There was a research conducted by GetApp on the talent professionals. It highlighted that the respondents using an applicant tracker system (ATS) had been better in their recruiting endeavors. As 86.1% of the participants admitted their hiring speed had increased due to an ATS system. Whereas, 78.3% of them acknowledged improvement in their quality of hire in regards to their recruiting process.
Applicant tracker system can be useful for companies of all sizes. It can help recruiters to handle their applicants in pipeline in a quicker and simpler way. Moreover, it allows them to recruit the right fit for open positions. It is one of the most vital tasks for hiring managers to efficiently and quickly recruit quality talent. Yet, with many applicants and an increased demand from companies to recruit the top talent, it has become a great challenge for the recruiters to come across the right fit.
An applicant tracker system (ATS) has advanced searching features that can help recruiters in optimizing their recruiting process. It introduces immense automation in each hiring stage from sourcing to onboarding. If this is the first time you will use ATS Software or consider adopting one for your recruiting process, you may not know what to expect. For this reason, RecruitBPM has developed a useful guide to give you a head start. It includes benefits of using an applicant tracker system and what to expect from your ATS solution.
Definition of Applicant Tracker System (ATS)
A recruiting software that is specifically built to simplify a company’s recruiting process is known as an applicant tracking system. An efficient ATS system works as a centralized archiving system for the companies’ candidate data, comprising job applications, resumes, and any comments or feedback from the recruiters.
It enables recruiters to easily access the data they need, track significant recruiting metrics, and identify potential chances for improvement. An applicant tracker system introduces huge automation and consistency to numerous time-consuming tasks, such as interview scheduling and sorting out unqualified candidates.
An applicant tracker system offers a combination of functionality and ease of use to the recruiters and hiring managers. Choosing the perfect ATS system, especially one with rich features, can be an overwhelming job. While selecting the right pick for your hiring process, you need to make sure it has the following ATS features:
- Candidate database
- Career portal
- Open APIs
- Marketplace for 3rd party vendors
- Company Portal
- Outstanding UI/UX
- Reporting and analytics
- Collaboration
- Internationally compliant
- Built-in AI for unbiased hiring
- Cloud-based
- Easily customizable
- End to end solution
- Built-in CRM
The hiring quality of an ATS predicts the potential success of any staffing company. Besides saving time and hiring smartly, any company can greatly accomplish its targets given the provision of right applicant tracker software.
In order to turn your volatile recruiting team into an active, prolific, and cost-efficient one, you need an effective applicant tracker system. An advanced, user-friendly, and intuitive applicant tracker system is useful in increasing the number of applicants. Moreover, it assists the HR professionals save their time being spent on hiring-related tasks and provide a quick response time.
Types of Applicant Tracker System (ATS)
When it comes to selecting an applicant tracker system, most of the recruiting companies may have to face many challenges. For instance, the type of applicant tracker system they should go for, based on installation. Fundamentally an applicant tracker system comes in two installation-based types. The first type is On-Premise/Offline Applicant Tracker System whereas the other is Cloud-based/Online Applicant Tracking System.
Comparison of Types of ATS
Whether you decide on an on-premise applicant tracker system or a cloud-based, it offers exceptional benefits to hire the best fit for your company. Consequently, in order to help you in deciding which type of applicant tracker system suits your business needs, below is a brief comparison between on-premise and cloud-based applicant tracker systems :
On-Premise Applicant Tracking System
- For an On-Premise ATS software, whether it’s an applicant tracker system or not, if it has to support multiple users and needs to be installed on a server. A server must include the hardware, server software and an IT specialist to set up the server. Moreover, it demands profound network security for data privacy protection.
- Offline applicant tracking system gives you a choice to save the upgradation fees when you don’t need any upgrades in your software and want to stick to the basic version as long you want it that way.
- An on-premise ATS offers unlimited storage for your candidates’ resume and other related recruiting data.
- Depending on various hardware, software, network, and personnel requirements, an on-premise applicant tracker system can take longer to setting up and deployment.
- There is a strong guarantee that the data of your staffing organization is as secure as your network within the corporate firewall if you are using an on-premise ATS System.
- If you intend to increase your users, you will require supplementary hardware, software, network infrastructure, and setup. Following this model, when your business grows, you can easily add more users. However, if your business plummets due to certain market factors or a recession, you will be stuck with the infrastructure you invested in.
- An on-premise ATS system has to have a necessary backup for your recruiting data. If you don’t have any backup, you may lose all of the critical data you acquired over the years once your hard drive crashes.
- Usually, for small businesses, on-premise software doesn’t entail any disaster recovery plan. Hence, in case of a force majeure, the users have no access to the premises, which means you cannot perform from anywhere until you have access to the premises. This could also lead to loss of critical data.
Cloud-based Applicant Tracking System
- If you have decided to use an advanced cloud-based applicant tracking system, the good thing to know is you can easily set it up online. You don’t even need your vendor’s help from whom you purchased that ATS software. Moreover, if you come across an ATS software that is too complicated to install, the one-time setup fee doesn’t normally exceed $250.
