Types of Applicant Tracking System (ATS) Software

There are many different applicant tracking systems in the market, as far as vendors and service providers are concerned. But, when it comes to the ATS solution itself, they all work pretty much the same way, with a few key differences in their features, capabilities, and the additional services they provide.

With the cloud being a huge component in today’s digital services and software solutions, you can bet that even ATS services are offered via the cloud. The main purpose of ATS solutions is to provide businesses and organizations with a quicker and more efficient way to find qualified candidates to fill job vacancies when it’s time to hire, thus strengthening their workforce moving forward.

Finding the right people and sifting through job seekers manually can be time-consuming, especially when one considers the money and effort being invested throughout the recruitment process. As such, an ATS solution will help automate the majority of the tasks involved in the hiring process, which can be beneficial for small and medium-sized businesses.

Now, some ATS solutions are standalone systems, meaning they are a single platform specifically designed for applicant tracking and recruitment management. Other ATS solutions serve as an additional functionality built into existing platforms like employee management systems, comprehensive business process solutions, and other similar tools normally utilized by most businesses.

Most ATS solutions work the same but differ in the feature set and capabilities they provide the user or HR team. Crelate Talent, for instance, offers flexible recruiting software mostly to staffing and recruiting agencies. The solution they provide is a unified recruiting CRM and ATS platform, which is quite efficient for most organizations.

BambooHR is another example of an ATS solution. It is specifically designed for small and medium-sized businesses, providing a wide range of tools and features that enable hiring managers and HR teams to perform their primary tasks at no added cost.

CATS, on the other hand, is an example of an ATS that is a fully customizable, web-based software solution designed for internal/in-house HR teams and recruiting agencies to help with candidate sourcing and employee referrals. It is built to streamline workflow-driven recruitment processes.

There are plenty more ATS solutions on the market that have additional features such as AI-powered tracking that may be useful to specific companies. ATS solutions come in many different shapes and sizes. The key is to find the right solution that meets the right recruitment and application processes for your company.

How to Choose Applicant Tracking System (ATS) Software

As previously mentioned, there is a multitude of applicant tracking systems available. The market is so overwhelmed with different vendors and service providers that sometimes it can be confusing and downright daunting to find the right ATS solution for your business.

When you’re in the market for a good ATS, you need to remember a few important things. First, is that although each ATS solution available may be different in certain ways, there are a few key features that all of the top solutions have in common.

• Résumé storage – ATS solutions are capable of storing résumés, a database of qualified candidates that HR teams and hiring managers can always refer to for future job openings.
• Résumé parsing – This is a common feature found in ATS solutions. It allows users to extract and organize specific components of each individual résumé into a more structured and easily digestible data stream.
• Filtering function – An ATS wouldn’t be much of a solution if it doesn’t allow the user to filter out certain parts of applicant résumés. Filtering may include location, application source, profile age, referrals, and so on.
• Keyword search – Most ATS solutions come with keyword search functionality. Hiring managers and HR teams may perform searches by keyword, oftentimes with the Boolean search method, which connects keywords by using AND, OR, NOT, and NEAR.
• Automated email customization – This is a functionality that is becoming more common in today’s ATS solutions. It allows companies to customize rejection letters and other forms of emails to ensure quick responses to applicants regarding their application process.

Now, those are the main features most commonly present in ATS solutions. They are all crucial and almost always useful to HR teams and hiring managers. There are, however, other features that are equally important but are not always available. These are the features and capabilities that you need to look out for when choosing an ATS.

• Implementation and support – Consider how the ATS application will be implemented into your existing business solutions and whether or not the service provider or vendor offers adequate support in the implementation, management, and maintenance process.
• Candidate sourcing – An ATS solution is nothing without a reliable source of skilled and talented individuals. When it’s time to hire, you can’t find the right people for the job without having a reliable and consistent pool of candidates in your pipeline.
• Interview management – An ATS solution is not just about facilitating potential recruits and organizing résumés. It has to also provide HR teams and hiring managers the ability to efficiently manage and schedule interviews and other important tasks throughout the recruitment process to facilitate a positive candidate experience.
• Centralization – Having the ability to centralize all crucial data into a single, well-organized interface will help make the recruitment process more streamlined and the workflow easier and more consistent, instead of having to jump between applications just to accomplish a task.
• Mobile recruiting – When it comes to business software solutions, everything is about mobile compatibility and optimization. Does your ATS solution support mobile recruitment? That is something that you need to consider when choosing an ATS.
• Security and stability – When it comes to any business solution, security and stability are paramount. You need an ATS solution that is reliable and secure, especially considering that you are storing applicant information in your data center.
• Reporting and analytics – Having the ability to store, organize, and manage hundreds of résumés and applicant information is simply not enough. An ATS solution should also be capable of providing actionable data. This means that it should be able to crunch the numbers and provide users with reliable statistics regarding their pool of candidates.

Benefits of Applicant Tracking System (ATS) Software

When it comes to the recruitment process, one of the biggest challenges HR teams and hiring managers often face is the paperwork associated with it. Administrative tasks often involve things that are no longer viable in today’s business environment.

The conventional means of sifting through résumés and potential candidates to fill a specific position is just too time-consuming, inefficient, and often prone to discrepancies and unavoidable human errors.

A good applicant tracking system makes a lot of things easier in the recruitment process, including database management, application and candidate search, résumé parsing, application form screening, résumé screening, real-time interview management and scheduling, email management, candidate sourcing, workflow management, and candidate relationship management.

Common Features of Applicant Tracking (ATS) Software