Top 10 Benefits of Using an Applicant Tracking System

Automation is a buzzword in the recruitment industry. While we witnessed the first automation technology making its mark in HR in mid 1990s, it wasn’t until last 5 years that applicant tracking system became an absolute necessity for HR professionals and there were good reasons for that. HR Technology has come up in a big way in the last few years. While large enterprises have been quick to adapt, there are still several small and medium businesses that are stuck with the traditional ways of hiring, thus losing out on top talent and hours of productivity with every passing day. There are umpteen benefits of using an Applicant Tracking System. We have listed here the top 10.

• Applicant Tracking System Benefit in speeding up the hiring process
• Use an Applicant Tracking System to find superstar talent
• Advantage of Applicant Tracking System in improving coordination between stakeholders
• Benefits of Applicant Tracking Systems in hiring cost reduction
• Centralized candidate database is an Applicant Tracking System Advantage
• Applicant Tracking Systems are important for automated communication among stakeholders
• Applicant Tracking System Analytics gives recruitment insights
• ATS Benefits in strengthening the employer brand
• Evolution of HR as a strategic business partner is one of the major Applicant Tracking System Pros

Applicant Tracking System Benefit in speeding up the hiring process

An applicant tracking system automates repetitive tasks such as posting a job description on various job platforms, writing multiple emails to candidates for various communications or delegating different requirements to different recruiters. Once a recruiter starts using the ATS, they instantly experience an improvement in the time taken to complete the hiring process.

Use an Applicant Tracking System to find superstar talent

Well you might be very good at recognizing the best talent out there. Most recruiters swear by their gut feeling. However, according to a report from Business Insider, employees hired through gut feeling results in 50% failure rate. This shows that relying on human intellect solely for making a hiring decision is not wise anymore, and why should it be when you have intelligent algorithms doing the work for you? These machine learning algorithms do not have any unconscious bias, do not falter even when working for 24 hours a day and are pretty fast. Using applicant tracking systems with an AI powered recommendation system or with intelligent search capabilities in tandem with human intellect is a sure way of finding the best talent out there.

(Also Read: How to choose an applicant tracking system?)

Advantage of Applicant Tracking System in improving coordination between stakeholders

How many times have you had to call your hiring manager to remind him of the pending feedback? Do you find it irritating to constantly share your own feedback manually by writing lengthy emails to various team members? By choosing an ATS, you save a lot of heartburn and ensure every person involved in hiring is on the same page. With an ATS, the candidate profile is shared across team members and all the feedback is shared in the form of comments or notes annotated on the profile. Hiring managers receive feedback form automatically along with the interview reminder and the response is recorded in the system for assessment purpose, tagged with the profile. What does this mean? No more delays in taking a call over hiring someone.

(Also Read: How to Reduce time to hire)

Benefits of Applicant Tracking Systems in hiring cost reduction

Automation is inversely proportional to costs per hire. Any organization that employs automation aims to reduce operating costs in that department. The same goes for recruiting. By using an automation tool like applicant tracking software, you will be automating many time-consuming tasks and reducing the overhead expenses related to recruiting a candidate.

Centralized candidate database is an Applicant Tracking System Advantage

It is common for recruiters to rely on multiple sources for talent while filling a job vacancy. They might receive CVs from a recruitment agency, or through social media accounts or through a popular job board.  Almost every recruiter has their own set of candidates. Organizing and managing these profiles is a cumbersome task as no one likes maintaining lengthy excel sheets and a zillion folders. Applicant Tracking System addresses this issue and helps you cut through the clutter by providing a centralized location where you can either upload or receive all your candidate profiles. This online database can be accessed from anywhere and anytime, resulting in quicker decisions and shorter hiring cycles. Who benefits? – Every stakeholder in the hiring process.

(Also Read: Why Cloud Based ATS is a better option?)

Applicant Tracking Systems are important for automated communication among stakeholders

Rather than spending time switching between emails and other tools, use an applicant tracking system to directly communicate right through the application interface, without the need of any third party email client. Every email can be tracked and you also have the option to bulk email to any number of candidates whenever required.  Events like shortlisting, interview scheduling or offer trigger automatic email notification to the respective candidate’s email id, thereby saving invaluable time and efforts.

Applicant Tracking System Analytics gives recruitment insights

How satisfying would it be to know in one glance, what is the recruitment status of your organizations? How many requisitions have been raised in a particular time period? How many hiring have been actually done? Who did the maximum hiring?  Who all are working on a particular hiring requirement? The new age ATS features dashboard that provides a snapshot, real time view of the hiring status in your organization. This all data is captured by the software automatically, processed in the backend and reflected in a structured way through the dashboard. At the same time, when you use an ATS that boasts of world class reporting and analytics, you get a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses of your hiring process and talent pool through clearly defined recruitment metrics. With these insights, you can take better hiring decisions and do course correction wherever required.

(Also Read: The Importance of HR Analytics in an Organization)

ATS Benefits in strengthening the employer brand

Employer branding is quite important, if not the most important aspect of hiring. All organizations want to project themselves as a great place to work. Visit any large enterprise website and you will find glossy pictures of shining workspace, smiling employees and glittery events. It is good to showcase your work culture but it is criminal to not follow up with an equally efficient and candidate friendly recruitment process. This is where an ATS proves invaluable. In addition to having an ATS powered custom career website for your organization, quick and regular communication through ATS, automatic notifications on status change and similar features will prove you as a real employee centric business that cares about its talent pool.

(Also Read: What is driving the Adoption of HR Technology?)

Evolution of HR as a strategic business partner is one of the major Applicant Tracking System Pros

When the maximum part of your workload is being taken care of by the applicant tracking software, it leaves a lot of time for investing in strategic decision making. Recruiters can finally rise above doing repetitive activities and think like a strategic business partner, defining policies, creating value propositions and measuring outcomes of these policies. Instead of spending all their time hiring for vacant positions, HR can perform planned talent acquisition and build a strong leadership culture in the organization.

Now that you know the various indispensable benefits of having an ATS, it is recommended to check out one of the best ATS in India, Naukri RMS.

(Also Read: Why you need to switch your Applicant Tracking System?)