How to Make the Best Use of the Applicant Tracking System

Not long ago, the process of hiring the right candidate, from scheduling an appointment to completing the deal, was manual. There wasn't much workflow automation to talk about. But with hiring happening in volumes and more frequently, automation has stealthily crept into the hiring value chain. ATS is used in some form, whether a startup or a corporation - it's no longer a surprise.

What is an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)

ATS is a software that manages the entire hiring process. It expedites applicant management and drastically decreases time-to-fill. The ATS in hiring keeps records of all activities in the recruitment and selection department, from scheduling the process to completing the deal.

An ATS (Applicant Tracking System) lets you monitor your end-to-end hiring process, from sourcing to hiring, and automates your company's recruiting and staffing processes.

How Does an Applicant Tracking System Work?

An Applicant Tracking System is a central location where most of your hiring activities occur. You can view applicants within the system and offer jobs to various employment boards. Some advanced versions of ATS facilitate identifying qualified talent based on specific criteria. That said, integrate with enterprise systems to provide end-to-end visibility.

Fast Fact!

According to Capterra, a leading software review and selection platform, 75% of large companies use ATS.

The Primary Purposes of an ATS are as Follows:
  • It monitors candidate data, open positions, and each recruitment stage for these positions.
  • It helps in examining job applications.
  • Specific applicant tracking systems automatically rank candidates by comparing resumes with job descriptions.
  • ATSs can do keyword searches and conduct a complex investigation that combines job-relevant titles and skills.
ATS Tools Upsides:
  1. It helps automate administrative aspects of the recruiting process.
  2. It makes it effortless for head-hunters and hiring staff to track the procedure and exchange feedback.
  3. It assists you in locating qualified candidates through job postings and sourcing.
  4. It encourages a better candidate experience.
  5. It facilitates the maintenance of a searchable applicant data set such as hiring reports.
ATS Tools Downsides:

It filters out good resumes that the system cannot read and understand automatically, like graphics and PDF files. Also, it could eliminate potential prospects based on keywords in the resumes.

Challenges Faced While Finding the Best ATS

The price range data of ATSs are quite elusive as few ATSs are available free off the shelf for few days/months, while few charge a monthly sum ranging from $25 to $250 or an annual package from $300 to $3000 depending on their functionality. ATS’, that are integrated with a recruitment solution is cost effective considering the other benefits they offer.

Additional Features That an ATS Includes in 2022

Enhance your talent acquisition process with all these seven most important ATS functions:

Intense candidate search: It helps to customize shortlisting variables, AI semantic hunt, automated candidate filings, and streamlined interaction to accelerate your talent recruitment strategy.

Integrated job board: It can optimize job board integration by automating bulk job postings, thereby saving effort and time.

Access to mobile apps: It offers smartphone apps for Android and iOS. Leveraging a smartphone app in your recruitment procedure is ideal for achieving your recruitment objectives.

Various plugins: An applicant tracking system enables recruiters with easy-to-install add-ons for Gmail, Office 365, Outlook, and LinkedIn.

A variety of bench management solutions: It can improve the efficiency of bench management by providing hotlists, an entirely automated search to look for job applicants on the bench, etc.

Online and offline communication choices: It helps streamline all phone calls, messages, e-mails, and other methods of communication straight from the platform.

Smoother workflows: It can offer flexibility and personalization in creating workflows, roles, and user access.

We have done detailed research on ATS and are glad to provide you with a list of the top five applicant tracking system software in 2022.

Top 5 ATS Tools and Platforms with ATS Integration

MyRCloud is a one-stop hiring solution with an ATS integrated AI platform designed to harness the power of people, technology, and data to produce superior recruitment results.

Oracle Taleo is a cloud-based software that offers talent acquisition, development, and retention solutions.

IBM Kenexa BrassRing is a cloud-based applicant tracking system that uses behavior marketing to attract talent.

Jobvite ATS is a software that enables social recruiting, mobile-optimized career sites and onboarding functions.

SmartRecruiters includes pre-integrated assessment tools and enables improved communication through scheduled notifications and auto-responses.

You can analyze, track, and strategize your talent acquisition processes more effectively by optimally utilizing an ATS.

To Sum up

In an ATS tool for use or switchover, the various options available can be quite puzzling. To arrive at a suitable one, we have to focus on the parameters needed, affordability, handling of high-volume data, tackling the fragmented recruitment process, and plethora of issues like relating to single or multiple purpose hiring solutions. Further, in certain integrated recruitment management suites, ATS comes as an in-built feature within the AI-enabled recruitment software. As always, a journey of a thousand miles comes with one small step. As a business or an organization, if you are going to invest in an ATS, it’s important you evaluate your business needs rigorously before going down the path.

Signing off:


Vidhya V,

14th July 2022

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