What is an Applicant Tracking System?
An applicant tracking system (ATS) automates an organization’s recruiting and staffing operations, providing a central repository for candidate data—including résumés and applications. An ATS is built to help you better manage every stage in the recruiting process, from application to hire, while delivering greater overall efficiency.
A good ATS has the power to overhaul your entire staffing operation into the most productive, profitable and efficient business it can be. With proper implementation, they increase recruiter productivity, save time, and provide organization and structure for your staffing operations.
Why Should Your Firm Be Utilizing ATS Software?
Creating and Retaining your Candidates Base
Sourcing candidates and adding them into an ATS should only be one part of growing your candidate base. The true value in an ATS comes in fostering and maintaining those candidate relationships for positions you have now, and ones that you’ll have down the road.
Whether the positions you are placing are Contract or Direct Hire, there is still a need to create a database of candidates that cannot be found by your competitors on the Job Boards.
Insight into your Growth
How are we doing? Whether your business is a one-person shop or a multi-million dollar agency, you need to understand your past, present, and future performance. Tracking your placements and candidates on a spreadsheet may be cost-effective, but is that sustainable for the next 2 years? 5 years? 10 years? And does it tell you anything truly meaningful about your business?
You need a tool that is going to allow you to see (and provide your clients insight on) how you are doing from a revenue, efficiency and growth trend perspective.
Efficiency and Organization
Sending emails, making calls, and scheduling interviews are 3 of the most routine functions in your day as a Recruiter. If you can streamline and track these activities in a system, you can save hours off of your day and week.
Finding a solution which allow you to send Mass emails and track that activity in the same system; make a call and add your prescreen notes so that they are searchable in the future; or scheduling interviews so that they also appear on your calendar will bring so much value in way of insight as well as organization.
Automation
In the ever-changing world we live in, automation and speed can be the differentiator between whether you land the client, place the candidate, or book the interview.
Using features of an ATS like VMS integrations, Back Office and Onboarding solutions, and Appointment reminders will take what was manual work and create a seamless, automated process.
Expanding your business
Whether your idea of expansion is of headcount or revenue, an ATS is an integral part of either. To expand, you need to know how you are performing. What have been the trends in the past? What clients are your top clients? What are the most valuable sources you are finding candidates from? Utilizing an ATS can provide you this information at the click of a button rather than requiring manual calculations, filtering and record tracking.
How to Evaluate ATS Software
Questions you should ask before making an ATS update
1. What is your list of requirements?
Before you begin looking at different ATS software systems, you must compile a list of requirements for your ATS software. Review your recruiting process and document all steps, interactions, and points of frustration. Once your current process is clearly defined, map out your budget, goals and needs of your new software. As you evaluate ATS software, make sure their features and functionality meet these requirements.
2. Is There a CRM Integration with the ATS Software?
In today’s competitive landscape, you can’t solely rely on your current pool of candidates and clients. A staffing-centric Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software provides the insights and intelligence needed to build and foster your candidate and client relationships. When your ATS software and CRM work together, you’ll unlock complete visibility into candidate and client activity.
Live Demo of Bullhorn’s ATS + CRM
3. Is the ATS Software Flexible and Scalable?
Your ATS software should be flexible enough to provide your firm with not only a platform that remains state-of-the-art through consistent updates, but also the kind of individual attention you expect to make sure your firm’s specialized needs are met at all times. A Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model has the
4. Can You Access the ATS Software on a Mobile Device?
With mobile access to your ATS software, your recruiters and salespeople will be armed with up-to-the-second information about clients and candidates, giving them better insight for offsite meetings and interviews. Since recruiters are constantly on the go, mobile access and mobile recruiting capabilities are crucial for your firm’s success and help to provide a better client service as well as a better candidate experience.
5. Can the ATS Software Manage Your Entire Workflow?
ATS software provides an all-in-one dashboard for managing the entire recruiting process – from job submission to candidate placement. With the right ats update, you should enjoy an efficiency advantage that enhances your existing workflow, leading to higher and faster levels of user adoption.
To manage the entire workflow, your ATS software should work seamlessly with the solutions that extend the capabilities of your applicant tracking system, including: Customer Relationship Management, Onboarding, Back Office, VMS and Reporting solutions.
