How to Select an Applicant Tracking System?

Good hiring decisions often play a decisive role in the growth of any organization. An HR, thus, has one of the most important roles to play in ensuring that the business meets its objectives. A company is a function of the employees working there, which explains why we need an applicant tracking system that not only makes it easier to hire but also facilitates quality over quantity. Here are some tips on what to look for in an applicant tracking system:

• Pick ATS that addresses the primary concerns
• Select an Applicant Tracking System based on organization’s size and industry
• Applicant Tracking System must haves is ease of use
• Choose an Applicant Tracking System that supports integration
• Find ATS that provides the best matching CVs
• Look for After-Sales Support in Applicant Tracking System

Pick ATS that addresses the primary concerns

All businesses have different objectives and hence different priorities. While investing in recruitment solution, you need to make sure that it addresses your primary concerns. Do you want to focus on hiring the best employees more or increasing your team’s productivity? May be your objective is to find an automated tool that does all the dirty work and frees your team’s essential time which can be reallocated to other strategic tasks. The choice of applicant tracking system should be based on the problem you are trying to solve before anything else.

Select an Applicant Tracking System based on organization’s size and industry

The daily demands of an organization with employee strength of 1000 will be vastly different from that of a startup. Plus, the niche in which your business works also matters. An IT company will be able to adapt to an ATS culture more readily and hence you can go for a piece of an advanced recruitment technology without worrying too much about adoption. On the other hand, a manufacturing company which is moving on to ATS for the first time will need a holding hand and hence having a robust customer and onboarding support will be one of the deciding factors.

(Also Read: Why Your Applicant Tracking System Needs to be Changed?)

Applicant Tracking System must haves is ease of use

We have discussed this before also. Widespread adoption of any piece of technology not only depends on its application but also on its ease of use. There is no use of investing in software that is neck full of features but has little utility in real time because of its clunky interface. Always look for an intuitive design which makes lives of recruiters and applicants easier and not tough than before. Plus, the system should be easily accessible from a variety of devices. In this mobile age, responsiveness of design is a prerequisite and one of the most important parameters that every ATS should meet.

Choose an Applicant Tracking System that supports integration

If your company already has a human resource management system in place, the need for an ATS that integrates seamlessly with it is paramount. Plus, you might want to connect your ATS with other business platforms such as social media accounts, website and email. For this it is essential to choose a tool that supports seamless integration between different platforms. An ATS that allows you to post jobs on your career website, official social media channels and multiple job boards simultaneously without having to go through a cumbersome process will add great value to your hiring process, making it more productive and streamlined.

(Also Read: Why Cloud Based Applicant Tracking System is a Better Option?)

Find ATS that provides the best matching CVs

In terms of functionality, the single most important feature of an ATS is to provide the best matches from the stored CVs in a database. It all boils down on the search and matching capabilities of the ATS which will eventually ensure that you get the best possible results for any search action performed by the recruiter. Surprisingly, you will still find many ATS in the market who have not updated their search algorithms and logics. Poor search functionality will not only hinder the team’s productivity as much time will be spent doing manual selection, it will also hamper achieving business objectives by leading to bad hiring decisions. Therefore, do a thorough test of the search capabilities of the ATS.

(Also Read: A Guide to Boolean Search Recruiting with Examples)

Look for After-Sales Support in Applicant Tracking System

A product is only as good as the value one can extract from it and to extract the maximum value out of an ATS, you will most definitely need the support of an efficient and capable onboarding and customer support team. Even the best ATS out there will not be able to justify its value if it is not supported by the best customer service.  Thus, customer support will play a major role in your final decision as you would not want downtime, usability issues and long waiting time for every response to cripple your productivity and hiring decisions. In order to gauge the customer support of a prospective choice, ask for reviews from organizations already using it and also check the customer satisfaction ratings. NPS is a worldwide standard that can be checked so as to know how many customers recommend a particular product. High NPS generally indicates more customer satisfaction and vice versa.

Choosing a product which has all of these qualities is a time consuming process. However, it is essential for your organization’s growth and business health to hire the best talent and therefore the ATS you use will have a huge impact on your organization’s bottom line in the long run. That’s why identifying the best applicant tracking system deserves all the required attention and time it needs. Try a demo of one of the best ATS for recruiters now!

(Also Read: Key Features of Applicant Tracking System that are Absolute Must Haves)