The Definitive Guide
Covering everything from key features to functionality to business benefits
An applicant tracking system is a software solution specifically designed to facilitate the recruitment process for HR managers, recruiters or hiring teams. It automates the process so to say. It, not only saves time and improves productivity, but also allows you to enhance the recruitment process.
An applicant tracking system simplifies, streamlines, and speeds-up the entire recruitment workflow. Apart from accelerating the sourcing cycle, the ATS integrates various functionalities to address every hiring challenge. From job advertising and candidate screening to interview management and reporting, an ATS does all the leg work!
Recruiters and startup owners can use an ATS to automate the entire recruitment process from sourcing to onboarding. There are 4 crucial functionalities of an applicant tracking system that make your life easy and work efficiently.
The applicant tracking system will save you all the time and effort you spend on posting your job ads. It integrates with popular job boards and social platforms so you can post your job ads on multiple channels with a single click!
An applicant tracking system imports every resume, regardless of its format so you can have every profile at your fingertips. The resume parser extracts all the important information and converts it into a standard profile that is easy to scan.
With an ATS, recruiters can personalize interview emails and sync them with the calendar. They can also schedule group interviews and let candidates pick a convenient interview slot or they can send them video interview invites.
Having an applicant tracking system ensures that the entire recruitment workflow is easily accessible to everyone, right from the recruiter to the CEO in real-time. This facilitates informed hiring decisions when they sit to zero in on the right candidates.
The key features of an ATS are all the tools you’ll ever need to increase productivity and acquire top industry talent while saving your time and reducing the recruitment cost. These features are designed to automate and optimize your recruitment process. They include automated job postings, social media integration, customizable emails and text messages, smart filter intelligence, real-time dashboards, automated interview management, reporting, and analytics tracking.
All your tedious and time-consuming recruitment activities can be automated in an instant with applicant tracking software. An ATS has the power to overhaul a mind-numbing recruitment process into the most efficient business operation overnight!
But, the biggest benefits of using an applicant tracking system are best exemplified by its ability to improve the 3 most important KPIs. ATS is proved to improve the time to hire, cost per hire and candidate quality.
Now let’s delve deeper into how each feature works and the benefits they deliver when using an applicant tracking system.
What it does
This feature allows recruiters to post jobs on free and premium job boards and social networks with one-click.
How it works
Recruiters can automate job postings across all social channels, professional networks, talent communities and career sites for increased recruitment reach. They can also track the conversion rate of every channel and maximize ROI without having to worry about losing out on top choice candidates.
Benefits
All the job postings are updated directly from your ATS account to expand your reach and generate more referrals. This makes the hiring process time-efficient and since time is money, it also helps you save big on the recruitment budget.
What it does
With candidate sourcing, recruiters can directly source every application received from the careers site, job boards, and social channels and store it on a centralized talent pool.
How it works
With chrome plug-in, every resume received is converted into a rich candidate profile in real-time. Customizable application forms and pre-screening questions help screen candidates faster and smart filter intelligence narrows down the talent pool in seconds.
Benefits
It creates a centralized candidate pool that you can proactively search to cut down the time, effort, and money needed to fill a vacancy faster. Recruiters can free up their valuable time and stay focused on interviewing candidates that fulfill the vacancy criteria.
What it does
A mobile-friendly applicant tracking system eliminates every glitch in the recruitment process by tracking every applicant at every stage of the recruitment process.
How it works
It enables hiring managers to assign tasks to the recruiting team when a candidate moves from one stage to another. It also triggers automated text messages and instant email notifications to keep candidates updated as they proceed through the sourcing funnel.
Benefits
Candidate management empowers recruiters to stay on top of the sourcing cycle at every step, customize the recruitment pipeline and shortlist the right fit with just a few clicks.
What it does
Recruiting is a team effort that requires consistent collaboration at every stage. Cloud-based applicant tracking system facilitates real-time collaboration with co-workers.
How it works
Recruiters can tag their favorite profiles and share their info with team members in real-time. They can also assign different tasks to team members and control who has access to what candidate data. By centralizing all candidate information on one easily accessible database, recruiters can take quick and informed decisions from anywhere.
Benefits
Task automation and reminders eliminate all delays and discrepancies and ensure timely completion of tasks. When the entire recruitment funnel is at your fingertips, productivity is increased even when team members are working remotely!
What it does
It allows recruiters to better engage candidates in just a few clicks and rules out every possibility of unread messages and emails
How it works
Candidate messaging keeps candidates informed with auto-reply and emails.
Recruiters can also reach out to candidates on their phones with automated text messages and eliminate no-shows.
Benefits
Recruiters can personalize email templates and send multiple files with a single click. Since an applicant tracking system empowers recruiters to keep candidates informed about their progress, it conveys that you care and keeps them interested.
What it does
It sends personalized emails with the interview appointments that are synced with your calendar.
How it works
Recruiters can schedule interviews with time slots in just a few clicks. They can further accelerate the selection process by sending video interview invites to candidates and view the responses at their convenience.
Benefits
Timely reminders of upcoming interviews eliminate no shows. With instant access to activity log and real-time visibility into a full audit trail, recruiters can stay on top of every step and take better hiring decisions.
What it does
From evaluating the effectiveness of a job description and analyzing the efficiency of social networks to tracking process compliance and monitoring acceptance rate, analytics offer actionable insights to optimize the recruitment process.
How it works
Applicant tracking software collates all your candidate data to generate customized reports for performance tracking. This helps recruiters identify bottlenecks, monitor the effectiveness of the recruitment process, and optimize the hiring process.
Benefits
Recruitment performance reports provide actionable insights into issues that are not otherwise noticeable and help employers maximize the returns on the time and effort they invest on the hiring process.
