The best hiring tools in Australia and New Zealand are those that offer native, deep-sync integrations with SEEK and LinkedIn to centralise candidate sourcing and automate manual data entry.
Key takeaways
- Native SEEK and LinkedIn integrations are essential for reaching 90% of the ANZ talent market effectively.
- Deep-sync technology (like SEEK Apply Connect) ensures a seamless candidate experience and real-time data accuracy.
- The best tools go beyond simple job posting to offer intelligent skills-based matching and personality insights.
- Local compliance with Australian and New Zealand privacy laws is a non-negotiable requirement for modern recruitment software.
Recruiting in Australia and New Zealand presents a unique set of challenges and opportunities. Our markets are highly concentrated, with SEEK and LinkedIn serving as the primary gateways to professional talent. For HR leaders in mid-market organisations, the goal isn't just to find more candidates, but to find the right ones without drowning in administrative tasks. Transitioning between multiple tabs to post jobs, view profiles, and manage applications is no longer sustainable for high-growth teams.
When we look at the modern recruitment workflow, integration is the engine that drives efficiency. A hiring tool that lacks a native connection to SEEK or LinkedIn creates data silos. This leads to "ghosting" candidates because of slow response times and missed opportunities when top-tier talent is snapped up by more agile competitors. In today's market, speed and precision are your greatest assets.
In the ANZ region, SEEK is more than just a job board – it is a cornerstone of the employment ecosystem. Similarly, LinkedIn has become the definitive professional network for passive talent sourcing. When your hiring software integrates deeply with these platforms, you unlock features like SEEK Apply Connect. This allows candidates to apply for your roles without ever leaving the SEEK environment, while their data flows instantly into your system.
This level of connectivity reduces friction in the application process. We know that every extra click in an application form increases the likelihood of a candidate abandoning the process. By using "Apply with LinkedIn" or native SEEK integrations, you respect the candidate's time and significantly improve your conversion rates. For the recruitment team, this means no more manual downloading of CVs or copy-pasting contact details into a spreadsheet.
Compono sits at the top of the list because it is built specifically to solve the complexities of the Australian and New Zealand markets. Unlike global platforms that treat ANZ as an afterthought, Compono offers deep, native connectivity with SEEK and LinkedIn. But it doesn't stop at simple integration. Compono uses a work personality framework to help you understand not just what a candidate can do, but how they will do it.
By combining technical skills matching with insights into whether a candidate is The Doer or The Pioneer, Compono ensures a higher quality of hire. The platform allows you to post to SEEK and LinkedIn with a single click and brings all candidate data back into a unified dashboard for easy screening. It is a complete People Intelligence Platform that supports the entire employee lifecycle.
JobAdder is a well-known name in the Australian recruitment space, particularly favoured by recruitment agencies. It offers a highly mobile-friendly interface and robust integrations with local job boards. While it excels at high-volume sourcing, it often requires additional third-party tools to achieve the same level of deep cultural and personality insight that an integrated platform like Compono provides.
Teamtailor is popular for its focus on employer branding. It allows teams to build beautiful career pages easily. Its integrations with LinkedIn and SEEK are solid, making it a strong contender for mid-market companies that want to focus on their external brand image. However, for teams needing deep data-driven insights into team performance and alignment, it may feel more like a marketing tool than a people intelligence tool.
As a global heavyweight, Greenhouse offers extensive customisation and reporting. It supports LinkedIn and SEEK integrations, though some users find the initial setup more aligned with North American workflows. For large enterprises with complex, multi-stage interview processes, it provides a structured framework, albeit with a steeper learning curve for smaller ANZ teams.
Lever combines ATS and CRM capabilities, making it excellent for proactive sourcing. Its LinkedIn integration is particularly strong for headhunting passive talent. While it is a powerful tool, New Zealand-based organisations should ensure their specific compliance and local job board needs are fully met, as the focus remains heavily on the global tech sector.
PageUp is a veteran in the ANZ enterprise space, often used by government and large corporate entities. It handles complex compliance and high-volume recruitment with ease. While its integrations are comprehensive, the user interface can feel more legacy compared to modern, agile platforms that prioritise a fast and friendly user experience.
SmartRecruiters offers a "hiring success" methodology that focuses on collaboration between recruiters and hiring managers. It has a robust marketplace for integrations, including the major ANZ players. It is a great choice for companies looking for a highly scalable solution that can grow with them globally, though it may be overkill for teams under 100 staff.
