What is an applicant tracking system and why should your recruitment team take note?

Like all areas of business, the digital era has ushered in an expectation of a faster and more effective recruitment process. Enter the Applicant Tracking System (ATS).

ATS is web-based software that digitises and automates the recruitment process, making it more efficient and accurate - for both recruiters and job seekers. A good ATS is an intuitive and highly sophisticated tool that simplifies and streamlines recruitment from the development of the job spec through to the final selection.

What can you expect from an ATS?

• An ATS will track job applicants as they go through each stage of the hiring process.
  
• The better ones will give recruiters a snapshot of all interactions with prospective hires so that the hiring team can get a holistic view of the process.
  
• It will screen the CVs of the applicants and filter them according to key-words in the job spec. Some will even automatically build summaries of candidates and enrich the information with social profiles.
  
• It will allow recruiters to communicate with the applicants from the platform, keeping a history of the communications in one place. They will also automate some of the communication if, for example, they would like to send out 5-questions to each applicant as part of the screening process or schedule interviews with a select group.
  
• An ATS will keep all candidate information in one place and will even allow recruiters to remain engaged with their talent pool after the selection has taken place. In other words, it can also operate as a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool for recruiters
  
• An ATS is also designed to simplify the interview and evaluation process, with for example questionnaire templates which can be adapted and shared, together with candidates’ information, to help interview panellists prepare for interviews. The system will also make it easy to track and record the interview process to ensure that it is fair and equitable for all participants.

At the end of the day the recruitment space needs to keep pace with the rapid changes in industry and the Applicant Tracking System is a key part of it. Not only does an ATS greatly assist in the selection of the best applicant for the job (which in turn positively impacts the bottom line); it improves recruitment efficiency overall, making each hire faster and more effective. It can also reduce the cost per hire and has the potential to present a company in its best light through quality CRM and employer branding.

Visit simplify.hr to find out more about how an ATS can help your business.