Job boards and software providers ranked among staffing firms’ top picks among vendors, according to a new report from Staffing Industry Analysts. The report is based on a survey of respondents from 622 staffing firms.

The survey asked “of all the vendors that you use — including front office and back office software providers, job boards, background checking services, M&A, funding providers, etc. — which are the top two vendors you would be most likely to recommend to a friend or colleague?”

The report lists vendors that were recommended by at least three staffing firms. And the top vendors — those receiving 10 or more recommendations — were:

• Bond
• Bullhorn
• CareerBuilder
• Dice
• Indeed
• JobDiva
• LinkedIn
• MaxHire
• Monster

“Service, ease of use and value were among the top reasons given for selecting these vendors,” said Theodore Vadpey, who authored the report.

That five of the top 10 are related to online job posting and the other five are staffing software providers is not necessarily a surprise. “These two categories of vendors serve the bread and butter of the staffing industry — sales and recruiting,” Vadpey said. “Getting the right one is a make-or-break decision.”

More than 100 vendors were nominated but only 31 were recommended three or more times, he said.

The report includes comments from staffing firms on why they would recommend a particular vendor. And the report is available to corporate members of Staffing Industry Analysts by clicking here.