How to choose an effective ATS for your organization?

Whether you call it ATS (Applicant Tracking System), a talent acquisition platform or your worst nightmare, all employers and recruiters need to invest in software that forms the basis of your recruitment process.

If chosen wisely, an ATS can save you time and money in the end. Recruiting is a matter of time and not always on budget. It is therefore essential to streamline your recruitment process with the right recruitment software.

How exactly does an ATS help you and how do you choose the right one for your company?

Selecting the right ATS step by step

1. Define the requirements

2. Draw up a budget

3. Make your best choice for a test drive

4. Take the plunge

5 Direct benefits of introducing an ATS

1. Compliance with regulations

This service, the most basic of all, is often impossible to find without the use of a ATS. Rules and regulations apply to your recruitment process depending on your location. This often includes locating the candidates you hire! Implementing a ATS in your hiring process allows you to organize all your data in one place. Tracking which candidates have been in the system for how long is one of the many ways an ATS helps you comply with regulations.

In addition, the data servers in your new software must be secure. There are laws in the EU that protect citizens' data, such as the GDPR or the General Data Protection Regulation. You do not want to be accused of breaking laws such as the GDPR. Your ATS, if chosen wisely, should be able to help you. It should alert you to problems and give you the opportunity to obtain the consent of the candidates in your database.

2. Organization

In this sense, investing in an ATS is also an investment in the organisation of your recruitment process. Don't lose candidates' CVs because they end up in your junk mail folder. Don't follow your recruitment manager by making phone calls. And above all, don't miss out on the best talent because you spend too much time rummaging through old files and job sites!

Talent acquisition software brings all your jobs, talent pools and candidate information together in one place. This includes team notes. It is important to track the activities of your recruitment team if you want to optimize the process.

3. Quality of the setting

The right ATS will create time to focus on the quality of recruitment rather than simply throwing candidates out the door. Over 40% of talent recruiters say that the quality of recruitment is a top priority for their work, so it's no wonder many turn to an ATS to help them through the process. Choosing the right ATS will help you clearly identify the gaps in your recruitment process. You can also automate time-consuming manual tasks and the recruitment effort that could be spent on other tasks. Time is a critical factor in recruitment. Accelerating your recruitment without sacrificing quality is one of the key benefits of an ATS.

4. Employer branding

Consider the employer brand as your first impression with potential talents. It must be good! If you want to find the right person for your company, you have to sell your company to them. It's not just the candidates who sell to you. If you choose a world-class ATS, it should allow you to design your employer brand to tell a story to everyone who visits your career site or looks at your job postings.

5. A collaborative recruitment process

With talent acquisition software, the ideal is to have an unlimited number of users on the platform. This way, your entire team can participate. If the ATS is user-friendly, you can collaborate effectively in recruitment.

This has its own advantages, among others :

• More input that leads to recruitment that is adapted to your corporate culture;
• Easier submission of employee referrals, a source of high quality candidates;
• Less burnout in the human resources department due to assigned tasks;
• A better employer brand image due to truthful employee statements;
• And improved team morale

Of course, people like to be involved. When your entire team participates in the selection of new employees and represents your company as an employer, they feel valued and integrated!

Working together to decide on the culture and voice of the company allows for better organizational alignment. It is cyclical. Employee satisfaction will increase, while new employees will integrate more easily into the company and hopefully stay with it for the long term. Higher employee retention rates mean better business.

Ah, the Applicant Tracking System. Where would recruitment be without this one invention? In the Middle Ages, for sure, and at a much slower pace, for another. Fortunately for you, the ATS exists and serves as the basis for many functions of talent acquisition.

However, there is no one-size-fits-all solution for this "critical" solution, and some candidate tracking systems certainly work better than others. If you've been recruiting long enough, it's time to make a new decision and move from one ASP to another. Those of you who have already done an implementation know how complicated the process is - for everyone else you are in a very delicate situation. Let's move on.

First step: Making the journey

Knowing which ATS meets your company's needs requires a deep and intimate understanding of your recruitment process - from the outside in and from the inside out. No, it's not a personal matter, it's about getting your recruiting house in order.

That means you have to click, fill in all the forms, import information and wait for confirmation to see where you stand. You need to understand the experience of candidates, recruiters, HR managers and even executives before you think about a brilliant new technology.

Try to approach the question from some sides and say, "If we didn't do it this way, how would we do it? Check every step of the funnel and make sure your result is bulletproof.

Second Step: Ask the (really) difficult questions

Okay, so now you know what's going on. It's time to identify the pain points and determine what to include in the future. It would be difficult to find two companies with the same recruitment needs, even in the same industry.

Some of the factors to consider are: Sourcing, programming, feedback, orientation, diversity and inclusion, compliance, workflow. Do you see where this leads? You need answers that look closely and reflect the uniqueness of your business, because after all, you want an ATS that fits your process and provides an exceptional experience for your employees. Well, for everyone. Less than that won't be enough - and you'll be looking for it again before you know it.

Step Three: Name the source of the crowd

Only once you have followed the above steps should you start looking for ideas for solutions. I'm sure you can name the big ideas from the top of your head, but honestly, this is a bigger market than most of us realize. And to find out what's cool, what works (or doesn't work) and what makes other recruiters happy, you're going to have to have this conversation over and over again.

Skip the search engines in favor of people who know how an ASP works. Their hands-on experience will provide far more knowledge than Ask Jeeves can ever provide. Your goal is to build a database of names, so start with like-minded people and expand your search from there.

Step Four: Check the core

Consider the exploratory phase to be over and take the information on these ATS providers home with you. If this is not the first HR technology your organization has used, there are other systems and solutions that need to be considered (payroll, HRIS, etc.).

To determine what you are working with, review your stack and workflows and create a master repository for each tool in the box. Now go back to the ATS names you just identified and see what can and cannot be integrated. Be prepared to be surprised when you select several from your list. Check that the remaining solutions take into account the given pain points and non-negotiability. If all goes well, you will (hopefully) be left with at least ten options at the end.

Step Five: Due Diligence

Tired already? I told you the road was long (but I promise you it will be worth it in the end). This next part is a beauty - and 100% necessary.

Take a look at the presentation pages of the remaining names and realize that perfection is neither credible nor achievable. You will want to familiarize yourself with what people are saying before referring these ATS options to an internal committee for further review.

Together, you need to rank and determine the last three options. These are the ATSs that you want to demonstrate and score online. This is where you will find in-depth questions on topics such as introduction, road maps, customer experiences, etc. At the end of the day, think about the price.

Sixth step: Make your choice

Of the last three, you want to know how they meet your exact recruitment needs. That means understanding the source and quality of the settings and how the technology makes them possible. You want to go back into your funnel and gain as much human insight as possible without sacrificing the end-user experience.

Will this particular ATS help you improve your current initiatives? How does it deal with diversity and integration? How far can you go? With a good understanding of all that ATS has to offer, you can put the last three in order. Share this position with each of the ATS representatives you are in contact with and see how they are doing on a topic that has a common denominator. Make a wise choice.

Like the next candidate, your next best ATS might surprise you. But to find them, you must first do the work.

If you’re looking for an automated Recruitment Management system, we suggest you IceHrm which is one of the best HRIS systems which has so many HR functions automated into one system.

IceHrm is a Human resource management system for small and medium-sized organizations. This HRM software centralizes employee data and allows only one authorized person to access it, providing a high level of security. The presence module monitors employee time based on information about insertion and perforation. It covers all the basic HRM needs of a company such as Time Management, Training, and Development, Attendance Management, Expense management, leave management, Recruitment management and handling employee information.