What is an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)?

An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is a software created to automate, fasten and improve your hiring process. In this blog, we will present mainApplicant Tracking System (ATS) features and explain their benefits for your recruiting efforts. You will also learn a proven four-step strategy for choosing an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) that best fits your needs.

What is an ATS (Applicant Tracking System)?

Applicant tracking System definition

An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is an HR software tool designed to automate, streamline and improve your hiring process.

Applicant Tracking System (ATS) provides an automated way for HR professionals to simplify and fasten the entire recruiting process.

Why do you need to hire faster?

Because the hiring process lasts for 2 to 3 months on average, while the top candidates stay on the market for 10 days only.

Many benefits of the Applicant Tracking System (ATS)

Besides fastening the recruiting process, Applicant Tracking System (ATS) offers a wide range of solutions for many different hiring challenges, from finding candidates and processing their applications to selecting and hiring the best among them.

How to know if you need an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)?

Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is designed to provide solutions for some of the most prevalent recruiting challenges and problems.

Do any of these sound familiar to you?

• Are you struggling to find qualified candidates?
• Are you drowning in paperwork and spreadsheets?
• Do you lack time for sending personalized responses to all your applicants?
• Do you need a beautifully designed, mobile-friendly, and SEO-optimized career site?
• Would you like to manage and maintain your career site on your own (without any coding knowledge)?
• Would you like to increase the number of applications coming through your career site?
• Do you waste your time posting job openings on multiple different job boards?
• Do manual resume parsing and screening take up a lot of your precious time?
• Do you need to speed up and upgrade your interviewing process?
• Would you like to you quickly and efficiently share information with all your team members?
• Do you want to easily track recruiting metrics and create beautiful reports in a few seconds?
• Wouldn’t it be nice to have a dashboard with a real-time overview of your whole recruiting process?

If so, using an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) can bring a radical change to your hiring process and enhance the results of your recruiting efforts.

The benefits of an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)

Applicant tracking system (ATS) offers a wide range of solutions for different hiring challenges.

According to Capterra research, 94% of recruiting professionals who use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) say that this software has improved their hiring process.

The vast benefits of using an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) are best demonstrated by its ability to improve the three most important hiring metrics. Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is proven to improve the time, cost and quality of hire .

Research shows that:

• 86% of recruiting professionals stated that using an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) has helped them hire faster
• 78% of them confirmed that using an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) has improved the quality of candidates they hire, too.

Applicant Tracking System (ATS) features

Powerful sourcing

Applicant Tracking System (ATS) can help you find candidates with advanced web sourcing, employee referral programs and social recruiting . It can also help yo u get more job applicants from your career site.

Job boards integration

Applicant Tracking System (ATS) will save you time by offering the possibility of posting your job ads on multiple job boards with just one click.

One candidate database

The main function of the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is to provide a central location and an easily searchable database of all your candidates.

Rich candidates profiles

When the applicant applies, an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) automatically stores all of the applicant’s documents like their application, cover letter, CV, and contact information, creating their rich, searchable candidates profiles.

Resume parsing and screening

One of the most useful Applicant Tracking System (ATS) features is the automatization of time-consuming activities such as resume parsing and screening. With Applicant Tracking System (ATS), you can automatically disqualify candidates who don’t satisfy your requirements.

Interview scheduling

With a modern Applicant Tracking System (ATS) sends automated emails with an interview appointment that automatically syncs with your work calendar and shares your interview location. Some Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) also offer customizable interview questions within the software.

Candidate testing

Using an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) can make your candidate testing much simpler and more organized with candidate evaluation scorecards. You can use existing scorecards to evaluate your candidates or create your own based on specific job requirements or positions.

Automated email responses

Applicant Tracking System (ATS) improves candidate experience by enabling personalized and timely communication with your candidates. Applicant Tracking System (ATS) offers a variety of customizable email templates,which can be personalized and sent in bulk with just a few clicks.

Powerful analytics

Applicant Tracking System (ATS) provides insights into your most important hiring metrics . For example, it can show you where the applicant found your job posting – is it an online job portal, a social media post, or a referral link? That way, you can save your time and money by investing in the channels that bring you the best results.

Team collaboration

Applicant Tracking System (ATS) makes it easy to share info about candidates with team members who need them. You can assign different roles to different team members and control who has access to what info.

How to Choose an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)?

Not every Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is the same. Different Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) providers offer different features and capabilities.

Since there are numerous different Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) in the market, you might be overwhelmed by choice and stuck trying to figure out which one to choose.

However, a search for your perfect Applicant Tracking System (ATS) doesn’t have to be a costly and time-consuming endeavor.

Even though there are many different things to consider when buying an Applicant Tracking System (ATS), there is a proven strategy that helps in making the best decision.

We structured it in 4 easy-to-follow steps:

Step #1: Define your recruiting challenges

The first, and crucial step in finding your perfect Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is clearly defining your recruiting goals and challenges .

Step #2: Research Applicant Tracking System (ATS) providers

The second step is to conduct online research and find a top 10 Applicant Tracking System (ATS) providers that seem like a good fit for your hiring needs.

Step #3: Demo your top Applicant Tracking System (ATS) providers

Schedule a personalized demo with a few of your top 10 Applicant Tracking System (ATS) providers and narrow down your choice to two or three Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) that offer your preferred features and affordable pricing plan.

Step #4: Decide after an applicant tracking system free trial

So your top Applicant Tracking System (ATS) picks have great features, but are they simple and easy to use? The only way to test that is to try them out in an applicant tracking system free trial!

Beyond Applicant Tracking System (ATS)

If you want more features than your regular Applicant Tracking System (ATS) can offer, you should look into modern recruiting tools. These modern recruiting tools offer an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) with additional Recruitment Marketing Software .

Our TalentLyft recruiting software is one of them. TalentLyft is an all-in-one recruiting platform with both Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and Recruitment Marketing solutions.

With TalentLyft Source you can find and reach the best candidates, TalentLyft Engage makes it easy to build relationships with them and TalentLyft Convert encourages them to apply. Finally, TalentLyft Track offers the possibility to monitor your whole recruiting process in one place and provides invaluable analysis, metrics, and reports.

Sounds interesting?
Try our services for free (for 14 days, no credit card is required to sign up, cancel anytime)! Once you are in the free trial, you can let our team know about your needs in the live chat. During the free trial, we will help you experience all the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) benefits – and so much more!