Why it’s important

An Applicant Tracking System has value whether you have 5 roles per year or 5000, don’t think that your organisation is ‘too small’ to need an ATS. The benefits include:

Benefits of using an ATS

Quite often organisations have an HR system in place which has limited applicant tracking capability, or alternatively are trying to manage recruitment processes using an excel spreadsheet! In our view an ATS is invaluable in supporting your candidate experience and making you more efficient and effective in your recruitment processes. You should not have to adapt your recruitment process to the functionality of your system, but have your system work effectively around your recruitment process

• A candidate will often perceive how you will treat them as an employer based on their experience during the recruitment process, and an ATS can help to support you in making this initial experience of your employer brand a good one. For example, an ATS can ensure a response is sent to each and every applicant, that no application gets missed or CV gets left in a desk drawer!
• It provides an easy and efficient method of communicating with your applicants, and allows you to drive them through the assessment process in a consistent manner.
• We know the market is competitive and speed counts, so through using an ATS you can measure how long it is taking to process your applications through each stage, and put interventions in place where you need them. It will also help to support your data recording in terms of how many applications you receive, where they have seen your advert, a breakdown of the demographics and monitor your overall time to hire
• Through using an ATS you can easily and efficiently manage and communicate with, talent pools of candidates for your future vacancies

What else?

In summary, a good ATS will:

• be easy to navigate for both candidates and recruiters
• enable you to post adverts quickly and efficiently to the platforms you require
• allow you to design a simple application process
• enable you to communicate in various ways, including SMS which we know is really popular with candidates, and share engaging content directly to them
• enable an appropriate and efficient assessment process to be built
• capture relevant application details and allow accurate reporting accordingly
• manage the compliance and onboarding process, and speed this up eg. through automated reference chasing
• capture and hold confidential information securely such as CV’s

As with all recruitment tools, an ATS only supports your process and does require a certain element of ‘management’ on the recruiters part. An ATS is something your recruiters will come to use every day and if you ensure that details are kept up to date and candidates are moved through the recruitment process, it will become a vital tool for all.