Efficient recruitment is the priority number one of HR departments and TA teams. Expanding its human capital ensures a company continues growing and reaching its objectives, plus new employees also bring fresh ideas and viewpoints.
Yet, attracting and hiring top talents has become increasingly challenging due to the COVID-19 crisis. Recruiters had to shift to remote work, online hiring and adjust their recruitment and workplaces policies to the new regulations and standards.
On top of that, more than 3.95 million workers quit their jobs each month in the US, undoubtedly making 2021 the year of the Great Resignation. The pandemic has forced people to re-evaluate their decisions, and many decided to change their careers or refuse poor treatment from their employers.
The world faces an alarming global talent shortage of 85.2 million people, threatening to reach an unrealized output of $1.313 trillion by 2030. Hence, job seekers control the labor market, and their expectations and needs come first.
Business and HR leaders should upgrade their strategies to entice high-quality candidates to apply for their job openings and stay with their companies. The best way to achieve that is to provide an engaging candidate experience.
Pay attention to detail and ensure every recruitment stage is smooth, encouraging talents to remain in the pipeline. Technology is the critical element of a cohesive selection process that fosters continuous communication and keeps job applicants interested.
That’s where the Applicant Tracking System enters the picture.
What is an Applicant Tracking System?
An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is software that enables companies and organizations to speed up their hiring process by collecting candidate data, organizing prospects according to their skills and qualifications, and filtering incoming job applications. Having an ATS is crucial for modern recruitment because it allows recruiters to make better-informed decisions and find the most suitable candidates.
It’s no surprise many Fortune 500 companies use an ATS, and a large majority of hiring professionals have said that it made a positive impact on their selection processes. This software is a must-have tool for high-performing organizations and the future of successful recruitment.
Here are the advantages of using an ATS.
Top 7 ATS Benefits
Applicant Tracking Systems provide numerous perks for recruiters and Talent Acquisition professionals, resulting in a better candidate experience and increased recruitment efficiency.
1. Helps Streamline Recruitment Processes
Recruitment tends to be a lengthy process that includes multiple steps. Because of that, it’s often more complex than it needs to be.
Helping recruiters reduce the number of tedious assignments and be more efficient is among the critical advantages of an ATS. It allows HR professionals to post on multiple job boards simultaneously and receive job applications in the same place.
Moreover, it enables them to post job campaigns on various social media networks and track from what platforms the most qualified candidates come. Thanks to that, recruiters gain the upper hand and simplify the recruitment process, resulting in increased productivity and efficiency.
2. Improves Collaboration and Communication
Fast and concise communication helps HR teams complete their tasks efficiently and be on the same page. Therefore, it’s essential to have a tool that enables recruiters to collaborate and access all data on a single platform.
ATS helps store information in a dashboard all team members can access and share. It also allows HR professionals to communicate with clients and accelerate job requisition, candidate selection, and onboarding.
Without these tools, it’s much more challenging to track who’s responsible for a specific job applicant and schedule meetings. That often slows things down and affects candidate experience, potentially resulting in qualified job applicants quitting the selection process.
3. Enhances the Quality-of-Hire
Recruiters say that using an ATS has helped them improve the quality of candidates they shortlist, and most top talents find a job in a matter of days.
Because of that, it’s crucial to be efficient and not drag out the selection process. ATS enables HR teams to accelerate their recruitment processes, improve their decision-making, and access all job applicants in one place.
Thanks to that, they are able to send automated emails and keep candidates in the loop. This is one of the best ways for recruiters to build rapport and keep job applicants engaged.
Thus, ATS provides top-notch analytics and helps HR teams identify top talents faster. As a result, they can quickly shift recruitment phases and shortlist the most qualified candidates.
4. Reduces Time-to-Hire
Time is crucial in recruitment, and HR professionals are constantly under pressure to fill open vacancies. Therefore, having a tool that makes this responsibility less stressful is essential.
Applicant tracking systems help speed up the recruitment process. That’s because this software shortens the time that they need to execute most assignments and make faster decisions regarding critical issues.
But ATS also enables recruiters to build a talent pool of qualified candidates they can access in the future. That way, they have a database of job applicants who passed the screening phase and fit the company culture.
