10 Things You Need to Know About Applicant Tracking System Software

What are the things you need to know about the applicant tracking system? The hiring process can be frustrating and time-consuming for both recruiters and job seekers. And in an era of advanced technology and digitization, recruiters have become marketers searching for potential customers – great talents to fill job positions.

The internet has made recruiters’ jobs even more daunting because they receive hundreds to thousands of resumes as new job posts pop up. Research reveals that 75 – 88% of the resumes received from applicants are not qualified for the job. Meanwhile, HR departments need to maintain workflow and source new talent to keep effective work operations.

This is where automating the hiring process comes in to help speed up results as well as get productive candidates for a job description.

Applicant Tracking System also called ATS streamlines the entire recruiting process for organizations who would never think of choosing their employees manually. Hence, from creating job postings to publishing them on various job platforms, screening, and qualifying the best candidates, smart technologies, and artificial intelligence (AI) powered solutions to get the work done.

This enables human agents to take up more crucial recruitment tasks, thereby optimizing labor, cost, and time.

What is an Applicant Tracking System?

An applicant tracking system (ATS) is the electronic means of handling recruitment and hiring needs. It is a software application that collects, organizes, and tracks job candidates throughout the hiring process. ATS involves AI machine learning technology that reads and extracts useful data from applicants’ CVs and prepares qualified candidates for the next hiring phase.

Some great examples of applicant tracking systems software are BambooHR, Jobvite, Bullhorn, Smartrecruiters, IBM Kenexa BrassRing, etc.

How Does the Applicant Tracking System Work

Humans rarely interface with the volume of resumes they get for their companies’ job postings. Instead, machines receive these applications from job seekers. What hiring managers do is customize the applicant tracking system to grade resumes according to certain job demands or specifications. This includes necessary keywords, relevant skills, job titles, and required experience.

As each applicant submits their CV, the system parses, organizes, and rank their information based on how they align with employers’ job demand. The system is only interested in resumes that meet recruiters’ programmed search queries. Hiring officers filters resumes with ATS for relevant skills, keywords, and job titles.

For instance, if a recruiter needs an IT Specialist, the ATS’s first step is to scan each application to sort resumes with the keyword ‘IT Specialist’. Job seekers who fail to include exact keywords will not move up to the next assessment.

Therefore, anyone who can predict keywords that recruiters will use in their search will greatly have a chance to move up in the hiring process. However, determining keywords necessarily doesn’t have to be difficult. All you should do is analyze the job description to discover them. 

ALSO READ:

• 6 Tips for Creating a Welcome Atmosphere for Your Clients
• 10 Remote Jobs That Pay Better Than the Average American Salary
• What is the Best Approach to Building a Solid Talent Pipeline Strategy that Works?

What Are the Things You Need to Know About an Applicant Tracking System?

1. Applicant Search 

Potential candidates are sourced from multiple channels including job boards, employee referrals, and social media. Businesses can access, select and hire top talents at scale with an applicant tracking system that can actively search, identify, and reach out to potential candidates for open positions. 

A good ATS can allow you to search within your applications for relevant keywords, experience, and more features. This enables the HR department to speed up the search for qualified hands to be employed.

2. Application Status Tracking 

Applicant tracking systems can keep accurate and up-to-date records of candidate status in the hiring pipeline. It enables employers to manage candidates’ profiles easily, work on multiple candidates, and screen and evaluate them faster.

Spotting an applicant’s status is easy and fast across multiple workflows with an ATS. You can quickly check where a candidate stops in the hiring process, how he got there, and the next step he should take.

3. Provides a Centralized Platform for All Hiring Needs

An applicant tracking system isn’t just about filtering for keywords or skills. It also provides a centralized platform for all hiring-related activities. You don’t have to jump between email, spreadsheets, social media, and job boards to manage your hiring. 

With ATS, human resource managers can quickly take action to collate candidate information from their resumes, interview performance, and social media. This makes the whole automated hiring process seamless, fast, and impressive.

4. Multiple Integrations 

Bringing in an applicant tracking system does not mean you discard your previous software. The integration capability of applicant tracking systems software can not be underrated. It is compatible with various hiring tools like assessment tests, payroll, and benefits software. It can also connect with accounting software, email marketing, and CRM systems.

5. Managing Interviews 

Having enlisted candidates to the interview phase, applicant tracking systems can also automate segments of the interview like providing interview scorecards, guides, and other kits. Administrators can leverage ATS to schedule interviews, and send out reminders and other events to integrate properly with the team’s calendar.

This enables a structured interview process, where everything is prepared to achieve more accurate results and feedback. This further reinforced employers’ brands as candidates experienced quality service. 

6. Advanced Analytics and Reporting 

The applicant tracking system provides deep insights and generates detailed reports. Information from recruiting trends, dashboard pipeline performance, and other data around the recruitment and hiring process improve businesses’ management operations. With this knowledge, business owners can improve their processes, reduce costs and handle other bottlenecks.

7. Applicant Tracking System Helps in Active Collaboration 

ATS fosters active collaboration amongst colleagues. Whereby, different departments can be involved in the screening, and decision-making of new hires. Interviewers too can collaborate on their findings, without errors or bias. Leaders can make better and more informed decisions that will help the team to stay on track. 

8. Excellent Customer Support 

Implementing applicant tracking software often comes with an available customer support team from developers. Although a modern ATS has features in place to make implementation fast, easy, and engaging yet reliable customer service support is better guaranteed to assist the team immediately if something goes wrong with the software. Recruiters should request such excellent customer support when purchasing an ATS or once installed. 

9. Job Board Management 

The whole idea of the applicant tracking system is to provide seamless recruiting processes. This begins with the job posting. Implementing ATS can easily post jobs from one central location across multiple platforms. 

Therefore activities such as updating job posts, promoting positions, checking status, or reaching a wider audience are quickly achieved using an ATS.

10. Optimized Career Site 

Company career sites seem to be the new landing page for job seekers. Recruiters are aware so they optimized their site to attract top talent with high-quality content, FAQs, and an exciting on-page experience. Applicant tracking systems provide attractive and engaging career sites that businesses leverage to draw skilled and experienced candidates. 

ALSO READ:

• The Top 12 Reasons to Outsource HR Functions
• 5 Signs You Need to Outsource Data for Your Business
• 5 Essential Skills HR Professionals Should Be Developing

Conclusion

There are different kinds of applicant tracking systems. We have higher education applicant tracking systems, public sector applicant tracking systems, and government applicant tracking systems. The best ATS for your business may depend on your industry. So, it is not just about implementing any ATS. Instead, consider the creators of the system to ensure they had your industry in view when developing the software.