Applicant tracking systems are powerful recruitment software programs that enable organizations to attract, engage and select employees. An ATS can help improve the quality of hiring’s, ensure compliance and provide information to aid decision-making. These are tried-and-true methods to find the best ATS for your needs in recruitment.
You can scan your favourite business, leadership or HR industry magazine to find articles on the many challenges enterprise recruiting teams face.
Many people cite the increased need to recruit for diversity and upskill existing talent for internal mobility. as a way to enhance virtual recruiting practices. Don’t forget about employer branding, inbound recruitment, and candidate experience.
Your applicant tracking system (ATS) is not helping your team keep up with these changes and solve their ever-changing challenges.
What can an ATS accomplish for your community?
Applicant tracking software is a powerful application that helps organizations attract, engage, select, and hire employees more efficiently. An ATS can also improve the quality of hires and maintain OFCCP/EEO compliance. It also informs decision-making using high-quality data about recruiting metrics.
It can be not easy to choose the right ATS for your HR system. These six secrets are from our experts in recruitment software to simplify the selection process for your HR team.
- Reduce the complexity of your Request for Proposals
Although it may seem counterintuitive, even for major technology purchases like applicant tracking systems, your RFP does not need to be detailed to receive the correct information from software vendors.
A checklist of technical specifications and features will allow you to compare technology. This approach can slow down the evaluation process if taken too far. This approach can lead to you missing out on solutions that seem simple.
Worse, vendors who aren’t the right fit for your solution can cover up excessive details in an RFP to avoid answering more pressing questions. It can waste your time and cause unnecessary frustration for your selection team. It is better to list your problems and challenges and then ask vendors for their best-fit solutions.
- Define what the best fit means for you
Vendors will be able to answer these questions in a way that is both feature-specific and holistic, which will allow them to demonstrate the value of their technology. These questions are equally important for your selection team to help them determine the best solution for their organization.
An ATS is required for specific issues such as business goals, recruitment processes, employer branding, candidate experience, and recruiting metrics. Reach out to those who have the truth.
It starts with your talent acquisition leaders and your recruiting team.
However, don’t overlook the value of other perspectives, such as recent hires and hiring managers. Each group provides valuable insights into your current recruitment software and should help you determine the requirements for your future solution. Take, for example:
- Talent acquisition professionals know what the CHRO requires. They can frame current and future business problems and identify areas where executives have low expectations for recruiting and HR.
- Your recruiters are familiar with your current system. They understand where it is causing inefficiencies.
- It’s less used by hiring managers. They are more familiar with its intuitiveness and usability.
- Recent hires will recall their experience as candidates. You could ask them if your technology made it easier to schedule interviews, if it made communication difficult with their recruiter, or if it presented a positive employer image.
You can uncover the weaknesses and provide valuable examples for your demo by probing every angle of your applicant tracking system.
- Prepare IT and Procurement to Play a Role in the Selection Process
Most enterprise organizations have IT and procurement as their primary responsibility for selecting and implementing software and systems. Although they may not be experts in recruiting, they are skilled in technology selection and implementation. And they will come to your project with their requirements–chiefly security, risk, compliance, budget, and support for implementation.
Any of these requirements could quickly halt your selection process. Engage IT and procurement early in your project to avoid this common outcome. Pre-kick-off meetings should include preparation and delivery of context information.
- Productivity for hiring managers and recruiters
- Process automation
- Compliance Management and Risk Mitigation
- Increased productivity across the company due to faster fill times for open positions
- Proposed decrease in the cost-per-hire
- Integration with third-party software and HR systems is easy
Your IT and procurement colleagues should be able to ask questions and share their concerns and insights about rival technology projects, budget constraints, team bandwidth, and other issues. Both IT and procurement teams must be asked to clarify their roles in selecting the best ATS for your company.
This information will allow you to assign clear responsibilities to each step. You can ensure that each department has the opportunity to contribute to the RFP and review it before it is published and distributed to vendors. It will also help narrow down your vendor list based on their criteria and participate in product demonstrations.
You can speed up the selection process by collaborating from the beginning and avoiding any major delays. Your colleagues can also contribute their valuable perspectives to the team’s decision making. It will ensure that your next ATS meets your HR and business requirements, both now and in the future.
- Get the most out of each demo.
A software demo allows you to see the inside of the solution, just like looking under the hood. It’s like trying on a suit to see if it fits you.
You should bring questions and criteria lists for your team, including all selection team members. You should be able to see how the software works from all angles. It will allow you to evaluate the user experience and features/functions.
- Managers responsible for talent acquisition
- Recruiters
- Candidates
- Managers to hire
Ask for a demonstration of each vendor’s solution to your recruitment challenges. Ask for demonstrations of internal mobility capabilities from all vendors that make it to the demo stage of your selection process.
- Take into account Implementation, Service and Support.
It’s not about the features when it comes to enterprise HR software. Consider ongoing support and service when narrowing down ATS vendors to your choice. Ask questions like:
- What are your options and SLAs?
- My HR department will have an account manager dedicated to my company?
- Is your support team able to serve clients of a similar size and scope as my company?
- Capture the Reasons for Selecting Your Vendor of Choice
Your selection team should use a shared spreadsheet to collect individual feedback and then apply a uniform ranking system for defining your recommendation.
By documenting the review process, criteria, and stakeholder evaluations, you can ensure that the final decision-maker is fully informed.
