CRM & ATS
Recruiting CRM for agencies
The recruiting CRM built for agencies, candidates and clients in one workspace
Most "recruiting CRMs" are candidate CRMs with a thin client module bolted on, or sales CRMs that need months of setup before they fit a recruitment agency pipeline. Leonar is built for boutique and mid-sized agencies from day one. Track every candidate conversation, every client deal, every long mandate, without paying for two tools.
Trusted by 400+ high-growth recruiting teams and agencies
Used by 300+ high-growth recruiting teams and agencies globally
Why recruiting agencies need both a candidate CRM and a client CRM
The phrase "recruiting CRM" hides two very different products. A candidate CRM tracks the people you might place. A client CRM tracks the firms that pay you. Boutique agencies almost always need both. The candidate side feeds the supply, the client side feeds the demand, and a placement is the moment the two sides finally meet.
Most tools sold as "recruiting CRMs" cover one side and call the other a roadmap. The agency ends up running a candidate CRM in Bullhorn, a client CRM in HubSpot, and a Google Sheet to reconcile the two at the end of every month. The reconciliation is where the data goes to die.
Leonar carries the candidate object and the company object next to each other in the same workspace. When a placement closes, the Deal flips to won, the candidate moves to hired, and revenue forecasts update on the same screen. The deeper write-up lives in our candidate relationship management tools guide.
Centralized contact database
Every contact lives in one searchable database: candidates you placed, candidates you pitched, hiring managers you cold-called, the friend of a friend who might become your next client next quarter. The same record carries the candidate-side history and the client-side history, so the partner who owned the relationship last year does not have to brief the consultant who picks it up this year.
- Unified profiles: Candidate and client histories merge into one timeline per contact.
- Smart filters: Filter by title, past company, location, last activity, tags, and every custom field.
- No data silos: Owner handoff carries the full conversation history, not just the LinkedIn URL.
- CSV import + export: Bring your existing book of business in minutes, take it with you if you ever leave.
Companies module for client tracking
The Companies module stores every firm you work with or want to work with: name, industry, size, location, owner inside your team, last touch date, status. Custom fields cover things a sales CRM was never built for, like annual placement budget or preferred consultant on this account. Companies feed the Deals pipeline so the relationship history is always one click from the open opportunity.
- Custom company fields: Annual budget, preferred consultant, contract type, anything you want to filter on.
- Linked deals + contacts: Every contact and deal tied to a company surfaces on its profile.
- Status workflows: Active, dormant, prospect, lost: clear state per account, never guess again.
- Account history: Every touchpoint timestamped, no more chasing receipts across five tools.
Deals pipeline for business development
Deals carry the commercial side of the agency: opportunity name, linked Company, expected fee, probability, expected close date, stage, owner. Multiple pipelines can run in parallel for retained, contingency, and executive search with their own stage definitions. Funnel analytics show expected revenue by stage and by consultant, which is the number a partner actually checks on a Monday morning.
- Multiple pipelines: Retained, contingency, executive search: each with its own stages.
- Revenue forecast: Expected fee times probability, rolled up by month, by owner, by client.
- Stage analytics: See where deals stall, who closes fastest, what your win rate really is.
- Module-gated: Available when enabled by the workspace admin, not a separate paid SKU.
Project pipelines for mandate execution
Each mandate becomes a Project with its own Kanban pipeline. Candidates move across stages, the timeline updates automatically, and the Project links back to the parent Company and Deal. The partner running the search keeps the candidate workflow inside the same workspace as the commercial follow-up, which removes the most common dropped ball in agency operations.
- Custom stages: Editable per workspace, from not contacted all the way to hired.
- Drag and drop: Move candidates between stages, the activity log writes itself.
- Linked to Deal: A placement on the Project flips the Deal to won and updates revenue.
- Multi-pipeline workspaces: Executive search and contingency keep separate stage definitions.
Custom fields per entity
Twelve field types ship out of the box and apply per entity: text, long text, number, currency, percent, date, datetime, boolean, single select, multi select, link, and team member. Workspace admins create them in Settings in seconds. Filter, search, sort, and CSV import map to every field, including the ones you added five minutes ago. Generic sales CRMs lock most of that behind enterprise tiers.
- 12 field types: From simple text to multi-select to team member, no enterprise upgrade required.
- Per entity: Contact, Company, Deal, Project: each has its own field set.
- Instant filterability: Every custom field is filterable, sortable, searchable the moment it exists.
- No developer needed: Workspace admin clicks through the Settings UI, ships in a minute.
Unified inbox tied back to records
Email replies, LinkedIn messages, LinkedIn InMail, WhatsApp threads, and reply-to addresses on outbound sequences all land in one inbox, threaded by contact. Each thread links back to the Contact, the Project, and the Company. You answer in context, the activity feed updates the record, and the next consultant who opens the contact card sees the full history without asking.
- All channels in one place: Email, LinkedIn, InMail, WhatsApp, SMS: one screen, one feed.