- Generally, there is a limitation to the storage offered by cloud-based tracking software, yet you can always select an upper limit depending on your subscription plan.
- An Online applicant tracker system is all good to use from the point you sign-up for your Free Trial. It takes a maximum of 1-3 Days to be up and running.
- Data stored in the cloud-based ATS system can be more secure than the data of an on-premise ATS system, depending on the cloud provider.
- A cloud-based ATS comes with a lot of flexibility to grow or reduce the setup. You can easily add up or reduce the number of users with just a click. You need to pay only for the corresponding number of your users.
- The majority of the cloud ATS systems use 3 levels of redundancy. It means that each file you save on the cloud has 3 copies saved onto 3 different disks. Besides, the content of the database is generally backed-up every 5 minutes, leaving a very minimal chance to lose any important data.
- In the case of force majeure, cloud-based software providers include a disaster recovery plan for the users since they can easily shift the data to various unaffected regions. They also allow the users to access the data from anywhere, which can help you stay productive and keep performing seamlessly.
Why do you need an Applicant Tracker System (ATS)?
An efficient applicant tracking solution provider turns out to be very useful when you need your hiring team to be more proactive, productive, and cost-efficient. Here are a few reasons why should you use applicant tracker systems for your recruiting process:
Collaboration:
Applicant tracker systems let the hiring managers and recruiters maintain well-structured and coherent communication inside their team and with the applicants. The recruiting teams can add notes, involve decision-makers, develop communication between themselves and the candidates, and distribute resumes easily within a secured platform. Thanks to the applicant tracking solutions, the candidates do not miss out on the opportunities anymore and feel more engaged with staffing companies throughout the hiring process. The hiring managers and applicants are always kept in the loop. Therefore, the candidates no longer need to speculate about their progress at any point in the hiring process.
Analytics:
Applicant tracking solution also offers analytics and reporting tools to quantify the effectiveness of existing recruiting and hiring strategies. Hiring managers and recruiting specialists can actively use real-time data to foresee their staffing requirements, create a recruiting pipeline, and uphold functional human resources to their capacity. They can also precisely identify the key metrics for the associated costs, quality, and time used for their recruiting activities.
Recruitment Marketing:
In contemporary cutting-edge job market competition, it is inevitable to have an end-to-end recruiting strategy in place. With the help of efficient applicant tracking systems and recruiting strategies, it can be a quick and easy task for the hiring managers to attract and engage the potential top talent for their open positions and employer brand. Systematic job advertising, CRM campaigns, events, social media networking, social campaigns, client relations, and employee referral programs are a few strategies to name to accomplish this objective.
Compliance:
The primary incentive for the development of an applicant tracking system has always been compliance. The compliance sphere is wide-ranging, multifaceted system and is continuously growing. There are various aspects of compliance to be considered during its administration subject to the location from where your company works. Such as an internationally operating company with a huge staff is required to abide by the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) to GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). Compliance rules and regulations differ depending on the countries and states worldwide. Therefore, it is necessary to have the best recruiting practices and an advanced recruiting solution to comply with the ever-evolving compliance measures.
Important ATS Features
Job Posting:
You can easily track your candidates once you have a precise idea of where to source them. Using an applicant tracker system, you can publish open job positions to the clients’ career website and top job portals without worrying about any detail complexities. An important fact to consider before publishing the job description on various websites is to verify that it’s well-organized and detailed. Your recruiting software will go over the details your client added in the description to search for the most suitable applicants fitting the job’s skills and qualifications. If the description is not explicit, you may have the problem of attracting the irrelevant candidates. An applicant tracking solution integrated with a job board makes it easier for the recruiters to source candidates quickly. Once the applicants start submitting their details, the recruiters can develop a vast candidate pool.
Email Marketing:
Beside job postings, email marketing also adds to the means of sourcing candidates and persuading them to drop an application to your client’s company. Email marketing can also be used to attract and acquire new clients. While using email marketing for sourcing candidates, you can also use it for your job orders’ publicity. It may seem time-consuming, yet if you have applicant tracking software, it can be very simple and quick. With the provision of email marketing, you can dispatch personalized emails to many people in a go. Inform your candidates that your clients require the workforce, attach the job details, and persuade them to drop their applications in your inbox. Later, you can easily add their resumes to your database.
Resume Importing:
You either get the resumes in your mailbox or your email inbox. Once you’ve got your hands on these resumes, you may find it cumbersome to keep all of them in one place. Consequently, you’ll find several resumes saved on your computer and a big pile on your desk too. Sifting through all these resumes manually can be a very demanding task. The upside of using an applicant tracking system is that it offers a resume importing feature that lets you add the physical resumes right into your software. Moreover, if you got electronic resumes from various job portal sites or in your email, you can quickly import them into your database without any delays. Once imported into your recruiting database, the resumes are fully.
