What hides  behind the acronym ATS? 

Applicant Tracking System, or in simplest terms, a system for managing recruitment has already been mentioned by us in a post: https://wearesimplytalented.com/10-low-cost-no-cost-recruitment-tools-part-1//. 

Why is an ATS a “game-changer”. – Here are the 5 main reasons why:

      1. Saving time and keeping things organized 

 The right ATS is supposed to help us save time and focus on automating our activities. It definitely contributes to organizing applications and processes by:

•  bringing all resumes together in one place, 
•  allowing us to build a pipeline, 
• managing applications – review, reject, keep them or forward them without having to search through folders on the desktop or sheets in excel.                                                                                                          

Doesn’t that sound like a time saver?

      2. GDPR and data protection 

The consents andGDPR related  clauses for the personal data protection  we need for recruitment are most easily obtained by automating this process through your ATS.

Preparing  the relevant consents is possible to set up by creating and posting your job ad. The required consents will  appear with your job post.

Most ATS’s also have reminders for expiring consents and give you the option to send an automated notification with update info..

      3. Job listings/job board

Another great option is the integration with various job posting portals like Linkedin, Glassdoor, or Indeed….. 

Such integration means that when you create an ad in your  system, it appears not only on your career site, but also automatically on the portals that cooperate with a given ATS.

Adding new ads automatically in multiple locations or encouraging people to apply through a personalized link leading to your ATS, means that every incoming application lands directly in our system along with the aforementioned GDPR consents.

      4. Improving the quality of the candidate experience

 We all know that no one likes to be left without feedback. By creating templates and automating our communication we can save some time to be able to give all candidates proper feedback and:  

• stay in touch
• collect additional data
• ask questions 
• leave space for the candidate to ask questions  

 For example – our candidates get a message that we are just reviewing their application the moment it is moved to the ”Reviewing” stage.    This is not only convenient, but also allows us to maintain a positive relationship.

     5. Numbers, statistics and analysis 

An ATS is a huge storage of data and statistics – all  we need to analyze and draw conclusions in order to improve the recruitment process.

There are many reporting options such as:

• reason for application rejection / candidate resignation
• source of application
• average time to hire
• number of visits to the career site etc.

Monitoring these statistics allows us to generate reports and analyze the data, which leads us to continuously improve our processes and save money.