BlogAdapting smarter: What mid-market companies need from hiring software
One quarter you’re navigating a hiring slowdown. The next, a sudden spike in roles or shifting priorities across new regions. And somewhere in the middle, your CEO is asking for weekly hiring forecasts. Welcome to the world of mid-market talent acquisition.
In this kind of environment, success depends less on growing fast and more on adapting fast. You need to flex your processes, tap into AI where it helps and stay efficient even when resources tighten.
That’s why when it comes to choosing your hiring software or applicant tracking system (ATS), adaptability is the name of the game. As Shannon Castleman, Senior Manager of Talent Acquisition at Greenhouse, puts it: “TA is about getting a really strong hire, hiring as quickly as possible and providing a great candidate experience. It’s not one-size-fits-all. You can flex how you get there.”
Read on for guidance on how to select the right hiring software for your mid-market org.
Why adaptability matters now for mid-market orgs
You’re in a unique position when it comes to your tech stack as a mid-market company. Your organisation is too complex for SMB tools but too lean to go with one of the traditional enterprise solutions. You need hiring software that will meet you where you are today and be just as reliable for your needs tomorrow.
Here are a few common scenarios you might face:
Growth is uneven: You may have seasonal spikes or new departments that require additional headcount fast – but you might also need to put everything on hold to account for pauses or hiring freezes. In these scenarios, tools that charge you for every user don’t make financial sense.
Hiring involves cross-functional stakeholders: As you’re working across roles and regions, your team of hiring manager partners expands. And you’re likely to have executives and finance leaders keeping a close eye on your progress. Compensation packages and offer letters become more complex when you’re hiring across regions as well. Without scalable software, adding in new cross-functional collaborators can create friction.
Every change to your tech stack is a major decision: Because your company’s tech stack is already established, you can’t simply make changes without involving other teams like legal and IT. Going through the procurement and approval process is an ordeal that takes time away from your TA tasks. This is why you need software that can keep pace without breaking your process – or budget.
What adaptable hiring software should deliver for mid-market efficiency
As you evaluate different hiring software providers, here are a few guiding principles to keep in mind.
Consolidate tools to cut costs and increase value
One telltale sign that your hiring software is working against you? Your team is putting in more work but not seeing any results. Madison Kraft, Technical Talent Acquisition Manager at Greenhouse, said, “Inefficiencies in processes or bottlenecks in interviews become more evident because you might see an increase in top of funnel work but not an increase in hires.”
Mid-market TA teams can’t afford tool sprawl. Every extra vendor adds hidden costs, IT overhead and – as Madison mentioned above – slower recruiter output. According to GoodTime’s 2025 Hiring Insights Report, scheduling and rescheduling issues were a top contributor to the rising time-to-hire.
The trick is to find the balance between consolidation and flexibility.
Shift from ‘all-in-one’ to ‘right-in-one.’ Instead of buying a monolithic suite, identify which modules actually need to be best-in-class vs. which can be ‘good enough.‘
– Julie Barker, CEO of Cultivate Talent and Fractional Tech HR Executive
The right hiring software can streamline your workflows by automating administrative tasks like scheduling, routine communication with candidates and initial CV screening. Here’s what Greenhouse VP of Talent Acquisition & Planning, Ariana Moon, suggests: “Look for a tool that will allow you to save time on transactional activities and focus more of your effort on the moments genuine human connection impacts or inspires a candidate’s experience or final decision.”
Prioritise agility – whether you’re growing, shifting or scaling back
Removing friction and remaining agile are essential for mid-market TA teams. You can’t afford to lose candidates due to inefficient or repetitive hiring processes. Yet this is happening all too often – 50% of candidates say they’ve ghosted an employer, often due to repetitive or lengthy applications. The right hiring software can streamline the application process and prevent candidates from dropping out.
An applicant tracking system can also boost your TA team’s agility by standardising recurring tasks like creating job posts and job offer letters. The key is to create templates and repeatable processes that save time but still allow you to customise for different roles or geographies.
It’s also worth noting that you can’t hit pause on growth to replatform or retrain your staff. You need tech that adapts to your team size, hiring volume and complexity. Look for solutions that can flex with user growth. Adding recruiters or hiring managers shouldn’t mean you have to renegotiate contracts or re-scope every year.
