Understanding Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)

What are applicant tracking systems?

An applicant tracking system, often referred to as an ATS, is a software application that automates the hiring process. While originally designed as a storage solution for job applications to aid in compliance, today’s ATS solutions organize and streamline the hiring process from source to hire. Legacy recruiting practices, such as spreadsheets and email chains, fall short when confronted with the expectations of today’s fast-paced, competitive job market. Applicant tracking software increases the productivity and capabilities of recruiters, hiring managers, and HR teams with a centralized database. With a wide range of capabilities to improve hiring team efficiency while attracting top talent, ATS software can:

• Scan, sort, and rank candidates
• Post to a wide-range of job boards with a single submission
• Generate interview requests to potential candidates via email and texts
• Build, manage, and maintain career pages
• Keep teams on track to meet hiring goals

Applicant tracking systems provide an abundance of tools to save valuable time, increase hiring team productivity and provide consistent processes while improving the candidate experience.

Applicant tracking features to look for

Applicant tracking systems for recruiters and hiring teams combine functionality with ease of use. Notoriously feature-rich, selecting the best ATS can be overwhelming. The best ATS should have the following:

• Candidate portal
• Open APIs
• Marketplace for 3rd party vendors
• Career page builder
• Agency Portal
• Great UI/UX
• Reporting and Analytics
• Event management
• Globally compliant
• Native AI to support unbiased hiring practices
• Cloud-based
• Future proof – easily scalable
• End to end solution from source to hire
• Native CRM

The best predictor of a company’s future success is the quality of their hires. Hire smarter, save time, and reach your goals with the best applicant tracking system for recruiters, hiring managers and candidates.

Why should recruiters use an applicant tracking system?

A successful ATS has the power to turn a reactive hiring team into a proactive, productive, cost-efficient operation. According to data from the annual SmartRecruiters customer survey, a modern, mobile-friendly, easy-to-use, intuitive ATS has shown a 118% increase in applicant volume, a 48% time saved by HR professionals on hiring-related activities, and a 53% faster response time which demonstrates the increased engagement of hiring managers. Additional key benefits of an ATS include:

Collaboration

ATS software allows HR professionals to clearly and efficiently communicate within the hiring team and with candidates. The hiring teams can leave notes, engage decision-makers, communicate with each other and candidates, and share resumes securely and easily within the platform. Due to the candidate tracking system, candidates no longer slip through the cracks and feel more connected to the company throughout the hiring journey. Managers and candidates are kept in the loop – so no more guessing where they are in the hiring process.

Analytics

ATS solutions provide analytic tools to measure the success of recruiting and hiring strategies. Hiring professionals can use real-time data proactively to forecast staffing needs, build a recruiting pipeline, maintain an active workforce at capacity, and accurately determine the key metrics around costs, quality and time within their hiring function.

Recruitment Marketing

An end to end recruiting strategy is critical in today’s tight job market. With an effective plan and robust ATS, a hiring professional can attract and engage future job applicants to their employer brand. This can be achieved through a wide range of strategies including; programmatic job advertising, CRM campaigns, events, social media campaigns, agency relationships, and referrals.

Compliance

Compliance was the original inspiration behind the ATS. The compliance world is broad, complex, and constantly evolving. There are a number of considerations to be managed depending on where a company operates; for example, a global organization of size must appropriately support everything from EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) to GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). Compliance laws vary by country and by state globally, so having the right hiring practices and a modern ATS solution to support this ever challenging environment is critical.