5. Improves Candidate Experience
ATS includes features that facilitate consistent communication with job applicants, clients, and stakeholders. Fifty-two percent of job seekers said they had a good candidate experience because HR teams followed up with them after the selection process, making it a stellar competitive advantage.
However, ATS also gives insights into valuable data, allowing recruiters to improve their recruitment strategies and provide a better candidate experience. As a result, job applicants develop a better first impression of a company and become more eager to join the team.
6. Boosts Employer Branding
Using an ATS allows companies to streamline their recruitment processes, improves the quality-of-hire, and enhances the candidate experience. In addition, it also includes features such as career pages that help employers define their brand, boost their image, and reach more qualified job applicants in the process.
Collaboration tools make it easier to reach the target audience and identify candidates that fit the company culture and share similar values.
7. Saves Time and Resources
Companies that implement an ATS reduce the workload and enable recruiters to focus on more human-centric strategies and workplace strategies. As a result, they become more productive and engaged with their jobs.
As the ATS streamlines processes and eliminates many time-consuming tasks, employers will spend fewer resources after using this software. Thus, efficient recruiters lead to better team collaboration, quality-of-hire, and higher revenues.
Although using an ATS brings various advantages, it might be challenging to the right one. Hence, it’s crucial to understand where to start.
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How to Choose the Right ATS?
Audit Your Company Needs
You’ll encounter numerous ATS solutions on the market, many with seemingly similar features and functionalities. Because of that, it’s essential to identify your business and recruitment needs.
Audit your past hiring processes and with your team to understand what challenges they usually face. Measure the efficiency of their efforts and discover what you should enhance.
For example, large enterprises might struggle with smooth communication across departments and hierarchies. Software that focuses on internal and external collaboration might be the best for them.
However, small- and medium-sized companies typically want affordable yet all-encompassing platforms covering different requirements. Our cloud-based ATS is a comprehensive software that covers all recruitment operations from end to end, as well as collaboration, advanced analytics, and even includes advanced AI features.
Identify What Tools Would Help You Improve Your Recruitment
Write down what your hiring process needs to be more efficient and streamlined and compare it with different ATS platforms. Ensure that you understand what each feature provides and how it works in practice.
Research details and how easy it is to use specific software. Moreover, discover whether you’ll have access to customer support and if it requires technical skills to implement and maintain.
It’s also crucial that a platform offers an intuitive user experience and doesn’t require demanding training before using it. Avoid tools that would introduce additional challenges to your recruitment process instead of streamlining it.
Consider Your Company Size, Industry, and Resources
Seek software that corresponds to your company size and number of employees. However, consider looking for niche solutions as they likely include features tailored to your industry.
Consider your resources and how much you can invest in an ATS. The best option would be to find multifunctional software that helps you tackle multiple issues simultaneously.
Find Reviews and Testimonials
Before making the final decision, read online reviews and testimonials. Evaluate credibility and ensure that the provider offers a demo or free trial.
Ultimately, determine what the best solution means for you and your team. Include various perspectives when deciding and opting for software that aligns with your business needs, culture, and objectives.
Here are the features every efficient ATS should have:
Top 10 Must-Have ATS Features
1. Candidate Sourcing
Helping recruiters identify the most suitable job applicant is among the essential objectives of every ATS. Because of that, this element should be non-negotiable, and you should avoid software that has no tools that support candidate sourcing.
Highly-qualified individuals in the talent pipeline are a prerequisite for a successful hiring process. Because of that, you need a comprehensive tool to find suitable job seekers and entice them to apply for your job opening.
The pursuit should be fast, efficient, and accurate. Therefore, you should look for software that compiles information accessing multiple online platforms and adds data to a centralized dashboard.
That way, you have easy access to candidate profiles and can contact them with a single click. Moreover, you should have the option to parse the public data from your job applicants as that gives you invaluable insights necessary for shortlisting top talents.
Candidate sourcing tools also include the ability to share your job openings on multiple job boards and receive incoming job applications in the ATS. That way, you won’t have to log into every employment website separately, saving you time and energy.
2. Career Pages
Career pages are often the first touchpoint between you and your future candidates. They should be aesthetic, easy-to-navigate, and tailored to your company brand.
Moreover, job seekers should understand your objectives and apply for your job openings without any issues or glitches. But career pages should also be easy to develop and link to the ATS.
