Leverage the Top 5 Benefits of an Applicant Tracking System for Efficient Recruitment
Conducting a hiring process manually can negatively impact your team’s productivity, and you may find it challenging to develop meaningful relationships with candidates or make strategic talent decisions. Furthermore, the lack of an efficient system can result in communication breakdowns and even losing top talent to competitors. In worst-case scenarios, it can lead to wrong hires, costing your company up to $240,000, as reported by SHRM.
Fortunately, an ATS can be the solution to these challenges. By automating various aspects of the recruitment process, an ATS saves you time and money while helping you find employees best suited for the vacancy you want to fill. This review will discuss the 5 key benefits of an applicant tracking system, including increased efficiency and productivity, better candidate quality, and improved candidate experience. We will also introduce Workello, an affordable, easy-to-use, yet highly effective ATS solution that will make your hiring process a breeze.
1) Cost Reduction
Businesses typically lose money during recruitment due to inefficient processes, prolonged job vacancies, high external expenses, and increased employee turnover resulting from taking on the wrong candidates. An ATS can help you save time and money in 4 key areas:
Boosting recruiter efficiency
Shortening time-to-fill
Cutting external expenses
Minimizing poor hiring decisions
The benefits of applicant tracking systems in terms of increased efficiency and productivity in the recruitment process cannot be overstated. There are several reasons why these systems save time and, consequently, money:
Automating repetitive tasks, such as job posting and application filtering—reduces the manual effort required in handling candidate information and communication
Centralizing candidate profiles in a central database—allows easy access to candidate data and streamlines decision-making and collaboration among team members
Resume parsing—allows for quick scanning of resumes and cover letters for relevant keywords and qualifications, saving time and effort that would otherwise be spent on manually reviewing each application
Seamless communication with candidates and team members—ATSs integrate with email and calendar platforms to reduce the need for back-and-forth emails and manual scheduling, while providing real-time updates and notifications to keep everyone on the same page
According to GetApp, 86.1 percent of employers reported that using an ATS has increased the speed at which they hire candidates. The reduced time-to-fill metric is a direct result of ATS capabilities, which accelerate the overall hiring process by streamlining candidate sourcing, screening, and selection, ultimately ensuring the timely placement of suitable candidates to open positions. This also minimizes the need for additional hiring resources and external agencies, resulting in significant company savings.
Source: GetApp
Additionally, the cost of a bad hire is at least 30% of the individual’s first-year expected earnings. Read on to find out how ATS can help you hire the right people instead.
2) Better Quality of New Employees
ATS improves the quality of candidates you end up hiring in 2 significant ways:
It helps your job posting reach the largest possible number of jobseekers by automatically reposting it on job boards and social media. This increases the chances of attracting and eventually hiring top talent.
ATS has features to help you identify the best-qualified candidates among applicants, as outlined in the table below.
Advanced filtering and search capabilities enable an ATS to identify the most qualified candidates by scanning resumes for specific keywords, skills, and qualifications. Modern ATSs leverage AI and natural language processing to analyze candidate profiles and match them more accurately to job requirements. Integration with skills assessment tools allows recruiters to evaluate candidates’ skills and aptitude for an even better match.
By automating the initial sourcing and screening process, ATS helps reduce unconscious bias in the selection process, ensuring you don’t miss out on the perfect candidate.
ATSs also facilitate collaborative decision-making, as recruiters can share feedback and insights about candidates, leading to better-informed hiring decisions. Additionally, ATS talent pools enable recruiters to source and engage passive candidates throughtalent rediscovery. These candidates may not actively seek new job opportunities but are highly qualified nonetheless.
Ultimately, all of these benefits translate to more competent staff that adds value to any organization. In fact, 78.3 percent of employers say ATS has improved the quality of candidates they hire, as reported by GetApp.
Source: GetApp
3) Improved Candidate Experience
An efficient, transparent hiring process and other best recruitment practices result in more suitable employees and saved resources and reflect positively on the company’s reputation through a positive candidate experience. Candidates with positive experiences are 96% more likely to accept your job offer or apply for another position, while 88% are more likely to encourage others to apply to your job ad.
Source: Software Advice
And when it comes to a positive candidate experience, using an ATS comes second on the list of contributing factors, right behind excellent recruiter training.
Source: Software Advice
By demonstrating a commitment to a seamless hiring experience, an ATS can enhance the employer brand, attract top talent and foster a positive image on the job market. ATSs are essential for improving the candidate experience at every stage of the hiring process:
Application submission
Candidate communication
Interview scheduling
Feedback and evaluation
Decision and offer
By providing user-friendly application forms and templates, an ATS simplifies the application process for candidates, increasing the likelihood of completion. Consistent and timely communication is also crucial; an ATS automates personalized email updates to keep candidates informed, ensuring they feel engaged and valued.