What it does
Cloud reliability ensures that your applicant tracking system runs smoothly round-the-clock while making sure that there is no room for errors.
How it works
Cloud-based applicant tracking system stores all your recruitment data in secure data centers.
Benefits
Cloud technology eliminates the risk of data-theft even with unlimited storage space. If you use Jobsoid applicant tracking system, your data is backed up multiple times! This backup is retained for up to 60 days, in case you ever need to retrieve it.
Not every applicant tracking system available on the market is the same. Different ATS providers offer different features and functionalities. Figuring out which one would work best for your business can be overwhelming. To help you select an applicant tracking system that truly benefits your business and improves your recruitment process, we’ve shortlisted 5 essential factors for a large company or a small business and here they are:
The intuitiveness of an applicant tracking system should be a major consideration when making a final selection. This factor becomes even more critical if you are planning to use the ATS across multiple locations.
A company that is operating from different countries needs to ensure that the chosen applicant tracking system supports the languages spoken in all the countries. An ATS that comes with multilingual support may just support two languages so, do your research. An ATS that supports all the languages in which your company operates will help maintain consistency across your hiring practice and procedures.
If you are an established brand with businesses across verticals, your chosen applicant tracking system should be versatile enough to fit your unique needs. To know if the solution works at optimal efficiency, you can sign up for a free trial and see how it works.
HR laws vary from country to country which makes it difficult to keep up with all applicable rules and regulations. An applicant tracking system that supports compliance across multiple locations will keep your policies and procedures compliant and help you avoid penalties.
Reviews from other companies in your niche are helpful in spotting an ideal applicant tracking system. Reviews will not only reflect the fine points of a specific solution but also highlight potential flaws in the system. So don’t rely on vendors and do your homework.
Recruiters are often running a million miles in different directions and this often leaves them frustrated and fatigued. Using an ATS can make this uphill battle an absolute breeze! To help you address your unique pain points, we have compared leading recruitment software solutions with Jobsoid. Check out this table below to compare features and pricing so you can make an informed decision that helps you hire better and faster.
| Jobsoid | Workable | Lever | Zoho | BreezyHR | Bullhorn | Taleo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Job Posting Management | |||||||
| Job Description Templates | |||||||
| Social Media Recruitment | |||||||
| Sourcing Tool | |||||||
| Talent Pool Management | |||||||
| Blocking Spam Candidates | |||||||
| Smart Filter | |||||||
| Interview Scheduling | |||||||
| Self-selecting Interview Timeslots | |||||||
| Best Interview time suggestions | |||||||
| Video Screening | |||||||
| Scorecards | |||||||
| Workflow Automations | |||||||
| Mobile Apps |
Every company has unique recruiting needs and so, it makes perfect sense to choose an applicant tracking system that allows you to customize the recruitment workflow your way.
A small business needs to keep the recruiting costs as low as possible and so skipping an ATS may seem like a good idea. But, having an applicant tracking system will actually help SME owners save a significant chunk of their time, money and resources. So, instead of avoiding automation; look for an affordable option.
Before you take a big leap and actually deploy the applicant tracking system, figure out if it has all the features and functionalities you desire. You can try Jobsoid for free and while you’re at it, our support team will help you experience all the benefits of having an ATS.
Involve the hiring team and have them figure out how the system will be used so they can make the most of it. Getting them onboard will ensure that they understand the mechanism right from the start. Make sure your chosen solution efficiently addresses their pain points and has the bandwidth to grow with the growing needs of your business.
Your chosen applicant tracking system may have the best of features but is it user-friendly? Does it guarantee an uptime of 99%? Will it update regularly? Does your vendor provide priority support? Does it offer unlimited cloud storage? And scheduled backups?
We’ve hunted through spreadsheets to find that perfect candidate, searched through several email threads for one attachment, struggled to keep candidates informed and fought with the tech team to keep the careers site up and running round the clock. We’ve worn your shoes and walked in them. We’ve been through all these challenges. Now let us help you take charge of your recruitment workflow with Jobsoid.
Jobsoid is a mobile-friendly applicant tracking system that eliminates every glitch and ensures a seamless candidate experience at every stage with personalized and timely candidate engagement. Whether you are an upcoming local business or an established international brand, Jobsoid is custom-tailored to optimize your recruitment process. It includes the latest features to keep up with the best industry practices and evolves to accommodate the growing needs of your business.
With Jobsoid, all the posting, sorting, screening, shortlisting, communicating, sharing and sourcing can be automated in an instant!
Ready to speed-up your sourcing process?
Hear from Jobsoid Clients How They Maximized their Hiring ROI with our Applicant Tracking System
Since we started using Jobsoid as our recruitment tool, we are getting a clear view on what channels applicants are using to reach VIB. Jobsoid is very user friendly, for candidates as well as for hiring managers. We can now focus on the essential parts of job selection and not the details.
Jobsoid Support has been extremely accommodating whilst helping us get Jobsoid up and running. They talk me through my questions so I fully understand what I am doing. They will always try and make a fix for you as soon as possible and often get it sorted earlier than they anticipated. Always prompt and accurate!
Jobsoid is a tool that made our lives easier by streamlining our recruitment process. Once we had the demo with Jobsoid, we realized that Jobsoid is everything we needed. The UI is so easy to navigate. All information is readily available in one place. Jobsoid has been well received by our Global HR Team.
Jobsoid posts our jobs on various job portals making candidate inflow convenient. It’s like we have a sourcing team at our disposal. It is user-friendly and easily accessible.
Jobsoid has been designed to eliminate every hassle in the hiring process – it covers all your sourcing needs with customizable features that not only suit the unique hiring needs of every business but also fit hiring budgets easily.
Get started with a free trial today