Future-proof hiring with unified data
As your mid-market org scales, every new stakeholder – from finance and IT to hiring managers – needs visibility. And if your data isn’t unified, inefficiency multiplies, and decision-making slows at the exact moment speed is most critical. This is a common complaint: 60% of companies reported an increase in time-to-hire in 2024 and only 6% were able to reduce this metric during that same period.
You can proactively prepare for the future by getting your data in order today. Connect recruiting and onboarding tools so information flows seamlessly across teams – no duplicate data entry, compliance gaps or wasted hours chasing down details.
Look for solutions that offer self-serve analytics so your TA team gets instant access to the reporting and insights they need. The ability to pull relevant data for yourself and your stakeholders grows increasingly important as your organisation – and the hiring software that supports it – becomes more complex.
Safeguard your pipeline against candidate fraud
Application volumes are spiking and candidate fraud is a growing concern. For example, 28% of candidates admit they’ve used AI to generate fake work samples, according to the 2025 Greenhouse Workforce & Hiring Report. But leaner mid-market TA teams don’t have hours to waste on sorting real from fake applicants.
How do you save time wading through spam, duplicate CVs and even fraudulent candidates while avoiding compliance risks? The right hiring software has built-in verification and fraud detection to help you reduce noise at the top of the funnel and focus only on qualified applicants. Filtering early prevents bad hires and keeps your process sustainable no matter how your hiring needs shift.
Avoid hidden costs that hold back mid-market progress
There are countless hidden operational costs that crop up for mid-market TA teams. These might include recruiters manually syncing data, needing to renegotiate contracts when your team scales, scheduling backlogs leading to delayed offers or new hires being slowed by clunky onboarding. And, of course, there’s the time it takes to get a meaningful response from customer support whenever an issue crops up.
But the truth is: You don’t have the budget or bandwidth to chase down vendors for every problem. You need sustainable, scalable efficiency.
Look for transparent pricing that scales with you
Some ATS providers lock mid-market companies into rigid pricing structures. They might charge per-user fees that drive prices up anytime you have a busy quarter or trigger expensive contract renegotiations when you hit an arbitrary volume threshold. Look for vendors who offer transparent and flexible pricing that supports your growth instead of penalising you for it.
Pause before you add another point solution to your tech stack
Adding point solutions may patch your problems in the short-term, but this approach creates long-term complexity. Julie from Cultivate Talent says one of the biggest mistakes she sees is companies taking a short-sighted perspective and not considering what an integration will mean one to two years down the line.
Remember: The right HR platform addresses root issues instead of layering more tools into the mix. Here’s Shannon’s suggested approach: “Focus on the outcomes you need versus flashy ‘nice-to-have’ features. And don’t forget to evaluate the vendor team itself: responsiveness, organisation, openness to feedback and enthusiasm for their product roadmap often tells you more about long-term adaptability than any feature list.”
Select vendors who are ready to be true partners
As you evaluate different vendors, pay attention to the signals they’re sending you. Ariana said, “You can learn a lot about a vendor through their selling process. Does the sales team actively listen to your needs and take a consultative approach to helping you find solutions to your pain points? Do they provide you options that speak to your requests, or are they simply trying to force a solution or an expensive package that doesn’t make sense for your specific case?”
Another proven way to assess your next hiring software partner? Ariana recommended asking the vendor if you can speak to another customer that’s a similar size and stage to your company. “If the vendor sets you up with a contact, chances are, you’ll learn things that are relevant to you with more raw honesty. If you’re specifically worried about the vendor’s ability to scale with your company’s growth plans, ask to speak to customers who’ve seen this growth during the time they’ve had this vendor, and get a sense of their customer satisfaction.”
When in doubt, choose the tool that will adapt with you
Your hiring needs will shift (sometimes dramatically) from one quarter to the next. But one thing remains constant for mid-market TA teams: You need hiring software that moves with you, not something that becomes a barrier when priorities change.
The right platform consolidates tools, reduces operational drag and gives you the structure and data clarity you need to stay efficient in any hiring climate.
As you evaluate vendors, look beyond today’s requirements and choose a partner that’s built to evolve with your team, your processes and your business – no matter what comes next.
Want a smoother, more adaptable hiring process? This feature guide shows how.
