Sync2Hire: Revolutionizing Post-Application Communication
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Last week, the SAI community was treated to an insightful product demonstration with Brian Sherlock, Founder and CEO of Sync2Hire, and Vinnie, their Head Engineer. This wasn’t your typical sales pitch with logo slides and marketing fluff—it was a genuine conversation about a tool designed to solve a specific problem that plagues talent acquisition teams, with a particular focus on iCIMS customers.
What makes this especially interesting for our iCIMS community is that Colin Day, Founder of iCIMS, sits on Sync2Hire’s board—a strong signal about the strategic alignment between these platforms. This isn’t just another integration; it’s a purpose-built solution developed with direct input from iCIMS’ founder.
This deep dive was specifically designed for our community of HR tech practitioners—the hands-on-keyboard professionals who make HR tech work in practice. Unlike traditional vendor demos aimed at executives who sign checks but never implement the tools themselves, this session put the people who actually configure, troubleshoot and optimize these systems in direct conversation with the product creators.
The Problem: Post-Application Communication Chaos
While companies have invested heavily in pre-application tools over the past several years—text recruiting products, chat bots, and automation tools that help candidates apply—there’s been a critical gap in what happens afterward.
As Brian explained: “What happens to the collaboration piece of the puzzle is the candidate applies for the job, lands in the ATS, and now all the dollars and time invested into centralizing the communication… there’s a huge drop off post-app.”
Once a candidate applies, communications between stakeholders scatter across Teams, Slack, email, and cell phones. This creates an enormous “toggle tax”—the productivity loss that occurs when recruiters constantly switch between multiple platforms dozens of times per hour. Recruiters waste precious time sifting through inboxes for pertinent information, context gets lost in the shuffle, and ultimately, the candidate experience suffers under the weight of this fragmented communication approach.
The Solution: A Purpose-Built Collaboration Tool
Sync2Hire provides a centralized location as a full extension of your ATS for all recruitment-related conversations that happen post-application. Think of it as Slack for your ATS. What makes it unique:
- Complete data synchronization: The platform automatically syncs job data, applications, employee information, and candidate data from iCIMS, with all permissions mapping directly from the ATS.
- Structured communication: Conversations are organized by job and candidate, making it easy to find relevant discussions without hunting through multiple platforms.
- EEOC compliance guardrails: Messages get analyzed for compliance issues before sending, with smart suggestions for compliant alternatives.
- Seamless experience: No usernames, passwords, or account creation required for candidates or stakeholders. They simply click a link in an email or text to join the conversation.
iCIMS customers can reduce toggle tax even further by embedding Sync2Hire directly in their dashboards. Here’s a tutorial I put together on how to do this.
Demo Highlights
Brian walked us through the interface, showing how:
- Jobs are automatically pulled from iCIMS and assigned to the appropriate recruiters
- Internal team members, candidates, and external partners are all accessible in one place
- Communications are organized in channels tied to specific jobs, making it simple to filter conversations by candidate
- Files can be shared and synced back to the candidate record in iCIMS
- An activity feed keeps everyone up to date on communications they might have missed
A BIG wow moment for me was when Brian demonstrated how the platform uses AI to prevent staff from communicating things that would expose the company to lawsuits. The system actively analyzes messages in real-time, flagging potentially non-compliant language before it’s sent. If you type something like “How old are you?” to a candidate, the platform stops the message, explains why it’s problematic, and offers 3-4 compliant alternatives you can use instead.
Brian shared that this feature was particularly important to Colin Day (on their board), after hearing about an enterprise company that faced two $1 million lawsuits because a hiring manager jumped into a random Slack channel, didn’t realize a candidate was present, and said something inappropriate. That kind of risk mitigation alone could justify the investment.
Community Feedback and Insights
Our community brought thoughtful questions that pushed the conversation beyond surface-level features:
On data privacy: When asked about what candidate information is stored, Vinnie explained that Sync2Hire collects only what’s necessary: email addresses, phone numbers, and resumes. While this data does reside on their servers, they implement deletion policies and can customize data retention based on client preferences.
On mobile experience: One attendee suggested including the recruiter’s photo in candidate text messages—similar to how field service technicians introduce themselves with a picture. The Sync2Hire team embraced this smart suggestion.
On notifications: For the 18-year-old frontline worker who might swipe away notifications, Sync2Hire sends both email and SMS notifications to ensure candidates don’t miss important communications.
On integration flexibility: When asked about syncing files back to custom iCIMS fields (like dedicated fields for transcripts or cover letters), the team acknowledged the importance of this kind of customization for enterprise clients.
What Sets Sync2Hire Apart
What impressed us most was Sync2Hire’s focused approach. They’re not trying to be everything to everyone. As Brian emphasized: “We stay in our lane. We are the collaboration piece post-application, and we’re going to develop only around that to enhance our core competency.”
With pricing at approximately 8-10% of overall ATS cost (about 50 cents per employee), Sync2Hire positions itself as an affordable solution to a persistent problem.
A Different Kind of Product Session
Having both the founder and the engineer in the room meant our members could ask substantive technical questions and get immediate, knowledgeable responses. This transparency fostered genuine dialogue about how the tool works in practice.
Select members from our 30-Day and All-Time SAI Leaderboard were invited to a paid advisory session afterward to continue helping Sync2Hire with their development—reflecting our commitment to bridging the gap between vendors and the administrators who make their technology work.
And yes, attendees enjoyed lunch courtesy of System Admin Insights—a small thank you for their valuable time and insights!
Join Us for Future Events
Want to be part of conversations like this? We host regular opportunities for the community to engage with innovative HR tech products and their creators:
Join our Free Friday calls: Go to https://system-admin-insights.circle.so/events, click RSVP, and create your free profile. All members are welcome to attend these sessions and Product Deep Dives like the one with Sync2Hire.
Consider becoming a paid member: While our Product Deep Dives are open to all, our paid members gain exclusive access to product advisory board opportunities, where your expertise directly influences how these tools develop. It’s your chance to shape the future of the platforms you use every day.
We’d love to see you at our next event—where real products meet real questions from the people who make HR technology work.
