I’ve spent my career in corporate human resources (HR) & recruitment functions and as such have had the experience of working with technology to underpin the recruitment process and without it! So it’s no secret that I am a huge fan of recruitment technology to automate and provide consistent and swift solutions to the alternative hours of admin that I dread.
That’s not why I wrote this article. For me the response to anyone questioning the need for an applicant tracking solution is simple: why would you not?
Ask yourself:
“Would you tackle your finance processes manually?”
“Would you challenge your sales and service team to work without a CRM system?”
No. The real challenge is not deciding to source an applicant tracking solution for your business but in selecting the right one.
What does ‘good’ look like to your organisation?
The fundamentals, as I see it, having been through the selection process enough times to have learnt a few lessons along the way, are listed in my 5 tips checklist below.
5 tips on selecting an applicant tracking system
1. Innovation: buy for now and the future
Candidate engagement throughout the process is not just an aim these days, it’s imperative to the success of hiring top tier talent. All industries (HR is no exception) march forward regardless. You only have to look at banking and the rise of FinTech giants in the current digital age to see that.
Ask yourself what transcends all industries today and its software capability? Your ATS partner must have a structured and ambitious development roadmap, a thirst for innovation and intends to grow as you do. It must be scalable and your ATS must be able to adapt to your business and candidate demands.
2. Information Security
Isn’t that the buzz word of the moment? Information security and data protection is etched into our consciousness more now than ever before. Before the ink hits the contract with your potential ATS provider put them through the paces to demonstrate how seriously they take security. How and where they host your data, penetration tests and the certifications they hold to support this.
3. Return on Investment
Ask yourself what challenges you are trying to resolve: time to hire? Cost to hire? Or even candidate engagement? How will your applicant tracking system of choice underpin resolving these and how can you measure the results? Download our paper on how to build a business case.
This leads me onto reporting. How many of us have had to present reports on resourcing based on averages and somewhat assumptive figures? As a self-professed reporting geek, I could write an entire article on this alone, but for now, I will resist and simply throw out a rhetorical question to the HR community.
“Who’s up for a spot of manual reporting?” (queue tumbleweed)
A robust reporting suite is a must to meet the challenges of any HR team.
4. Service
Who you’re considering partnering with is not just the brand but the people that stand behind it. I am preaching to the converted here in HR professionals, we spend our days seeking, onboarding and nurturing top talent.
Individuals who stand out are committed and embody core values in their approach to work such as trust, conscientiousness and experts in their fields. You should ask for nothing less from your ATS provider and the individuals and teams who will be involved in scoping, implementing and supporting your solution.
Put simply: to recruit the best, work with the best.
5. Intuitive to use
Consider your user community or hiring managers and colleagues, along with the target audience you’re planning to attract through your applicant tracking solution. If your system of choice does not allow for instinctive navigation for all and instead requires a quick step into the realms of muscle memory when moving from task to task then if it were me, I would think again.
It would be remiss not to also point out a few pitfalls:
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Cost
Don’t simply be seduced by the cheapest option at the expense of your needs nor simply expect the most expensive to be a Rolls Royce either. Be pragmatic in aligning what you need and the realities of cost. Both old adages but they seem fitting: “buy cheap, buy twice” and “get as much bang for your buck as you can”
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“Too many cooks spoil the broth” when selecting an ATS too
I have seen time and again organisations that have a cluster of software that is not integrated correctly or won’t integrate, cross-over in functionality and at times render one another ineffectual. Don’t select a solution that only partly does the job and don’t expect it to fix broken process. That’s for you to do before you put the work into configuring the system. A thorough piece of needs analysis work on your existing process and software ecosystem may sometimes prove beneficial if you are an organisation that has many systems already.
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The journey does not stop at implementation
It may be a corporate buzz word you put on the office Christmas bingo game but getting “buy-in” across the business and crucially amongst your hiring manager community is vital to success. Lose them on your journey to achieving the recruitment solution you are aiming for and it will always be an uphill struggle.
How will your ATS provider support you? What training will they get?
This list is by no means exhaustive and for me, it goes a long way to ensuring you choose a partner and solution that meets the needs of your organised.