Nikolovski O

In this buyers guide, we'll cover:

An applicant tracking system (ATS) is a type of software tool that organizes, tracks, and sorts job applicants. Its features include hiring workflows, job postings, candidate profiles, and applicant scoring.

The software tool provides businesses with a number of benefits, including:

Every business needs an edge over competitors when it comes to finding, attracting, evaluating and hiring top talent. An applicant tracking system can give you that edge by helping you:

Buyers of applicant tracking software come from a wide variety of industries and sizes and are generally categorized by how many employees they have in their organization:

When you choose to purchase ATS software will depend entirely on your hiring needs, but Software Advice sees peak adoption at 1,001 to 5,000 employees:

Source: Software Needs Cycle for HR

Here are some other types of software tools related to ATS platforms that can improve your recruiting efforts or your workforce as a whole:

ATS software offeers a wide variety of features. Here are some of the most common ones to look out for:

Applicant tracking: Allows you to track where all of your applicants are in the hiring process (e.g., interview, background screening) for a given role. As applicants are evaluated and pushed through to the next stage in your workflow or dropped from the running, their recruitment status gets automatically updated in your database.

Overview of applicants in Recruiterbox (Source)

Candidate profiles: This feature allows you to maintain comprehensive profiles of all candidates, including resumes, contact information, social media profiles, assessment scores, manager feedback, interview notes, and more. You can search and filter for candidate profiles based on location, role, experience, keyword, etc.

Candidate profile in Lever (Source)

Job posting: This feature allows you to create online job listings for your vacancies and post them to your company's careers page, social media profiles and job boards. You can also schedule posts in advance, optimize postings to appear on Google and purchase job board ads from service providers that partner with ATS vendors.

Job board posting in Newton (Source)

Applicant scoring and ranking: This feature allows you and your team to score applicants based on a variety of customizable criteria related to skills, experience and personality. Once all scores are in, hiring managers can rank the candidates manually, or in some cases, the tool does it automatically.

Candidate scorecard summary in Greenhouse (Source)

Unsurprisingly, the most common features also tend to be the most requested by buyers. According to internal Software Advice data, job posting, resume management and parsing, applicant scoring and ranking and a searchable applicant database are the top requested ATS software features among small and midsize businesses (SMBs), i.e., businesses with $50 million or less in annual revenue.

Source: SMB Applicant Tracking System Buyer Report

When evaluating an ATS, it's important to prioritize certain features over others depending on your needs. With that in mind, here are the most crucial features for different business sizes (see the "Business sizes using ATS software" section of this guide for business size definitions):

For an accurate snapshot of what an applicant tracking platform costs, download our Applicant Tracking Systems Pricing Guide.

As we covered in the features guide, ATS platforms provide a number of key functions for your business, including:

It can be easy for conversations with ATS vendors to become one-sided. After all, they're trying to sell you on their system over the competition. It's important, though, to ask questions and understand everything before signing on the dotted line.

As explained in "5 Questions To Answer Before Buying an Applicant Tracking System," some important questions to ask vendors are:

How is your system priced?

As we mentioned in the pricing section, ATS vendors use a lot of different methods to price their products. Know this information well ahead of time so you can budget accordingly.

Does this system work with our recruiting strategy?

If you rely on employee referrals for quality job candidates but your ATS focuses on sourcing from social media, that's a mismatch. Make sure that you find a tool that conforms with your recruiting strategy—not the other way around.

Do I really need this feature?

It's common for buyers to purchase a popular ATS system that's way too big for their needs and pay a lot of money for functionality they don't use. Don't get distracted by bells and whistles.

Do you offer local, high-quality support?

No product is perfect. Ask questions about support options so when you encounter a problem, you can be certain that you'll be able to reach someone who can help you immediately.

Should I purchase standalone applicant tracking software or an integrated suite?

You can purchase applicant tracking software by itself (e.g., Jobvite) or as part of an integrated HR suite with other applications such as personnel tracking, payroll, and time and attendance management (e.g., BambooHR). According to internal Software Advice data, 56% of ATS software buyers choose the former while 43% choose the latter.

Source: SMB Applicant Tracking System Buyer Report

Which way you go will depend entirely on your needs. If your focus is on advanced recruiting functionality, choose a stand-alone product. If you have additional needs besides applicant tracking or value tight integration between your various HR processes, choose a suite.

Do ATS Software Vendors Update Their Products Often?

The applicant tracking software market is highly competitive, and the labor market and what employers value in their workforce are constantly in flux. Because of this, ATS software vendors are constantly adding features to their flagship products to gain an edge and attract attention.

Stay on top of the latest functions to look out for with our article, "5 Recruiting Trends in 2017 (and the 9 ATS Features You Need to Capitalize on Them)."

What Are Some Drawbacks I Should Watch Out For?

Don't expect ATS platforms to be the cure-all for your hiring woes. While these systems can help you organize, streamline, and scale your recruiting operations, they can't fix bad hiring strategies or an inferior employer brand.

Also, keep in mind that a poorly chosen or implemented applicant tracking system can do significant damage to your online candidate experience, which can cause talented applicants to drop out of your hiring funnel. Take time to ensure this transition for job seekers into your system to apply for positions is seamless, regardless of device or web browser.

It can be tough to convince executives to invest in a new tool. When making your business case, focus on these three ROI drivers:

Here are some recent articles about ATS platforms you should check out:

Check out some recent articles comparing ATS software products:

Distance from London to Mildenhall is approximately 6500 kilometers How long does it take to fly from London to Mildenhall ? There are very few non-stop flights

Insurance companies tend to offer good discount on premium to individuals who take up long term health plans Most short term health plans often do not cover

To read your meter : Press 9 on meter to display reading Multi rate meters If you are prompted to enter two or more meter readings, this

An NZB file contains information that your newsreader can use to start downloading In the past you first had to download the headers of a newsgroup before you