- Threaded by contact: Every reply links to the right Contact, Project, and Company automatically.
- Activity feed updates: Reply, the record updates itself, no manual logging.
- Team visibility: Pass a candidate to a colleague, they see the whole conversation, not a CC.
Recruiting CRM for agencies versus generic sales CRM
A sales CRM tracks one type of relationship: prospect to customer. A recruiting CRM tracks two: candidate to placement, and client to mandate. Forcing the second into a sales CRM works on paper, fails in practice.
| Capability | Leonar Recruiting CRM | Generic sales CRM (Salesforce / HubSpot) |
|---|---|---|
| Candidate object | Native first-class entity | Custom object (Salesforce) or absent |
| Project pipeline | Recruiting stages out of the box | Deal-only pipelines, no search workflow |
| Multichannel outreach | Email + LinkedIn + WhatsApp + InMail | Email only, or expensive add-on |
| AI sourcing | Included from Growth tier | Separate tool, separate license |
| Hiring manager portal | Built-in, read-only with audit log | Share the whole CRM or use email |
| Custom field configuration | Self-service, no developer needed | Months of consultant work |
The deeper comparison on the SERP side sits at ATS or CRM: what is the best software for recruitment, and the head-to-head at Bullhorn alternatives.
Built for every type of recruiting agency
Same workspace, three different shapes of agency work.
For Agency Owners
Run candidate-side and client-side workflows in the same workspace. A placement closes a Deal, the Deal updates revenue forecast, the next mandate opens on the same Company record. No reconciliation spreadsheet, no Notion handoff, no second tool to license.
For Talent Acquisition Teams
Build a proprietary talent database that grows with every search. Every candidate touchpoint flows into a shared timeline, hiring managers leave feedback inside the platform, and your team works from one source of truth instead of five.
For Executive Search Partners
Confidential project pipelines run alongside the public deal forecast. Long-cycle searches keep contacts warm for years without falling off the radar, and the client portal lets your search committee review candidates without giving them CRM access.
From cold pitch to renewal, in one workflow
The reason two-tool stacks fail in agencies is not the tools themselves. It is the seam between them. Leonar carries one workflow that walks across both sides of the business.
Step 1, BD
A consultant cold-pitches a target firm. The firm becomes a Company, the contact becomes a Contact, the conversation becomes an Activity. If the pitch lands, a Deal opens with expected fee and stage "qualified".
Step 2, mandate signed
The Deal moves to "won contract", which creates a Project linked to the Company. The Project carries the candidate pipeline for the search. The partner who closed the Deal stays the Project owner.
Step 3, execution
The consultant sources candidates into the Project pipeline, runs sequences, books interviews, shortlists three serious candidates. A placement flips the Deal to "won" and pushes expected fee into the revenue forecast.
Step 4, renewal
Three months after placement, the Project closes, the Company stays warm. The next opportunity opens as a new Deal on the same record, full history one click away. The persona-led companion is at recruiting agency software.
A CRM that does not gate the AI tier
Contacts, Companies, Deals, Projects, and custom fields ship at the Starter tier. Sequences, the unified inbox, AI sourcing on the Leonar database, and WhatsApp send come included from the Growth tier and up. No separate "CRM add-on" SKU, no "contact sales" wall. See the full breakdown on the pricing page.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a recruiting CRM and an ATS?
An ATS tracks candidates through hiring pipelines: stages, notes, offers, hires. A recruiting CRM tracks relationships: candidate relationships you nurture for years before placement, and client relationships you nurture through deals, mandates, and renewals. Most agencies need both objects in the same workspace, otherwise a placement on one side never updates the deal on the other side. Leonar carries the ATS pipeline and the CRM (Companies and Deals) in one schema so the two sides always agree.
Can Leonar replace Salesforce or HubSpot for an agency?
Yes for the recruiting use case. Salesforce and HubSpot are generic sales CRMs. They need months of custom field setup, workflow rules, and integrations before they fit a recruitment pipeline. Leonar ships Companies, Deals, Contacts, Projects, and pipelines as native objects, already wired to the candidate side. You skip the integration work and the configuration tax.
Does the CRM include client deal tracking?
Yes. The Deals module covers expected revenue, probability, expected close date, stage, owner, and links to the related Company and Contacts. Multiple deal pipelines can run in parallel with their own stage definitions. Funnel analytics roll up expected revenue by stage, by owner, and by month. The Deals module is available when enabled by the workspace admin.
How does custom field configuration work?
Twelve field types ship out of the box: text, long text, number, currency, percent, date, datetime, boolean, single select, multi select, link, and team member. Each field is created per entity by a workspace admin in Settings, with no developer involvement and no extra cost.
Can my hiring managers access the CRM?
Hiring managers do not see the internal CRM. They access a dedicated portal with read-only views of the project pipeline you choose to share, and a feedback form on each candidate. The Companies, Deals, and full contact database remain internal to the agency team.
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