Today, when automation is probably the only way you can quickly hire quality candidates, it is imperative that you have the best and latest in recruitment automation. An applicant tracking system is the best solution for all your recruitment woes.
An applicant tracking system (ATS) or a candidate tracking system is an applicant tracking software application developed to help companies recruit employees more efficiently. It can be used by both corporate as well as staffing and placement firms. An ATS offers useful features like to posting of job openings on a corporate website, screening and shortlisting resumes, quick search of relevant candidate resumes, maintaining a consolidated candidate resume database and many more. The use of this software not only automates the recruitment process, but also makes it less time consuming and reduces cost to hire.
It’s a common misconception that an applicant tracking system takes care of only shortlisting candidate resumes and maintaining a resume database. But the fact is that an ATS can do much more than just tracking applicants. Off late, there are a number of features that are being offered along with ATS in order to be in sync with the latest recruitment trends.
Here are a few of the features and functions of an applicant tracking system:
Streamlines Recruitment Processes
Recruitment software takes care of various aspects of the recruitment process like scheduling interviews, providing feedback and candidate status updates. This eliminates the possibility of losing out on good candidates.
Provides a Centralized Database
Recruitment software provides a centralized resume database that can be easily leveraged by recruiters across the organization. Resumes sourced need not be stored in files and folders that make retrieval of resumes difficult. It also eliminates duplication of resumes so that the same candidates are not approached over and over again.
Integrates Different Recruitment Sources
Another advantage of having an ATS is that it helps integrate the recruitment system. Resumes obtained from various sources like employee referrals, vendors and corporate website can be compiled at one place and are made available to all recruiters.
Provides an Integrated Platform for Recruitment Stakeholders
Another time consuming tasks for recruiters, that hampers recruitment efficiency and at times also leads to miscommunication, would be coordinating with stakeholders of recruitment process like vendors. The vendor portal feature offered by recruitment ATS helps easy interaction with vendors when it comes to things like publishing positions, status of candidates, etc.
Other features of applicant tracking system include invitation and reminder mails that are sent to prospective candidates, so that they do not miss out on the various rounds of interview. Some systems also offer scoring features which help recruiters and hiring managers to select the right candidate for the job based on his/her performance.
All in all, applicant tracking systems considerably reduce the time to hire and hiring costs involved in the recruitment process. Implementing such a system can also help streamline the recruitment process. It also helps make the process paperless and rids recruiters of the daily mundane tasks that usually take up a lot of their time
Nitin Shimpi is the co-founder of Nitman Software, provides organizational leadership and directs all aspects of the company’s day to day operations. Nitman offers applicant tracking system or Recruitment Software like Talentpool and Talentscout for large, small and midsize companies.