CATS Applicant Tracking System

Pros

Good option for SMB company. CATS, it is quite easy to use! user-friendly. search feature with Boolean is rad!. Segments candidates well. I love how the jobs get published to all our favourite platforms by pressing a single button

Cons

Pricing. Linkedin doesn't integrate well with this either. Loading resumes could be easier as it doesn't always come out right.

Time saving features for managing hundreds of applicants.

Pros

Very easy to navigate, Great visual interface. Easy to segment candidates and drill down through data quickly and efficiently.

Cons

Some difficulty with one specific API. I am not really going to count this as a negative as I could have gotten the integration with the third party API given enough time

Customer service is very personable and friendly – they have the rare gift of actually WANTING to be helpful.

Pros

It is customizable, versatile. I like being able to sort on the various categories. Every day I learn something new that the program can do / different ways I can sort the data.

Cons

I do not have any at this time. Upon further investigation, the issues that I thought I had actually stemmed from my own need to become more familiar with the program.

Advice to Others

You’ll love it, especially if you take the time to really learn how to use it and actually understand what the program is capable of (past simple data entry).

I can't really make an evaluation of this as we haven't used anything else in my time with the company.

Pros

-Fast searching and easy candidate importing
-Easy access from phone or computer
-Excellent uptime vs. other web-based ATS

Cons

-Disambigulation between candidates and between jobs is laborious
-Little support for texting, LinkedIn or other social media messaging
-Only allows one email per candidate to be contacted at a time
-No internal support for matching candidates based on town without ZIP code with a search for a specific ZIP--there should be an automatic matching of an arbitrary ZIP code withing the named town in a candidate profile when a user puts in a ZIP code radius

It is our main CRM system.

Pros

Very easy to adapt the database to fit exactly what you need. Free job postings are the best I have seen. Love that I can download profiles directly from Linkedin Recruiter to the database.

Cons

Really tiny wish list: I wish they had an app for the smartphone. Wish you could use the chrome extension to download information to the database from any website.

It is easy to use, easy to train new hires, and continually improves itself with little time-savers

Pros

user friendly, customization, search any field, schedule workflow triggers, constantly improving itself

Cons

Reporting should be more functional/customizable, and that would make the Dashboard useful - I do not use this feature now because of that. (Why can I still not run a report that shows me EVERY candidate I EVER submitted - that is crazy for an ATS!)

Pros

It is less complex than other solutions that are bloated with unnecessary features. The LinkedIn plugins and resume searching is good. Customized workflows is a good idea although they lack flexibility to get at incorporate important data in triggers (like Activity notes associated with a status change).

Cons

It seems like the underlying data model of CATS limits what they can do with their product. Contacts and Candidates are tedious to work with and behavior seems to change randomly (i.e. duplicate logging of emails to a single person, merged profiles overwrite information). The email integration has been unstable and recently realized that it logs emails for users that are cc'd (not the sender) on emails which throws off metrics for our staff. The Slack integration is really limited and almost pointless (i.e. all messages go to same channel, no way to send activity information like notes for a status change). There is no way to associated an active assignment with a candidate (this is all done through candidate pipeline and status changes). There is no way to log activities for multiple contacts/candidates (like a group lunch). Calendar / Event Scheduling is clunky and behavior changes constantly. We used to make events visible to all so it showed up on the Upcoming Events on the dashboard but now they are only visible to the user that created it. There are many other nuances with private vs. public events.

I work at a recruiting firm and we all use CATS daily for our recruiting database. It is the most comprehensive and flexible software that we have found so far (though needs more flexibility in some areas). The flexibility in tagging and sorting candidates and being able to assign tasks to other recruiters has been great. The star feature, status's, adjustable application fields and archiving are fantastic features. We use this product daily and have been very pleased with it for the most part.

Pros

Customer service. Extensive database of information and flexibility in most aspects of the product to adapt to your needs.

Cons

Some settings are hidden and it's not intuitive about where certain features are. I don't like that there's not a way to preview the cover page in a job pipeline (like there is for a resume), you can't email multiple people to ask for reviews on multiple candidates (which would be helpful for us as we serve nonprofits and Boards with multiple people are often making the decisions).

Easy storage and tracking of candidates.

Pros

The resume upload feature to auto-populate. The time/date stamps in the notes are fantastic. I love the ability to track all updates painlessly.

Cons

The email sync does not always work. I've gone back to candidate profiles and many times have to manually copy and paste emails into the the notes section.

The ability to keep up with our job requirements and candidates in a professional way.

Pros

I like the workflow and tracking in CATS; I also like the ability to link to our website and other apps.

Cons

Could be a little cheaper as it relates to adding users. Other than that, I think this is a great ATS.

Pros

The ease of use and just quality and use of this site. The ability to sort and label my data and candidates easily makes my job so much easier. (DOD CONTRACT RECRUITER)

Cons

I really dont have many complaints. My biggest one is probably how the "zipcode" function doesnt work and just reloads your page.

Is my daily tool. Great!

Pros

User friendly. Very good applicant tracking. Control Panel very helpful. I can see CATS calendar integrated with microsoft outlook. Great understanding with linkedin.

Cons

Sometimes a little bit difficult customize some settings. I would like to inform in one shot all the applicants that are not in consideration about the end of the vacancy and it´s not possible. it would be very useful.

