10 Things To Look For In Applicant Tracking Systems in 2022
In Hiring Software & Tools — by Noel Diem
Are you looking for applicant tracking systems? It’s a long, tedious process that many people will start and stop a few times before they find the right fit for their organization. An applicant tracking system, applicant tracker system, or ATS helps you see exactly where your applicants are within the hiring process. These programs provide a birds’ eye view of the process and help you understand the small details, like speed-to-hire, touchpoints, delays, and more.
What Is An Applicant Tracking System?
Applicant tracking systems are known as many other things, including applicant tracking software, applicant tracker systems, ATS, applicant tracking system software, candidate applicant tracking system, and application tracking system. Modern applicant tracking systems help HR leaders and hiring teams manage and streamline the process of hiring someone, creating talent pools, and more.
The information in an ATS can be used to screen candidates, test them, collect data, schedule interviews, check backgrounds, call references, and start the onboarding process.
All applicant tracking systems will hold the information about a potential candidate that people need to make the best hiring decisions.
Candidate Profile Management
Can you leave notes on a candidate profile? Can you quickly sort through profiles to see the talent you really want – and avoid seeing the same applicants repeatedly that you don’t want to hire? Organizing your candidates is half the battle when hiring, and you need to ensure that your tracking helps you do just that.
Great Customer Support
We cannot stress enough just how important customer service is when you have an applicant tracking system. Why? If you need to act quickly on a possible candidate, you need to have customer support who will act quickly when there are issues. How can you be expected to make a move if something goes wrong?
You’re still held to extremely high standards, and you should expect that your hiring solution is held to the same standards.
Applicant Search
When looking at an application tracking system, you want to have something that can also help you search for applicants. Whether this is a feature that allows you to search within your applications for specific keywords, locations, names, experience, or more or features that enable you to source candidates from some of today’s job boards, it needs to be there.
Recruitment Workflows
Does your ATS help you improve your recruitment workflows? Does it allow you to build your own workflow so that you won’t have to change your existing system? Be sure to ask questions about the workflows within the product.
In Trakstar, for example, you can build your own workflow or use one we already have set up. Once you have hired someone, we help you with other workflows as well. We’ll help you get your new hire enrolled in performance management software, onboarding courses, and more.
Industry Thought Leadership
Are the creators, investors, and owners of your applicant tracking system thinking about what you do? So many people can build software, market it, sell it, and then troubleshoot problems with existing features but not give you anything else.
Look for an ATS that offers you more. Pay attention to what the company is doing besides selling products – are they creating literature you can use? Are they holding webinars talking about hiring trends? Are they speaking on hiring topics? If they aren’t, there’s a good chance they aren’t paying attention to what is actually vital for you to have.
Centralized Hub For All Hiring-Related Communication
Hiring can get pretty messy. Your applicant tracking system needs to have a centralized hub for all your hiring-related communication. Centralization allows you to keep everything organized, act quickly, and hear everyone on your hiring team.
Without a centralized hub, you may have problems with everyone having the same access to information, a slower response time, and even miss out on some of the best talents.
Application Status Tracking
At the very least, your applicant tracking system needs to have accurate, up-to-date tracking. Where is someone within the process? Did they respond to you, and are they waiting for something in return? Did they ghost you? With a good ATS, you’ll be able to see exactly where a candidate is, how they got there, and the next steps.
Job Opening Archive
Want to know when you last hired someone for a specific position? Had great success with one particular job description and want to replicate it? Your chosen applicant tracking software needs to have a job opening archive where you can store all of your old openings.
Sure, you can keep this in a document somewhere, but don’t settle for less.
Proven Success
What is the ROI of applicant tracking systems? You want to know whether or not these systems are effective. Some applicant tracking systems are better than others.
Be sure to think about your industry. The best ATS for your organization may depend on your niche. For example, there are higher education applicant tracking systems, public sector applicant tracking systems, applicant tracking systems for government, and so much more.
Onboarding (And Beyond!) Help
It doesn’t just stop at applicant tracking systems. Does your ATS help you prepare for the onboarding process? You can gather information about skills, talents, experience, and more to enroll your new hires in the best possible training courses, so they make the most impact from day one.
For more information about applicant tracking, applicant tracking software, and more, you can contact Trakstar today for a personalized demo to see what this would all look like for you.
Trakstar Hire is considered the most user friendly hiring software on the market. If you’re ready to take your recruiting and hiring to the next level, request a Trakstar Hire demo today.
