Applicant Tracking Software

Given the volume of job-seekers applying for open positions these days, it can be challenging for companies to keep tabs on applicants. Filtering through countless resumes, coordinating interviews on multiple calendars, and keeping track of candidates’ status throughout the hiring process are just a few of the variables to manage. And if you’re running on a manual or outdated system, this process can be challenging to say the least. Now more than 220 software solutions are available to help you simplify the process of identifying and tracking talent from their first interview to their first day. But how do they compare? We know it can be an overwhelming process to narrow down the right solution for you, so we have created this buyer’s guide to help simplify your search.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

What Is Applicant Tracking Software?
What Type of Buyer Are You?
The Applicant Tracking Vendor Landscape

Market Trends You Should Understand
Benefits & Potential Issues

What is ATS Software?

Applicant tracking software enables you to electronically manage the recruiting, interviewing, and hiring processes. With the right system in place, it’s easy to centralize and automate applicant tracking, freeing up hiring professionals to focus on finding the right people. Applicant tracking systems can also help increase usability for small companies and large, as candidates can easily provide vital information online and then hiring managers can readily access and share this data. By streamlining the hiring process, you can accelerate the hiring process and increase productivity by filling roles faster and easier.

Because many applicant tracking solutions are now available as web-based, Software as a Service (SaaS), organizations have even better access to critical applicant information, making candidate tracking even easier. In turn, SaaS also enables candidates to view and apply for jobs online and enable the utmost in information sharing between decision makers. This fee-based SaaS option is especially beneficial in smaller organizations with limited budgets.

Applicant tracking software functionality includes:

• Online applications
• Status tracking
• Important document tracking
• Information security
• Enhanced scheduling
• Applicant profiles
• Inter-departmental communications
• Automated screening
• HRMS syncing
• Candidate matching

What Type of Buyer Are You?

Before looking at applicant tracking software comparisons, you'll need to determine what kind of buyer you are. We believe over 90% of buyers in this market fall into one of these categories:

• Enterprise Buyers. These buyers invested in an all-inclusive enterprise resource planning (ERP) package years ago. Over the years, their organizations have grown but their ERP is now a bit dated making it hard to access the exact scope and functionality they need to execute their day-to-day tasks. Given time and budget constraints, these enterprises may not be ready for a complete ERP overhaul. But they definitely need an update to ensure they have the right HR tools in place to keep pace with a changing environment. These buyers are usually better served by checking with their ERP vendor for HR software, as they often offer top-of-the-line integrated suite solutions.
• Core HR Buyers. These buyers are typically interested in streamlining their most basic of HR functions. They are often looking for better record-keeping, more efficient payroll, and adopting a user-friendly self-service system for employee benefits. Streamlining these processes is key, and adopting a complete solution that offers more functionality and increases efficiency would be ideal. That’s why straightforward integrated HR management suites are usually the best option.
• Talent Management Buyers. These buyers are focused on building and developing their talent base. They are interested in programs offering their recruiting team the best and most efficient methods for posting jobs, tracking candidates, and on-boarding new employees. They are also looking for programs that will allow HR to easily track training and development for employees, while streamlining the review process for managers with multiple employees and varying goals. Best-of-breed providers offer great solutions for these buyers, delivering high functionality with the right blend of features needed to tend to the many facets of HR programs.
• Workforce Management Buyers. These buyers are faced with the task of staffing a daily operation and need better tools to manage their workforce. Workforce buyers, such as those in retail or health care, typically have multiple shifts to assign, time-off requests to approve, and massive payrolls to run. Therefore, they need more efficient solutions that empower their managers to make the most effective decisions for the operation. These buyers are interested in best-of-breed providers, and given that SaaS is Web-based, it’s often a good solution for managers with teams in various locations.

The Applicant Tracking Vendor Landscape

Market Trends You Should Understand

These trends in the applicant tracking software market should be considered as you select a product and vendor.

• Online applications. Dwindling are the days of countless resumes, cover letters, and reference sheets flooding the fax machines or mailboxes of hiring professionals. HR software developers have been hard at work creating tools that allow users to create their own online job board and effectively route and organize incoming applications. This means hiring managers can more easily filter unqualified applicants and organize candidates automatically. With the increase in organization and efficiency, hiring professionals can simplify and expedite the hiring process for all parties involved.
• Software as a Service. Software as a Service (SaaS) provides a user-friendly, web-based option for adding new functionality and accessibility to your employees. Because vendors offer SaaS solutions in a fee-based format, organizations can also better plan and predict HR spending. Just as with on-premise solutions, SaaS applications enable candidates to upload resumes, references, or any other document into a company’s database. Then hiring managers can securely access the data to review, flag, or fast-track candidates from anywhere they have an Internet connection. All in all, advances in cloud computing have significantly increased productivity in the review and selection process.
• Consolidation.Recently, many best-of-breed programs have been acquired by larger vendors wanting to offer high functionality and usability within their multi-faceted programs. This means increased functionality for users and integration with the rest of an organization’s HR system. The across-the-board functionality that integrated suites offer provides users with a one-stop shop for all of their HR processes. This is good news for enterprise users who place high value on streamlined processes. For small-to-medium businesses, though, best-of-breed programs offer the customization and flexibility needed to fit their specific applicant tracking needs. Buyers should weigh their options carefully when selecting the best option for their organizations.

Benefits & Potential Issues

Using traditional methods for the interview and hiring process often leads to endless piles of paperwork and mailboxes flooded with resumes and cover letters. With so many highly functional, cost-effective applicant tracking systems on the market today, it’s now easier than ever to automate your hiring processes.

Applicant tracking systems allow decision-makers and HR to better communicate throughout the interview and hiring process. This fosters a more collaborative effort, ensuring an organization is acquiring the best people into its talent pool.

Without the right arsenal at their disposal, however, hiring professionals may struggle to efficiently and effectively keep up with the volume and varying types of applicants applying for open positions. As such, an organization’s best efforts to acquire talent can go for naught if they are unorganized and unable to connect the dots.

Have an opinion on this guide? Email the authors. We appreciate the feedback.