Pros

It has a simple step by step use, quick start and easy to load everytime - Anyone with internet/Social media user knowledge can get it in no time

Cons

Big issues with different files formats to view without having to download it - Search bar is not the best, it can be definitely better. Search results for candidates or jobs is definitely as accurate as it could/should be

Pros

It is user friendly and it is easy to find information. I like the boolean search features as well as being able to search by a particular field.

Cons

The system needs to be more customizable. There have been times when I have asked how to do something and have been told that it can't be done. For example, the reports section is unusable for my needs and I have to manually go in and create reports.

Pros

I love that the technical support of very responsive and open to new ideas in order to continuously improve the system.

Cons

The least thing I like is that it's not fully integrated on a smart phone. That makes working on a mobile impossible.

We recommend it to our clients often. It helps us enable them to stay compliant and organized.

Pros

I'm not a technician, and having the resources of the CATS team be able to talk me through solutions to some of our challenges has been a tremendous plus!

Cons

The analytics could be made more pliable so that you could bring more info into an excel spreadsheet. Other than that, I can't think of anything.

Clean, easy to learn, and customizable. Has a ton of potential, but lacks some basic logical small functions that should be simple to correct. My recruiters always ask me: "Are you sure these people worked in (third party) recruiting" before developing this system?" Allows for users to vote for changes, but takes a long time, if at all to make those changes. Simple things, like having to create two records for someone if they are a candidate versus a client, or having a Candidate's company associated to a company, even after manually typing that company name in, etc. Very good, but not a great system, but could be; which causes a little frustration, and makes one wonder where the company's focus is.

Pros

As per above.

Cons

As per above. The company's willingness/desire to make this product excellent.

CATSone is a great product and we recommend for anyone needing a applicat tracking system. its customizable to an extent. Fields are linked so you can't mess up data. Its good if you use it for CRM. Reports are odd, and email sync feature works 50% of the time. (adding emails to contacts in CATS with matching records)

Pros

Easy interface, great application site wizard , and great job site , built in, , customization of fields with restrictions (so you don't mess it up) . Status, and custom status available. Map custom status's to 'mapped' status. No cloud storage fees for resumes, or files that get attached to applicant / candidate records. API is useful but not without faults. Good custom reports per user.

Google drive link, and online MS word linked. Live previews of images. Easy to read reports (there are some faults) Reporting is best thought of as a gauge and not an accurate thing.

All around a great system. I recommend it to anyone whom has this need. Easy to use with live chat support per user for how to use it. Great training seminars. Etc. Good for when you hire 1 to 1. 1 hired applicant to 1 location.

Email sync feature is great when it works. 50% of the time. It may be related to email host. I dunno.

Reports are good. There are many. If you need New Applicants per user.. then you have to manually enter. But still many reports.

Great price point. Beats many more expensive systems .. its has faults as your gonna read. But don't let that get you down. It's still worth it.

Cons

Hired applicants are 1 to 1. Hired Applicant can only work in 1 location. It's just not set up for 1 applicant in many locations. Non hired applicants can apply to multiple places, just not work in multiple locations.

Its rare you need to hire one person in multiple locations.

Via API you could achieve 1 to many locations via API and custom fields. But it's not gonna be easy.

NO reports for new applicants per user if you use Live Job Application site.

Reports new applicants per user only by manually enter each applicant.

Reports can be difficult to understand. There are no white papers on it, and only some customer service reps understand it fully.

Email sync feature works maybe 50% of the time. (email sync places copies of your email communication in the contact whom has matching email) Results may vary depending on email provider.

Limited API calls per user, per hour. Need more ? They won't sell you more. You have to keep adding users. 500 API calls per hour per user @ $99 per user a month. but at least there are API calls. Really funky though. Be prepared to be confused. but eh , that's API ..

Advice to Others

If you need something that is robust. Doesn't change much. Is a great price point, simple , easy to use. Great features.. can deal with 99% reporting accuracy, are not worried about syncing all emails with contact records, and like having live support for how to use it. Then this is for you.

If you need to hire 1 person to multiple companies, if you need email sync to work, If you need 100% accurate reporting, or If you want to use the live application site, and also need to know how many new applicants per user. Maybe pass on this.

LOVE CATS, terrific applicant tracking system and EXCELLENT client support. We have invested in systems over the years but not being especially savvy with technical issues, have always run into roadblocks by not being able to utilize all the options and with limited customer support could never figure out how to implement half of what was offered...this is happily not the case with CATS.

Pros

LOVE the ease of use...even for someone like me who is not naturally adept at navigating my way through different systems, we have found that CATS is extremely user friendly, and on the occasions when we do need help, calling into their live US based customer support hotline and having nice, friendly people always eager and endlessly patient to help makes using CATS a no-brainer.

Cons

I honestly cannot think of any negatives...we have tried out multiple ATS and CATS is at the top of the list in terms of ease of use and customer support.

Advice to Others

Buy it!!

Not impressed, Much better systems out there for the price. Many resumes are not getting loaded correctly. Set up was a nightmare for transferring resumes. Could not get the pricing right in initial billing, etc. No real support or training at all.

Pros

There are many systems similar

Cons

Customer Support
Training and loading resume capabilities.