Look for software that enables this feature and provides personalization. It’s also necessary to have access to page parsing as that allows you to find a compatible job applicant faster. Learn how to build your custom career page on Manatal here.
3. Reports, Analytics & KPI Tracking
A comprehensive ATS enables advanced reports and analytics, giving you insights into whether your recruitment efforts are efficient. It isn’t enough to recruit a candidate.
Ensure you hired the right person and understand where they came from and how long it took to employ them. That way, you improve your future recruitment strategies and decision-making.
Because of that, you should look for an ATS that lets you audit every aspect of your hiring processes, access candidate and jobs reports, and track and improve metrics. However, it’s also good to find software that enables you to measure team efficiency and engage recruiters with various incentives based on their KPIs and performance.
4. Social Media Integration
Social media networks are a big part of modern recruitment. Many candidates first hear about a job opening scrolling through their feeds.
It’s wise to seek software that integrates the dashboard with social media. Moreover, many ATS solutions allow employers to extract public candidate data from their profiles.
That way, you can understand who your job applicants are and provide a better recruitment experience. But a good ATS also provides resume parsing and CV management.
As a result, you can identify the most suitable candidate faster and improve your talent pool. Check whether the software has quick search features and enables you to find what you need without the hassle.
5. Centralized Dashboard
Avoid ATS solutions that are hard to integrate and navigate. Instead, choose those that provide an easy-to-use pipeline with the drag-and-drop principle.
That way, you’ll have smooth access to the information you need, making it easy to track candidate progress in the selection process and find conversations and job applicants that match your requirements. Look for software with a centralized dashboard as it will give you a better vision of your daily activities and make tracking each project easier.
Ensure the ATS has advanced search options and that you can filter candidate skills, location, and experiences to meet your requirements. These functions should all be available in one place, allowing you to save your time and resources.
6. CRM
For recruitment agencies, a good ATS must come with a recruitment CRM. Most systems focus on candidates, so if client management is part of your operations, it is important to pick one that enables you to foster communication with your clients and leads.
Without this tool, you’ll have a hard time keeping in touch with them and tracking their expectations and requirements. CRM allows you to actively collaborate with your clients from day one and keep them engaged throughout the relationship. That’s essential for a healthy sales funnel and ensuring everyone is on the same page.
7. Time Management Tools
Recruitment includes a lot of planning and strategizing. Because of that, you need an ATS that makes that task smoother and allows you to add activities, events, and assignments.
Thanks to that, you can set a plan and ensure you’re always ahead of your deadlines. Moreover, you’ll avoid feeling lost and unsure what your tasks are for the day because you’ll receive activity reminders and have the option to follow your daily responsibilities with a To-Do-List.
8. AI Recommendations
ATS that come with AI-powered recommendations engine feature such as Manatal help improve your decision-making and eliminate unconscious bias from the recruitment.
As a result, you’ll simplify the selection process and receive recommendations based on facts and algorithms, indicating the most suitable candidate for the job opening. This feature allows you to understand what job applicants are the closest to your expectations and might perform well in the job role.
Moreover, it typically scores candidates according to customizable filters, ensuring that they are available and their location matches the job requirements.
9. Customization
Customization is among the most significant elements of a multifunctional ATS because it allows HR professionals to tailor the recruitment pipeline to their needs. That can include various options, such as adapting what third parties see regarding data sharing, email templates, job templates, or career pages.
It’s wise to research what customization functions a provider offers and decide what would work best for your recruitment needs.
10. Customer Support
Your ATS should also include customer support, although you might never need it. However, be confident that the provider will help if you need it.
Research the availability and what you can expect if you experience a glitch or can’t access data. Moreover, check if the provider’s website has a FAQ you can turn to when having doubts or questions.
That way, you’ll rest assured you’ve given your trust to the best ATS solution and can rely on them if the circumstances ever require it.
Browse through our collection of ready-to-use job description templates to ease your hiring.
Conclusion
Most high-performing companies leverage technology in their recruitment to increase efficiency and simplify the selection process. The Applicant Tracking System is the number one choice of many business and HR leaders as it helps them identify the most compatible candidate and improve their decision-making.
This software has numerous advantages and will likely evolve in the future, gaining new features and functionalities. If you want to streamline your hiring process and get access to a multifunctional ATS, try Manatal.
Start your 14-day free trial today and leverage Manatal to supercharge your recruitment operations.
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