ATS Applicant Tracking Systems matter because time and money are the bottom line.
In the recruiter space, employee turnover and hiring applicants are the two big dollar drains.
Sourcing, processing, interviewing and hiring — when done right — is the answer to both.
Enter Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS).
Still, that first step to automated assistance isn’t easy. In a world of continuously evolving technical possibilities, the acronym ATS means different things to different people.
Even today, most would likely describe an ATS as something to aggregate and manage resumes, with basic applicant tracking stemming from that benefit.
Depending on how much you’re willing to spend (more later) — the best ATS’s can help organize and automate:
- Management of job requisition
- Posts on job search sites
- Application forms
- Candidate search
- Templates for candidate emails
- Interview alerts
- Recruiting metrics reports
- Background checks
- Candidate information verification
- Creation and delegation of tasks
- Collaboration
- Duplicate candidate alerts/prevention
- Personalized outreach
- Advertising
- Social media posting
And more.
Connecting your existing ATS to Ladders would ensure timely and highly accurate job delivery, track candidates and posts all the way to hire, and sync candidate data with your system for flawless management.
Investing in Success
While most ATS’s are cloud based, there are vendors who provide on-prem hosting.
On-prem will require an upfront payment (perpetual licensing), while cloud-based hosting comes with a monthly or yearly subscription.
A company looking into this kind of investment can usually expect three pricing models:
Pay per User — based on the number of users granted administrative access.
Pay per Position — based on number of open job requisitions each month.
Pay per Module – based on unified HR solutions rather than best-of-breed.
The Keyword Is Candidate
Of course, there’s nothing like the ability to write a job description that works.
And key words do play a big part in that. The right key words — informed by a clear description of who is wanted to do what — get your job description found by people hunting for those jobs.
And that in turn is informed by some useful XML job post management.
On the ATS side, keywords are used to reject resumes that don’t contain them, and approve those that do.
How effective that is in separating enthusiastic amateurs from qualified experts is up for debate, particularly in a downturn, where ambition and enthusiasm can meet desperation.
And all in a world where technology has made applying for a job very easy to do.
So to the bottom line: The better you target your candidates in the first place, the more time and money you’re likely to save.
Targeting Talent – Tech & the Human Touch
Let’s say, for example, that you have a $100K-$500K+ job opening. You decide to create an XML job feed with Ladders.
Now your high-end job is being targeted directly at $100K-$500K+ professionals, with keyword targeting directing it to the experts required within that field and range.
When you close the job on your end, it automatically closes on Ladders, too.
Leaving your ATS with far less of the heavy-lifting to do in the initial stages, and you with far less of the heavy-lifting to do during the following stages.
Sometimes your easiest investments can get you the best results. It really boils down to knowing who and what you want, then taking the smartest route to it.
And the human touch remains a key differentiator, especially when technology works with it.
An example of this comes with the challenge of moving forward with a shortlist of candidates, with a view to successful interviews and long term retention.
Ladders ThirdPage™, for example, combines technology with member interaction to collect key interview questions.
20 million questions answered so far.
This enables recruiters to gain key knowledge about an individual before sending an email or picking up a phone.
Knowledge is power. And answering the bottom line will always be less about technology than it is about intelligent choices.