Manually managing candidates for your open positions is so 2010. When you manage candidates without an applicant tracking system (ATS), it takes longer to compare qualifications, screen and select candidates, and communicate with hiring managers. As a result, candidates are more likely to fall through the cracks, either waiting weeks between contacts or never hearing whether they were selected or not – negatively impacting their impression of your brand.
Applicant tracking systems bring a myriad of benefits that you can’t replicate through manual recruitment and hiring processes. Let’s discuss those in more detail.
Improved productivity
First, your recruiters and hiring managers realize efficiencies when you use an applicant tracking system. Streamlined dashboards make it easy to identify:
- which positions are open
- which action is required by whom in order to post and advertise positions
- which new applicants have applied
- which action is required by whom in order to move candidates forward in the process
Contacting candidates via phone, email, or text can be done with the click of a mouse and documented in one central location so all members of the recruitment team are on the same page.
Simply put, processes that used to take hours now take minutes when you use an applicant tracking system, freeing up your team to focus on making connections and building your employer brand.
Better record-keeping
Because manual processes are dependent on people and paper, record-keeping is a common pain point. Once a new hire starts, you might find yourself digging through various inboxes and file folders looking for the offer letter, background screen, or drug screen results.
When you use an applicant tracking system, all steps in the process are automated and follow the candidate from application through hire, which means documents and acknowledgments are easy to locate. Anybody who has access to the applicant in the ATS can easily reference, download, and share important documents to support a successful onboarding.
Enhanced candidate experience
A hit-or-miss recruitment experience is likely to turn candidates away from employment with your organization. Examples of common problems that occur in manual recruitment processes include:
- the candidate applies and never hears back
- the candidate doesn’t hear whether they were selected or not in a timely manner after the interview
- the candidate is offered the position but the onboarding process feels clumsy or unorganized
- the candidate’s start date changes because pre-employment requirements aren’t met, often because of a disorganized onboarding
Applicant tracking systems allow the company to create built-in workflows and timelines that trigger action at the right cadence, ensuring that action is taken on new applications, candidates hear back in a timely manner, and onboarding steps are completed promptly.
Better interdepartmental communication
One of the most universal pain points between hiring managers and talent acquisition is lack of communication. Perhaps recruiters aren’t receiving any applications and the hiring manager assumes the recruiter is simply failing to communicate, or the recruiter is screening applicants and leaving messages and the manager misinterprets the delay as lack of action.
Applicant tracking systems provide full visibility, so managers and recruiters can communicate in real time and see action taken by one another on candidates in the system without duplicating steps. This saves time, builds trust, and improves collaboration.
More meaningful data
Finally, applicant tracking systems provide organizations with more meaningful data. When you leverage technology, you’re able to compile helpful metrics to better understand how effective your recruitment efforts were, where any breakdown may have occurred, and how you can improve in the future.
Metrics you might elect to measure using your applicant tracking system include time to fill, source of hire, time to hire, time in process step, interview to hire ratio, and more. You can also better understand metrics per recruiter, per hiring manager, per department, and per position.
Ready to begin exploring applicant tracking software in your organization? The team at ASAP Payroll Services can help.
