Is Your ATS No Longer Delivering Results?

94% of recruiters agree that their ATS has had a positive impact on their hiring processes, further showcasing the competitive advantage of having the right candidate tracking system in place. 

However, just having an Applicant Tracking System in place isn’t enough. If your current hiring system is outdated, clunky, or no longer aligns with your hiring goals, it could be doing more harm than good, costing you quality candidates, your budget and time. 

In this blog, we explore:

• Reasons you might need to replace your ATS?
• 10 signs you’ve outgrown your current recruitment system. 
• The benefits of an Applicant Tracking System.
• Free downloadable resource to help you review whether your applicant tracking system may no longer be serving you. 

Why Replace Your Applicant Tracking System?

With applicant tracking systems becoming so widely used across TA functions, the chances are that you also already have an ATS that you have inherited or have been using for some time. It is not uncommon for an ATS system to be replaced, typically because it has not evolved over time and is unable to grow with your organisation to resolve inefficiencies and bottlenecks throughout the recruitment process. 

10 signs you’ve outgrown your current ATS system?

1. It no longer supports recruitment processes. Manual interventions are occurring, for example, posting on job boards and scheduling interviews.
2. You are still emailing CVs!
3. The system isn’t configurable. 
4. You still heavily rely on the use of spreadsheets and have a lack of data-driven insights.
5. Your Hiring Managers aren’t using the system.
6. Poor candidate experience. 
7. Onboarding isn’t part of your online recruitment process and falls outside of your ATS offering.
8. The vendor’s roadmap no longer aligns with your growth aspirations and you are receiving poor vendor support..
9. The system hinders your productivity rather than boosting it.
10. The ATS lacks integration capability to connect to other third-party systems, and new hire information is being manually entered into the HCM/HR systems.

When you equate the amount of time spent on some, or all of the above points, and equate this to ££££, it’s eye-opening. 

What are the benefits of an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)?

Applicant Tracking Systems can vary greatly in the functionality and UX they offer. Some of the benefits you can expect from an ATS are highlighted below. This list is just the tip of the iceberg of useful ATS features for recruiters. The richness of the functionality in an ATS will provide varying degrees of benefits and results.

Moving from no recruitment system, or a poorly performing one, to an ATS that is perfectly configured for your recruitment needs is where you should set your sights. 

Here’s a list of features that a good ATS should offer and the benefits that come along with it:

Tools to reduce time-to-hire

Reducing time to hire is a non-negotiable when it comes to a good ATS. Whether it’s by automating notifications, creating a smooth authorisation process or providing an easy way for Hiring Managers to contact candidates, the system should have the ability to remove lengthy manual tasks and give you control over the recruitment timeline. 

Automation of manual recruitment

Automating manual tasks in the recruitment process, such as CV screening, Candidate Assessments and scheduling interviews. Automating such tasks allows recruiters and TA professionals to focus on quality candidates more efficiently, streamlining the stages between job requisition and onboarding.

Cost-saving features

The system’s functionality should provide enough data for Talent Acquisition teams to have the ability to review which activities work and which ones are less successful, helping cut unnecessary costs, reduce agency fees, and take control of your recruitment. 

British Heart Foundation reduced its agency costs by 50% since implementing Eploy’s ATS.

Improved candidate experience

Your candidate experience is the embodiment of your employer brand. It demonstrates that your recruitment process is consistent with your company values. It shows that you value your employees and helps position you as an employer of choice. Ensuring that, with the chosen ATS vendor, you will be able to provide an exceptional candidate experience throughout the recruitment process is crucial.

Streamlined onboarding process

Ensure the vendor provides a seamless built-in onboarding module, which helps create a good candidate experience and allows you to control the entire process online. Check for onboarding capabilities covering the whole process, starting from reference collection to offer acceptance and document signing. 

Tools to maximise the impact of the employer brand

To be an employer of choice, you need tools that help convey your company vision across multiple channels and then deliver the best candidate experience when they are ready to engage with you. The vendor needs to have the tools available for you to amplify your Employer Brand in every candidate touchpoint. 

Full visibility of recruitment data

It’s important that an ATS vendor offers reliable analytics to enable your team to make data-driven decisions. Check if the vendor allows you to create dashboards, track live recruitment KPIs, campaign performance, report on equal opportunities and more to maximise your recruitment efficiency. 

Passive recruitment with talent pooling

Having the ability to build talent pools of engaged and qualified talent can make a huge difference in providing a great candidate experience and reducing time-to-hire, especially if the candidates have already been screened. Having access to this feature is also valuable when hiring for hard-to-fill roles. 

Improved quality of hire

Does the vendor offer tools or integrations to help you assess candidates, so you can ensure they’re the right fit? Are you able to build testing into your application process for relevant roles? This can help you in shortlisting the most relevant and suitable candidates. All of these ATS features enable recruiters to improve the overall quality of hire. 

Better GDPR compliance

The hiring system should provide you with tools to stay compliant with the GDPR regulations and help you to comply with your obligations as a data controller, protecting data and providing a reliable audit trail. 

ATS Integrations

Review what integrations the vendor has available, as this allows you to further tailor the system to better suit your needs. Do they have a broad partner network of third-party suppliers? Are any of them relevant to your business requirements? 

Managing a high volume of applications

Receiving a heap of applications and having to go through them manually is not only a lengthy process but also a stressful one. Review if the potential vendor has features to sift through a high volume of applications and discover the best candidates faster.

Scalability for Growing Organisations

Take a look at the vendor's future roadmap - does it align with your future recruitment needs? Is the system configurable? Do they have a broad partner and integrations network which can cater to a variety of your Talent Acquisition needs? 

Vendor and Agency management

Can the vendor’s solution make managing the agency hiring process easier? Does the system have tools to offer better visibility of opportunities, review submitted candidates and track their progress?

Integrated Talent CRM

A system which includes an integrated Talent CRM can help recruiters manage and build relationships with potential candidates, as well as improve the candidate experience with engagement automations.

Employee Referrals

Having built-in tools to enable and manage Employee Referrals can help streamline the hiring process and provide you with a pool of highly qualified candidates who are likely to be a cultural fit, through trusted employee referrals. If you haven’t yet, watch our ‘Employee Referrals’ webinar, which offers an overview of how Eploy’s Employee Referrals module is being used in real-life recruitment.

Improved ED&I

Review what tools can be found on the vendor’s system to help you ensure a more inclusive hiring experience and help build a diverse workforce. This can include tools like anonymisation to reduce unconscious bias in the hiring process.