Efficient interview scheduling is another aspect where ATSs shine. With integrated calendar tools, the system facilitates seamless scheduling, reducing the need for manual coordination and making the process smoother for candidates. Moreover, ATS allows recruiters to provide prompt and constructive feedback, enhancing the overall candidate experience by promoting open communication.
Reducing Wait Times
One of the most impactful benefits of ATSs in terms of candidate experience is enabling faster hiring decisions by automating and streamlining multiple tasks. This reduces waiting times for candidates, moving them through the recruitment funnel more quickly.
The best ATS solutions, such as Workello, help you set up a wholly automated hiring funnel and cut candidate waiting times. With just one click, Workello allows you to:
Send assessments
Send rejection letters
Invite candidates to interviews
Make job offers
From streamlined applications and communication to efficient scheduling and feedback, ATS helps create a smooth and positive experience for jobseekers, ultimately enhancing the company’s reputation and increasing the likelihood of attracting the best candidates.
4) Enhanced Data Accuracy and Compliance
A well-executed recruitment strategy plan ensures that a company attracts and hires the best talent while maintaining effective data management and compliance practices.
ATS software excels in managing personal data. By providing a centralized candidate database and standardizing the data collection process, ATS provides the following benefits:
Reducing the chances of data entry errors and duplication
Ensuring that candidate information is captured accurately and uniformly using consistent formats, forms, and fields
Secure data handling with strict access controls and data encryption to protect sensitive candidate information and reduce the risk of unauthorized access or data breaches
Providing transparency and accountability for data handling activities by maintaining a detailed record of all actions taken within the system
Source: AIHR
Furthermore, ATSs facilitate compliance with data protection regulations, such as GDPR, allowing for proper management of:
Candidate consent
Data storage
Data deletion
An ATS can also generate reports and analytics to help companies monitor their compliance with equal employment opportunity (EEO) and diversity regulations, ensuring fair and unbiased hiring practices.
Automated data retention and deletion features ensure the timely removal of outdated or irrelevant candidate data according to legal requirements, reducing the risk of non-compliance and associated penalties.
ATSs can also integrate with third-party services for background checks and verification, ensuring that all candidate information is accurate and compliant with industry standards and legal requirements.
5) Better Recruitment Metrics and Reporting
The benefits of applicant tracking system use are especially evident in the realm of recruitment metrics and reporting, which play a critical role in the success of any hiring strategy. As the saying goes, “You can’t improve what you don’t measure.”
An ATS provides real-time insights and visualizations of key performance indicators, allowing for data-driven decision-making and continuous process improvement. Below is an overview of the essential metrics that an ATS tracks.
Metric
Result
Time-to-fill
Identifying bottlenecks and optimizing workflows
Cost-per-hire
Identifying the most effective sources for attracting quality candidates
Candidate conversion rates
Improving candidate engagement and communication
Quality-of-hire evaluation
Refinement of hiring strategies and candidate selection criteria
Benchmarking and goal setting
Establishment of realistic recruitment goals
Historical data analysis made possible by ATSs enables recruiters to examine past recruitment data to identify trends and patterns, informing future strategies and supporting the ongoing enhancement of procedures. By offering a comprehensive suite of analytics and reporting tools, ATS empowers organizations to make more informed decisions, optimize their recruitment strategies, and ultimately hire better candidates.
Revolutionize Your Recruitment Process with Workello
The principal applicant tracking system benefits can truly make a difference for your business. They include significant cost reduction through automation and optimized workflows and improved candidate quality using advanced filtering and AI-powered matching. Additionally, an ATS enhances the candidate experience by simplifying and accelerating the hiring process and ensures increased data accuracy and compliance through secure candidate information handling. It also provides better recruitment metrics and reporting to refine strategies and procedures in the recruitment journey.
Reap all of the abovementioned benefits with Workello, a cost-effective and comprehensive ATS solution tailored to meet the needs of businesses regardless of their size and industry. Apart from allowing you to set up a fully automated hiring funnel in minutes, Workello doubles as a skills assessment platform with its templated pre-employment tests created by industry experts. It streamlines your hiring efforts by managing candidate data, filtering applicants, and tracking candidates from various platforms and job boards. Try out Workello for free and see how it can help reduce hiring costs, secure top-tier talent, and enhance the candidate experience.
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