Finding the Right Applicant Tracking System
Finding the Right Applicant Tracking System
With the economy beginning to finally show signs of upward mobility, employers are slowly beginning to hire again. There is a surplus of candidates on the market, and without an easy and automated process to manage candidate flow, the recruiting process can become increasingly more challenging. Do you feel like you are spending too much time with the wrong candidates and not enough time with the right ones? Have you ever lost a top candidate to a competitor because the candidate fell through the cracks or your process wasn’t timely enough?
These inefficiencies are costing your company real dollars each and every day. Although the “human touch” may never be completely eliminated in the recruiting process, technology can certainly help you become more productive and decrease your time to hire. Not only will an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) eliminate redundancies in data entry, it will also allow you to match skill set, experience, education, and geographic location quickly, thus giving you an edge in a competitive marketplace.
Once you have decided that you have the need for an ATS, look for these key features in a vendor:
Profile Creation: Allows candidate to create career preferences such as salary range, desired position, location, skill set, etc that are viewed by potential employers. This profile can be edited and activity can be tracked by the candidate. Resumes can be attached to this profile.
Scheduler: Tracks all aspects of your recruiting including calling candidates, arranging interviews and follow-ups, and taking notes from phone calls. Allows you to share tasks, manage status of activities, and link hiring managers to potential candidates. Managers are able to update HR when milestones have been met with work-flow capability.
Remote access and Smartphone Integration: Provides better time management by helping you get things done without being in the office. Grab information from any secure online connection including applications that are downloadable to smartphones. Share and collect information, schedule interviews, and monitor the process from anywhere you can reach the internet.
Keyword/Data Search: Saves the time it takes to sift through every detail of a resume or cover letter. Can search data fields and email attachments for specific keywords to best match employees.
Saved searches/hot lists: Sorts by characteristics such as open job orders, locale, position, or years of experience. Save customized searches for future reference so you don’t need to re-enter the data.
Online application with job screening questions: Requires candidates to answer qualifying questions for quicker filtering of candidate pool. This could range from compliance based questions that are answered via drop down menus to behavioral based questions that allow you to screen for personality and cultural fits.
Automated Candidate Communication: Ability to send system generated emails to candidate communicating profile receipt, acceptance and rejection of the profile, and interview process status. Create emails and send to multiple people at once including the candidate, hiring manager, department head, etc. directly from the system. Keep track of correspondence with potential candidates.
Reporting capabilities: Provides details on candidates and suggests which ones are the best for the job. Documents response rates and helps you determine if you’re getting an ROI through your ATS. Provides capability to track successful hiring sources including recruiting agencies, job boards, or internal referrals. Capability to facilitate EEO reporting and ensure compliance if applicable.
Customizable fields: Creates fields for specific departments, contact managers, job responsibilities, and other items unique to your organization. Allows you to easily search for specific information when you need it.
Promote job openings: Can publish open jobs to company Web site and fee-based job boards.
These are basic functions that are core to most applicant tracking systems on the market today. Depending on the complexity of your needs, function rich systems could include employee assessments in conjunction with the system.
To maximize integration, you may want to consider an HRIS system that includes an ATS within it, as opposed to buying a separate ATS system. At the very least, make sure to select an ATS that can create an export file for upload into your existing payroll or HRIS system. This will eliminate the timely data entry process involved with on-boarding as well help you to build a skills inventory which will help your organization to promote internal candidates as part of your total recruiting strategy and succession plan. Robust HRIS systems with Applicant Tracking will also store job descriptions, include job requisition creation with workflow for approval and job offer letter creation and approval processes.
If your organization is considering implementing a system to better manage your recruiting efforts and would like to explore the options available, contact Centripetal Consulting Group to learn how we can help.
