and setup

Your columns, filters, and sorting save automatically for next time.

Your database actually stays current

Perm recruiters live and die by the quality of their data.
Spott keeps candidate profiles fresh and logs every conversation automatically so your database gets stronger with every call.

Notes that are actually useful
Notes that are actually useful

Spott captures key details from conversations, not just timestamps. Know what was discussed, not just that a call happened.

Profiles that update themselves
Profiles that update themselves

Enrich candidate records with latest job titles, contact details, and career moves. No manual research.

Kanban-style task board with columns: To Do (3 tasks), In Progress (2 tasks), Awaiting Response (1 task), and Done with no tasks.
Kanban task board showing columns To Do with 3 tasks, In Progress with 2 tasks, Awaiting Response with 1 task, and Done with no tasks; tasks include schedule technical interview, send offer letter, review portfolio, follow up on application, prepare interview questions, and request references.
Task list showing task name, assignee with initials, priority levels, and due dates, with filters for location and industry expertise applied.
List or Kanban view

Choose the layout that fits your workflow in one tap.

Drag-and-drop stage changes

Move candidates or jobs between stages instantly.

Auto-saved views and setup

Your columns, filters, and sorting save automatically for next time.

Manage client relationships, not just jobs

Permanent placement is a relationship business.
Spott tracks every client touchpoint so your BD efforts compound instead of starting from scratch every quarter.

Business development workflows
Business development workflows

Track leads, proposals, and active mandates in one pipeline. Never lose a follow-up or forget a warm lead.

Follow-ups that don't slip
Follow-ups that don't slip

Set tasks and reminders against client accounts. Stay in touch between placements so the next brief comes to you first.

Kanban-style task board with columns: To Do (3 tasks), In Progress (2 tasks), Awaiting Response (1 task), and Done with no tasks.
Kanban task board showing columns To Do with 3 tasks, In Progress with 2 tasks, Awaiting Response with 1 task, and Done with no tasks; tasks include schedule technical interview, send offer letter, review portfolio, follow up on application, prepare interview questions, and request references.
Task list showing task name, assignee with initials, priority levels, and due dates, with filters for location and industry expertise applied.
List or Kanban view

Choose the layout that fits your workflow in one tap.

Drag-and-drop stage changes

Move candidates or jobs between stages instantly.

Auto-saved views and setup

Your columns, filters, and sorting save automatically for next time.

See what's working and what's not

Track fill rates, time-to-shortlist, and interview-to-offer ratios by recruiter, client, and role type.
Make decisions based on data instead of gut feel.

Others take 16 weeks.
You’ll be live on Spott in 4.

01

Week One

Once we receive your data from your existing ATS, our team handles the initial mapping and ensures everything aligns smoothly. Your team keeps working as usual.

02

Week Two and Three

We sit together with your team for specific questions. All you data is migrated to our dedicated migration environment. Your data is validated, checked and rechecked.

03

Week Four

The final migration is ready for review. Once approved, we transfer everything into Spott with zero downtime and no surprises. A fresh final export ensures nothing is missed.

Trusted by 100+ businesses:
KennedyFitch brand logoCGP Group logo with red geometric design and text 'Unleashing Global Talent'.medipartnerPartial logo text 'ntiaitve' with tagline 'high performing IT recruitment' underneath.United Consulting logo with a dark square outline and smaller white square inside, next to the lowercase text 'united consulting'.Text reading 'H.W. Anderson' in a serif font.the house of marketingApex ConsultingOrange and yellow gradient stylized RD letters with a gray raindrop above the text Rainy Day Recruitment.cobaltserena advisory
KennedyFitch logo text in serif font.CGP Group logo with red geometric arrow symbol and tagline 'Unleashing Global Talent'.medipartnerText logo with the word 'ntiative' in bold italic font and the phrase 'high performing IT recruitment' below.United Consulting logo with a dark square outline enclosing a smaller white square beside the text 'united consulting' in lowercase gray letters.H.W. Anderson text logo in navy blue serif font.the house of marketingApex ConsultingLogo for Rainy Day Recruitment featuring stylized orange letters 'RD' with a gray raindrop symbol.cobaltserena advisory

Frequently Asked

  • How fast can we go from job brief to candidate shortlist with Spott?

    Most Spott users present a qualified shortlist within hours of receiving a job brief, not days. The platform's semantic AI matching scans your entire database - including context from past calls, notes, and CVs - and ranks candidates by fit instantly. No Boolean strings, no manual filtering. One customer described it as: "The speed at which you can share top candidates with clients is crazy." The difference is architectural: Spott's AI reads context, not just keywords, so it surfaces candidates other systems miss.

  • Will my recruiters actually use Spott, or go back to spreadsheets?

    Adoption is the single biggest predictor of ATS/CRM ROI - and the reason most implementations fail. Spott was designed specifically around how recruiters work: drag-and-drop pipelines, one-click candidate presentations, auto-generated call notes, and a unified inbox across email, LinkedIn, and WhatsApp. Recruiters onboard in days, not weeks. The system actively reduces admin work instead of adding to it, which means your team has a reason to stay in the platform rather than default back to Outlook and Excel.

  • What happens to our candidate data during migration?

    Spott's migration team handles the full process over 4 weeks. Week one: your data is mapped and aligned. Weeks two and three: everything migrates to a dedicated test environment where it is validated, checked, and rechecked - including deduplication and field mapping. Week four: final migration goes live with zero downtime. Your team keeps working in your old system until the switch. Spott has migrated agencies from Bullhorn, Loxo, Vincere, JobAdder, Carerix, Invenias, HubSpot, and Recruit CRM - including databases with over 1M candidate records.

  • Does AI matching actually outperform experienced recruiters?

    AI matching does not replace recruiter judgement - it removes the bottleneck before it. An experienced recruiter knows who the right candidate is when they see them. The problem is finding them in a database of tens of thousands of records. Spott's semantic search understands context: if a candidate discussed change management experience in a call six months ago, they surface for a role requiring it - even if those words are not on their CV. One customer who tested over 200 ATS solutions rated Spott's matching the best they had seen. The AI handles the search; your recruiters handle the relationships.

  • How does Spott handle candidates being presented to multiple clients?

    Spott tracks every candidate-client-role combination in one view. You can see which candidates have been presented where, at what stage they are with each client, and what feedback has been given - without switching between tabs or losing context. Drag-and-drop pipeline management lets recruiters move candidates between stages instantly. Saveable views and filters mean each recruiter can set up their workspace once and return to it daily without reconfiguring anything.

  • What is the real cost of switching to Spott?

    Spott is $119-179/user/month depending on the plan, billed annually. There are no setup fees, no migration fees, and no per-action AI charges. Migration takes 4 weeks with dedicated support included. Compare that to legacy platforms where you pay the license fee plus add-ons for matching, note-taking, enrichment, and outreach - each with separate contracts - plus 12-24 weeks of implementation and often a consultant or admin on staff to maintain it. Most agencies switching to Spott see a lower total cost of ownership from month one.

  • Can we get our data out if we decide to leave Spott?

    Yes. Your data is yours. Spott provides full data exports so you are never locked in. The platform is built on the confidence that agencies stay because the product works, not because leaving is painful. Spott is also ISO 27001 certified, GDPR compliant, and hosted in the EU by default - your candidate data is handled with enterprise-grade security throughout.

  • Outp(l)ace everyone.

    You can’t win tomorrow’s placements
    with yesterday’s tools.