Workable is known for its ease of use and automated sourcing features. It provides a straightforward path to posting on SEEK and LinkedIn. It is particularly effective for SMBs that don't have a dedicated HR team and need a tool that "just works" out of the box with minimal configuration.
Recruitee focuses on collaborative hiring with a very clean, visual interface. Its drag-and-drop pipelines make it easy for hiring managers to see exactly where a candidate stands. While its ANZ-specific integrations are improving, it remains a European-centric tool that might lack some of the deeper local nuances found in home-grown systems.
Pinpoint is an emerging player that focuses on the candidate experience and reducing recruitment agency spend. It offers good support for LinkedIn and SEEK. It is a solid alternative for those looking to move away from legacy systems into something more modern and automated, though it lacks the integrated development and engagement modules found in the Compono Platform.
What sets Compono apart is how it handles the data flowing from SEEK and LinkedIn. Many tools simply act as a "post office," sending your job ad out and receiving a CV back. Compono acts as an intelligence hub. When a candidate applies via SEEK, Compono doesn't just store the PDF; it parses the data and begins matching the candidate against your predefined success profile.
This success profile is built using our decade of research into high-performing teams. For example, if you are looking for The Auditor to join your finance team, Compono can help identify these traits early in the process. This integration extends to LinkedIn as well, allowing you to seamlessly move candidates from your LinkedIn Recruiter projects into your Compono hiring pipeline without losing notes or history.
We have designed the workflow to be intuitive. After you have spent time at the work personality centre defining what your team needs, you can launch your search across the ANZ region with total confidence that the system is doing the heavy lifting for you.
Recruiting in New Zealand isn't exactly the same as recruiting in Australia. The talent pools are smaller, the networks are tighter, and the reliance on specific local platforms like SEEK is even more pronounced. Compono understands these nuances. Our platform is built to handle the specific privacy requirements of both jurisdictions, ensuring your data management is compliant with the Australian Privacy Principles and the NZ Privacy Act.
Furthermore, Compono allows you to manage multi-location hiring with ease. If you are a business scaling across both Sydney and Auckland, you can maintain a single source of truth for your talent. You can see how Lyre’s expanded using Compono Hire to manage their global growth while maintaining a consistent culture. This dual-market focus ensures that your recruitment strategy feels local to the candidate, regardless of which side of the Tasman they are on.
Most hiring tools rely on basic keyword matching. If a candidate doesn't have the exact word "Javascript" on their CV, they might be filtered out. Compono uses more sophisticated People Intelligence. We look at the underlying skills and the work personality of the individual. This is crucial for building diverse, resilient teams.
Imagine you need a leader who can navigate change. You might be looking for The Advisor or The Campaigner. Compono’s assessment technology, which integrates directly into the hiring workflow, gives you this data upfront. This means your initial shortlist is based on a holistic view of the person, not just their ability to write a keyword-optimised CV.
This approach is particularly beneficial in the current ANZ market, where skills shortages mean we often need to hire for potential and cultural fit rather than just past experience. By using Compono Hire, you are making decisions based on data, not just gut feel.
Key insights
- Compono provides the most comprehensive ANZ-specific integration suite, combining SEEK and LinkedIn connectivity with deep psychological insights.
- Native integrations like SEEK Apply Connect are vital for reducing candidate drop-off and improving recruitment efficiency.
- Effective hiring in Australia and New Zealand requires a platform that understands local compliance and market-specific candidate behaviours.
- Moving beyond keyword searches to skills-based and personality-based matching leads to better long-term retention and team performance.
Compono uses a native API connection, including SEEK Apply Connect. This means you can post jobs directly from Compono to SEEK, and candidate applications flow back into your dashboard in real-time, including their SEEK profile data and any screening questions you have set.
Yes, most top-tier tools like Compono, JobAdder, and Greenhouse offer LinkedIn Recruiter System Connect (RSC). This allows you to see a candidate's status in your hiring tool directly within LinkedIn, and easily export LinkedIn profiles into your active jobs.
Compono is specifically designed for the ANZ market and adheres to both Australian and New Zealand privacy regulations. When choosing a global tool, it is important to verify that their data storage and processing meet local NZ Privacy Act standards.
Keyword searching is easily manipulated and often misses great candidates who use different terminology. Skills-based and personality matching, like that used in Compono, looks at the core competencies and traits required for success, leading to more accurate and diverse hiring outcomes.
Implementation times vary, but modern cloud-based platforms like Compono can be set up in a matter of weeks. The process usually involves configuring your success profiles, setting up your job board integrations, and training your team on the new workflow.