What follows in company profile of Lever, a new tier of Applicant Tracking System built with more functionality brought in from the CRM world. I had a demo when participating in a vendor evaluation project, but have not used the system. If you’re not familiar with Lever, the profile should give you a good snapshot of what it entails and some pros/cons of the system. My question to users is whether the CRM on top of the ATS produces a significant enough benefit for the expense/resource consumption. If you’re a user, share your thoughts!
Company Overview
– Name: Lever, Inc.
– Founded: 2012
– HQ: San Francisco, CA (acquired by Employ Inc. in 2022)
– Product Category: Applicant Tracking System (ATS) + CRM
– Core Audience: Mid-size to enterprise-level companies, fast-growing tech startups
– Website: https://www.lever.co
What Makes Lever Different?
1. ATS + CRM in One System:
Lever calls itself a “Talent Relationship Management” platform because it combines:
– Traditional ATS workflow (applicant review, scheduling, offers)
– CRM-style sourcing and pipeline building (email campaigns, passive outreach)
2. Candidate-Centric Design:
– One candidate profile includes all interactions, stages, emails, referrals, and feedback across multiple jobs.
– Designed to reduce duplicate data and encourage long-term relationship management.
3. Collaboration & Feedback:
– Strong emphasis on hiring manager engagement:
– Feedback reminders
– Interview kits
– Slack and email integrations
– Real-time visibility across the recruiting team
Key Features
Sourcing: Chrome extension, resume upload, referral tracking, campaign tools
Pipeline: Kanban-style visual pipeline, bulk actions, auto-advancing
Interviewing: Interview kits, scorecards, calendar sync, panel feedback
Offers: Offer letter templates, e-signature integration, approvals
Reporting: Real-time dashboards, EEO/OFCCP compliance reports, diversity tracking
Integration: HRIS, Slack, Zoom, LinkedIn, DocuSign, Greenhouse import tool
Integrations
– HRIS: ADP, BambooHR, Paylocity, Rippling
– Background Checks: Checkr, GoodHire
– Video: Zoom, Google Meet
– Assessments: Codility, HackerRank, Criteria
– DEI Tools: Textio, Blendoor
– Email: Gmail, Outlook
Strengths
– Collaboration Tools: Easily loop in interviewers, coordinators, execs
– Flexible Workflows: Custom stages, triggers, automation rules
Weaknesses / Limitations
— User-Friendly UI: Intuitive for recruiters and hiring managers
– Limited advanced automation (compared to Greenhouse or Ashby)
– Offer management isn’t very customizable
– Not ideal for very large or heavily regulated orgs (e.g., federal contracts)
– Reporting can require manual cleanup or exports for deep analysis
– Who Uses Lever? Tech startups like Netflix, Shopify, Eventbrite, Atlassian
– Growth-stage SaaS orgs
– Design-forward, product-focused teams that want lightweight but scalable tools
Recruiter Tips for Using Lever
– Use the “Nurture” feature to build passive candidate drip campaigns
– Create custom pipeline stages for evergreen roles (e.g., “Silver Medalists”)
– Automate reminders for hiring managers to submit scorecards
– Integrate Slack alerts for stage movements or candidate activity
– Build templates for outreach and interview invites to ensure consistency
Compliance & DEI Features
– Supports EEO, OFCCP, and GDPR
– Diversity tags and reporting built-in
– Offers anonymized resume review through some integrations
Lever vs. Competitors
| Feature | Lever | Greenhouse | Ashby |
|——————|——-|————|——-|
| ATS + CRM | Yes | No | Yes |
| UI Simplicity | Yes | No | Yes |
| Custom Workflow | Partial| Yes | Yes |
| Reporting Depth | Basic | Advanced | Strong|
| Sourcing Tools | Yes | No | Yes |
| Startup Friendly | Yes | No | Yes |
| Federal Hiring | No | Yes | No
About the Author