Resume Parsing:
Provision of an applicant tracking software means you won’t need to skim through hundreds of thousands of resumes. The resumes don’t have a universal pattern. They can be drastically different from each other. For example, candidate A has added his skills in the experience section, while candidate B has a sorted-out skills section in the resume. Once the resumes are imported into your recruitment software, the resume parsing feature fetches important data from the resume to synchronize each resume to a similar format. After the resumes have been parsed, the applicant tracking software sorts out the candidates based on the applications that best match the job description.
Candidate Tracking:
Candidate tracking is another significant and perhaps the most useful feature of an applicant tracking system. Once you’ve got the resumes, you can keep track of your applicants in pipeline. You are also enabled to keep tab on the progress of your candidates. A summary of all the candidates who have either been accepted or rejected by your client can also be acquired by using an ATS. Along the process of requirement, you can tap on the profile of any candidate and the system will provide you with the current status of that particular applicant. Below is an illustration of the status of five different candidates in the process of recruitment:
Candidate A: Interviewing
Applicant B: Interviewing
Candidate C: Placement
Applicant D: Offer
Candidate E: Interviewing
In case your existing client is no longer considering the applicants, the candidates will still be in your recruiting database. It gives you access to their data, and you can easily reach them out for future job opportunities. You can sort out the candidates into different groups based on their skills and experience. For instance, all the applicants related to healthcare can be consolidated in a distinct class and those of content writers in another.
Benefits of Applicant Tracking System
Undoubtedly, the benefits associated with using applicant tracking systems are numerous owing to the multitude of features they offer. An applicant tracking program has potential to add value to your recruiting efforts. Some of the distinctive benefits include but not are not limited to:
Save Time:
With the help of automation, applicant tracking software put an end to manual tasks thereby saving your recruiter’s valuable time. Instead of manually entering the recruiting data into the system, the recruiters can utilize their time and energy to reach out potential prospective candidates.
Reduce Bias:
An applicant tracking software can help the hiring managers and recruiters to tap the most suitable candidates for a job position. It not only reduces human efforts but also eliminates bias that is basic human instinct. The applicant tracking software is based on several decision criterion regardless of the race, gender, nationality and political inclinations of the candidates. The focus of ATSs is solely to target candidates who best match the job requirements.
Improve Candidate Quality:
The ATS system guarantees the hiring of qualified employees as it automatically knocks out unfit candidates for a position. What is more important is that your applicant tracking system helps you find the candidates who are up to the meticulous standards of your recruiting process.
Performance Reinforcement:
The applicant tracking software doesn’t merely make the recruiting process easier for you. It also gives you the power to make it a better one using several reinforcement parameters. By enabling you to generate, categorize, and analyze the data, you can easily channel your focus on effective and indiscriminate hiring sources with the right data at your disposal.
Better Candidate Experience:
Surely, when an applicant applies for a position in a company, they expect it to have an advanced hiring process. Provision of an ATS guarantees an expedite response to the individual applicants their applications. You can offer an outstanding and hassle-free experience with your company. Hence, you can offer a remarkable candidate experience regardless of their acceptance or rejection. Quality of candidate experience has become a pivotal factor for successful recruiting process along with a good reputation of company. It is also important since candidates have third-party review platforms at their disposal to give feedback regarding their experience.
User friendly Interface:
Almost all of the applicant tracking systems are proactively and continuously working to offer a more friendly user interface. With the scarcity of time everywhere, the majority of the hiring managers prefer advanced design of the recruitment software, such as making use of drag & drop and email automation. The most useful ATSs come with plug and play. Such ATSs require no to very less customization and maintenance from the end of users.
Boost Recruiting Strategy:
In order to make strategic decisions, the hiring manager and recruiters need to use analytics all the times. Only an effective recruitment operating system can help them with this. A top-notch applicant tracking solution enables the hiring managers to analyze large data sets acquired from different recruiting stages. Recruiters are exposed to abundant data during the stages including but not limited to sourcing, screening, interviewing. Consequently, recruiters can easily identify the spots where they are draining their resources.
How is RecruitBPM different from other ATS?
Stop worrying about which applicant tracker system best suits your corporate needs. RecruitBPM is here to thoroughly assist you. You don’t need to compromise and settle for an average applicant tracker system. Irrespective of your company size, applicant tracking solution by RecruitBPM is budget-friendly for both the candidates and HR professionals. It helps the users succeed in the challenging realm of recruiting. It offers an engaging and easy to use interface at remarkably cost effective pricing. Amidst COVID-19 pandemic, RecruitBPM is offering its services to recruiting and staffing agencies through its text recruiting tools.
Moreover, RecruitBPM is one of the best and highly affordable applicant tracker system for small businesses too. If you have recently entered the staffing arena, you wouldn’t want to choose an expensive recruitment software. It is never a good idea to allocate huge budget if you’re running a startup. Therefore, RecruitBPM is the perfect applicant tracker system for startups. So, don’t hold back your recruiting endeavors and empower the recruiters with automated:
- Job postings
- Social recruiting tools
- Easy data tracking
And more
We appreciate you this far reading this blog. You can schedule a free demo with RecruitBPM if you’re thinking to avail our services. We also provide 7-days free trial for our services. In case you want to know more about how we do at RecruitBPM, Click here.
