The search for your perfect Applicant Tracking System (ATS) doesn’t have to be a costly and time-consuming endeavor! In this guide, we will show how to find your perfect ATS match in 4 quick, easy-to-follow steps.
How to Find Your Perfect Applicant Tracking System?
What is Applicant Tracking System (ATS)?
Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is an HR software designed to automate, streamline and improve your hiring process.
ATS provides an automated way for HR professionals to simplify and fasten the entire recruiting process.
ATS offers a wide range of solutions for different hiring challenges, from finding candidates and receiving their applications to selecting and hiring the best ones among them.
So you are looking for an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)?
Firstly, you should get our ultimate guide for buying an ATS!
That’s great because using an ATS has many benefits.
Vast benefits of using an ATS are best demonstrated by its ability to improve 3 most important hiring metrics: time-to-hire, quality-of-hire and cost-to-hire.
Research showed that:
- 86% of recruiting professionals say that using an ATS has helped them hire faster
- 78% say that using an ATS has improved the quality of candidates they hire
Whether you are just beginning your research or you are an experienced ATS user looking for a more suitable solution, you’ve come to the right place.
The search for your perfect ATS doesn’t have to be a costly and time-consuming endeavor!
In this guide, we will show how to find your perfect ATS match in 4 quick, easy-to-follow steps.
How to choose the best ATS?
Since there are numerous different ATS in the market, you might be overwhelmed by choice and stuck trying to figure out which one to choose.
List of solutions offered by Applicant Tracking Systems can be extensive.
However, not every ATS is the same. Different ATS providers offer different features and capabilities.
So how can you find your perfect ATS match?
Find your perfect ATS match in 4 easy steps
Even though there are many different things to consider when buying an ATS, there is a proven strategy that helps in making the best decision.
We structured it in 4 easy-to-follow steps:
- Step #1: Define your recruiting challenges
- Step #2: Research ATS providers
- Step #3: Demo your top ATS picks
- Step #4: Decide after a free trial
Step #1: Identify your recruiting challenges
First, and crucial step in finding your perfect ATS is to clearly identify your recruiting goals and challenges.
To help you get started, we talked to hundreds of successful recruiters and asked them about their challenges.
Most commonly repeated problems were the following:
- “Can you help me get more job applicants?”
- “My applicants are not qualified, and I am wasting my time!”
- “I have no applications through my career site? What’s wrong with it?”
- “No more paperwork, spreadsheets and manual work please!”
- “My boss has asked me to show him the numbers...please give me the numbers!”
Do any of these sound familiar to you?
Based on everything they told us, we created a detailed list of most common recruiting pain points. This list will help you identify your own most pressing recruiting challenges.
You can find this checklist in the PDF version of this guide.
Step #2: Research ATS providers
The next step is to research different ATS providers and their products.
Keep your most pressing recruiting challenges in mind and browse their websites to check if they seem like a good match.
In order to avoid mindlessly flipping through different ATS providers’ websites and ending up watching cat videos, we created an ATS research checklist. You can find this checklist in the PDF version of this guide.
The result of this search should be a list of 3 to 5 ATS providers that seem like they might be a good fit. The best way to verify your impressions is to get a personalized live demo.
Step #3: Demo your top ATS picks
Getting a demo is your chance to see how exactly a specific ATS works, what features does it offer and how can it help you deal with your most pressing recruiting challenges.
Most ATS providers offer a possibility of a free, live demo with a product expert who will lead you through their solution.
However, to make the most out of your demo, you have to come prepared.
First, you need to know what you are looking for in ATS.
To help you get started, we created a comprehensive list of the most important features every ATS should have. You can find this checklist in the PDF version of this guide.
Second, you need to know what to ask your ATS providers so you can compare their products.
We compiled a list of 20 crucial questions to ask your ATS provider during a demo. This checklist can also be found in the PDF version of this guide.
Step #4: Decide after a free trial
After a demo, you probably narrowed your choice to 2 ATS providers which offer the best combination of your preferred features and affordable pricing plan.
So how to choose between them?
Most ATS providers offer a possibility of a free trial. We encourage you to take that opportunity and see your top ATS picks in action.
During a free trial, you can test them out, see what they are like and experience the benefits they bring to your team and your company.
Most importantly, the ATS you choose should be simple and easy to use. If the system is overly complicated or difficult to use, you are wasting time and resources.
In order to help you focus on your user experience and compare different ATS solutions, we prepared an ATS free trial checklist.
You can find this checklist...Guess where? Yep, in our the PDF version of this guide. 😊