Applicant tracking systems (“ATS” for short) offer clear benefits to streamlining the hiring process. On the other hand, an improperly-deployed ATS can negatively impact the quality of hires and the job advertising ROI. To make the best use of an applicant tracking system, it is important to understand the technology’s strengths and weaknesses. Read on for a comparison of the pros and cons of utilizing ATS, and how its use might benefit your own organization.
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Reasons to Leverage ATS
The following reasons make an application tracking system worth including in any talent acquisition strategy framework:
Efficient Access to Multiple Job Boards
Manually creating and managing separate job posts for every platform separately is inefficient and time-consuming. Limiting recruitment efforts to a manageable number of platforms may provide a smaller talent pool. An ATS can help share job postings on multiple platforms and give access to more potential recruits with minimal effort.
Resume Parsing
When filling a position, recruiters may receive dozens to hundreds of resumes. Scanning through every resume can take hours days. The chances of overlooking the ideal candidates from such a pool are also highly likely. An applicant tracking system can parse resumes and compile data in an organized and understandable manner. This feature of ATS can also help recruiters to accelerate the necessary steps of the recruiting pipeline, including scheduling interviews.
AI-Powered Candidate Recommendations
AI-powered ATS can do more than just extract information from resumes by scoring profiles and offering recommendations. These scores are based on how well a candidate’s profile matches the job requirements. Hiring candidates based on these ratings may help recruiters find the ideal matches. These candidates often boast higher retention rates, greater growth potential in the company, and more generous bonuses after the performance appraisal process.
Removing Unconscious Hiring Bias
With more businesses embracing an inclusive work culture, unconscious hiring biases are often a hurdle to be addressed in modern hiring. It is a common problem and can be solved by incorporating ATS into your hiring efforts. An AI-powered applicant tracking system can remove photos from resumes and help remove biases based on race, gender, or religion. This technology scores profiles based on their qualification and skills alone.
Careers Page Builders
Popular ATS applications usually have the feature of creating career pages. These pages help recruiters get more applicants for the job posts and can also rank on search engines. Either way, recruiters can have a higher recruitment ROI and better employer branding.
Reasons to Not Solely Depend on ATS
Where there is a multitude of benefits of ATS, there are certain shortcomings that hiring managers and recruiters should be aware of as well.
ATS Resume Optimization
ATS resume parsing is quick but not 100% accurate. Sometimes, despite best efforts, ideal candidates are overlooked due to missing keywords in their resumes. On the other hand, ATS-optimized resumes can give candidates an edge and lead to more hiring opportunities. Without proper oversight and review, this limitation may sap the best talent from a company’s recruitment pipeline, thereby negatively impacting recruitment ROI.
Negative Impact on Candidate’s Experience
A candidate’s experience matters significantly when it comes to the success of job advertising strategies. Many ATS require a candidate to navigate multiple pages to complete a job application. For example, candidates often have to sign up to apply for a job. After formally creating an account, they may have to search for the job again to finally apply. Often, forms have unnecessary requirements that take more time to complete.
Glitches in uploading resumes or having trouble accessing the form via mobile devices are other reasons why candidates abandon the process. Recruiters must consider a candidate’s experience and commitment level and utilize the best ATS product to avoid these problems.
Lack of Recruiter’s Attention to Detail
Recruiters sometimes end up relying on the ATS rating of a candidate for hiring decisions. A lack of attention to detail in interviewing screened candidates can impact the quality of hire. For instance, not taking the time to uncover a candidate’s behavior can result in hiring difficult employees. Such a hire may not be able to fit in with the culture or could be a reason for managers to initiate a workplace investigation process.
It is crucial for hiring managers to follow due process even when leveraging an ATS for quality hires.
Conclusion
The impact of ATS on the success of job advertisements depends on the features of the product and how it is leveraged by recruiters. When utilized the right way, it can boost hiring productivity and hiring ROI. However, taking these steps can significantly increase the chances of hiring the right candidate. Making use of the best employee monitoring software and the manager’s feedback can serve to further validate the efficacy of an ATS.
