There’s never been a more exciting time for HR Tech, with approximately $3 billion in VC investments pouring into the sector over the past year alone. This has led to a staggering number of new startups, upstart HR Technologies and emerging point solutions proliferating in what’s already an extremely crowded, extremely competitive and extremely lucrative market worth an estimated $14 billion in annual spend.

These emerging entrants into the HR Technology market have effectively disrupted the more established, entrenched players, resulting in profound changes for organizational leaders and talent practitioners alike.

The exponential increase in HR Technology offerings and options has created what’s more or less a buyer’s market, with more competition inevitably leading to more choice, more control and more flexibility for HR and talent organizations than ever before.

Given the seismic and sweeping changes impacting the industry, it’s no wonder that HR and recruiting leaders often have a hard time keeping track of what’s new and what’s next, and, more importantly, which solutions out there are capable of actually solving their existing talent challenges and business needs.

Figuring all of this out can often be confusing, if not downright daunting, to employers and end users alike. Which is why I’m so excited to share my new “HR Technologies to Watch” list with the RecruitingDaily audience. This list represents the 4th installment in this recurring series.

In case you’re curious (or just bored), you can check out the full version of our previous lists covering Q2, Q3, Q4 2016, respectively. The goal of this list is to give HR and recruiting practitioners a comprehensive list of the most interesting technologies and tools I’m tracking in Q1 of 2017.

This list is intended to give employers and end users somewhere to start when investigating what’s new and what’s next in HR Technology, and is meant to reflect only the companies I’m tracking this quarter.

It is by no means intended to be comprehensive or exhaustive (lists are inherently exclusionary, after all). This is not a popularity contest, nor is this post in any way intended for vendors, investors and/or consultants.  Nope.

 

This list is designed with actual practitioners in mind, and if you’re a talent acquisition or HR professional, then it’s my hope that you will find something on here that can help your talent organization function effectively or efficiently, address a particular pain point or actual business problem you’re having, or just helps make your job (and life) a little bit easier.

That said, if you see something you like, remember that this list is only a first step; you’ll want to do your own due diligence – and a demo – to make sure that it’s the right fit for you and your talent organization. If you like what you see – or if you don’t – make sure you share what you learned with your peers, along with any feedback you can provide to make their search for the latest and greatest in HR Technology a little simpler, too.

To make this list as easy as possible for practitioners to understand and utilize, I wanted to add in a few housekeeping and addendum items before we get started.

  • This list is in alphabetical order; turns out, I love all my children. And this list, well, like most lists, is not meant to be exhaustive nor inclusive of the tons of great HR and recruiting tech out there in the world. Tons, I tell you.
  • Some of these entrants might include companies to which I’m either an advisor or consultant, or which might be current, former or prospective RecruitingDaily clients. While I am not explicitly calling these out on this list, I don’t believe in conflicts of interest, either. If you want, drop me a line and I’ll be happy to walk you through this specific list of plays. I have no problem telling you any of this information, and want to be as upfront as possible if you’re interested. All my advisor roles are noted within my LinkedIn bio.
  • This is just a list of who I like, and not necessarily intended as a recommendation. Again, if you want a specific rationalization or justification for why I included any of these technologies on this list, I’m happy to share that, too.
  • The categories here are ones that I have defined instead of the companies themselves. This means that while the software and services firms on the list may see themselves differently than how I’ve categorized them, this is how I see them, instead. Turns out, it’s nearly impossible to categorize HR Technology or software. But they’ll likely set you straight if you set up a demo on what their product does, where it fits, and how it can help.

Recruiting Daily Presents: The 100+ HR Technologies To Watch | Q1 2017 Edition.

Now that we’ve gotten all of that stuff out of the way, without further ado, I’m excited to present the list of the top HR Technologies to Watch in Q1 2017 (and beyond):

        Name || Category || Twitter

And there you have it.

Stay tuned for the next edition, as I’ll create a new list in April. In the meantime, if I’ve made any errors at all, please let me know by leaving a comment below, and I’ll review and revise accordingly.

If you think I should look at a particular HR Technology or recruiting tool I might have missed, please leave the company name, URL and the reason it’s HR Tech worth watching in the comment section so I can check it out for inclusion in the Q2 edition of this list. Thanks in advance for helping me figure out what’s new and what’s next, too.

Remember: a demo a day keeps mediocrity away.  And in this business, that’s about all you can ask for.

Editor’s Note: If you love the Twitters, here is a complete list of Q2, Q3 and Q4 firms. Click here to subscribe to the Q1 2017 list or listen live here:

william_tincupWilliam Tincup is the President of RecruitingDaily. At the intersection of HR and technology, he’s a Writer, Speaker, Advisor, Consultant, Investor, Storyteller & Teacher. He’s been writing about HR related issues for over a decade. William serves on the Board of Advisors / Board of Directors for 15 HR technology startups.

William is a graduate of the University of Alabama of Birmingham with a BA in Art History. He also earned an MA in American Indian Studies from the University of Arizona and an MBA from Case Western Reserve University.

Follow him on Twitter @WilliamTincup or connect with him on LinkedIn.



By William Tincup

William is the President & Editor-at-Large of RecruitingDaily. At the intersection of HR and technology, he’s a writer, speaker, advisor, consultant, investor, storyteller & teacher. He's been writing about HR and Recruiting related issues for longer than he cares to disclose. William serves on the Board of Advisors / Board of Directors for 20+ HR technology startups. William is a graduate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham with a BA in Art History. He also earned an MA in American Indian Studies from the University of Arizona and an MBA from Case Western Reserve University.