Are you struggling to find the best candidates for your job openings? Do resumes seem to be flooding your inbox without any standout candidates? The issue may not be with the applicants themselves, but rather the way you are filtering through them. The hiring process can be overwhelming and time-consuming, but it's crucial to find the right fit for your organization. One tool that can streamline this process is an Applicant Tracking System (ATS.) But what is ATS?
In this article, we'll explore what ATS is, how it works, and how you can use it to find the best candidates for your open positions.
What Is ATS?
Essentially, an Applicant Tracking System or ATS is software that helps you manage the recruitment process by organizing resumes, filtering out unqualified candidates, and highlighting top contenders. It acts as a database for job applicants and scans their resumes for keywords that relate to the open position. It also allows employers to organize, search, and communicate with large groups of applicants.
An ATS can automate many time-consuming tasks, such as job ad posting, resume parsing, interview scheduling and generating reports. It can also help you track the progress of each candidate throughout the hiring pipeline and measure the effectiveness of your recruitment strategy.
What Is ATS’ Functionality?
An ATS offers a variety of capabilities that can help you find, hire, and retain the best candidates. Here are some key features of ATS:
- Resume parsing: Through the use of ATS, you can quickly scan and extract relevant information from resumes, such as name, contact details, education, work experience, skills, and achievements. ATS will then convert this data into a standardized format that you can easily view and compare. This helps you save time and avoid manual errors in data entry.
- AI recommendations: Manatal’s ATS uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning to match candidates with your job requirements and organizational culture. It can also score and rank candidates based on their fit and potential. As a result, you’ll be able to find the best talent in your database while reducing hiring bias.
- Candidate sourcing: ATS enables you to expand your talent pool with the ability to search for active and passive candidates on various platforms and channels, such as social media, job boards, career sites, and referrals. It can also enrich candidate profiles with data from their LinkedIn and other social platforms. This helps you attract and engage more qualified candidates.
- Candidate engagement: With ATS, you can keep candidates interested and informed throughout the hiring process. ATS can send automated emails and notifications to candidates, such as confirmation of application receipt, invitation for interview, feedback after interview, offer and rejection letter. It can also schedule interviews with candidates and sync them with your calendar to ensure no overlapping appointments.
- Reporting and analytics: Adding ATS into your hiring process and you’ll be provided with valuable insights into your recruitment performance and outcomes. ATS can generate reports and dashboards that show recruitment metrics such as time-to-hire, cost-to-hire, source of hire, quality of hire, candidate satisfaction, and retention rate. It can also help you identify areas of improvement and optimize your hiring strategy.
- Collaboration and activities: ATS comes with the power to facilitate teamwork and communication among your hiring team. You’ll have the ability to invite hiring managers to collaborate on candidate evaluation and feedback. At the same time, ATS can integrate your calendar and mailbox to optimize your time management. Moreover, it can track your activities and reminders to keep you organized.
- Data privacy compliance: ATS can help you comply with the latest privacy policies and regulations, such as GDPR. You’ll have full control over your data and ensure its security and confidentiality. You can also delete or anonymize candidate data upon request or expiration.
The Benefits of Using ATS
Using an ATS can bring many benefits to your recruitment process. Some of the key benefits include:
- Saving time and money: By using ATS, you can reduce the amount of manual work and administrative tasks involved in hiring. It can help you post jobs faster, screen resumes more efficiently, schedule interviews more conveniently, and communicate with candidates more effectively. This can save you time and money that you can invest in other aspects of your business.
- Improving quality and diversity: ATS helps you shine a spotlight on qualified candidates who match your job requirements and organizational culture. In doing so, it also helps you eliminate human bias and errors in hiring decisions by using objective criteria and data-driven methods. As a result, you’ll be able to improve the quality and diversity of your talent pool and workforce.
- Enhancing candidate experience: With ATS, you’ll be able to create a positive impression on candidates by providing them with a smooth and transparent hiring process. It can keep them engaged and informed at every stage of their journey and provide them with timely feedback and updates. This can increase their satisfaction and loyalty toward your employer’s brand.
- Boosting retention and productivity: You can onboard new hires faster and easier with ATS, by providing them with all the information they need to start their job. You can also monitor new hires’ performance and satisfaction and provide them with feedback and support. This will boost their retention and productivity in the long run.
To illustrate the benefits of using an ATS, here is a comparison table between recruiting with an ATS and without an ATS:
Conclusion
An Applicant Tracking System software can help you manage your recruitment and hiring process more efficiently and effectively. It can help you source, track, and communicate with candidates, as well as automate and optimize your workflows. It can also help you save time and money, improve quality and diversity, enhance the candidate experience, and boost retention and productivity.
There are many ATS systems available on the market today. If you’re looking for an efficient ATS that is fine-tuned to meet your recruitment needs, Manatal is a good choice. It is a cloud-based recruitment solution that comes with innovative features including Resume Parsing, AI Recommendations, Candidate Sourcing, Reports & Analytics, Collaboration & Activities, as well as Branded Career Page that allows you to create and design a career page from scratch to best match with you employer’s brand.
Manatal is easy to use, affordable, and scalable. You can start a 14-day free trial now and see how you can leverage Manatal to find and attract top talent with a stronger hiring strategy.