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What is an applicant tracking system? How does it work?

Tags: ATS

Many medium and large businesses and organisations use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to manage their recruitment process. In fact, 90% of Fortune 500 companies filter job candidates and CVs using an ATS. When dealing with a high volume of candidates, an ATS offers the kind of electronic, automated solution that can make life so much easier for both recruiters and candidates.

What is an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)?

An Applicant Tracking System is software designed to manage the recruitment process. Typically used by internal recruitment teams, an ATS offers a range of powerful features that help recruitment teams find, track and recruit candidates. The software is able to filter candidates by searching for keywords and criteria.

Here at Tribepad, our award-winning Applicant Tracking System allows recruiters to oversee the recruitment process from start to finish. It’s an all-in-one system for creating vacancies, attracting talent, testing candidates, scheduling interviews, managing documents and so much more.

Why do internal recruiters use an Applicant Tracking System?

There are many reasons that a company’s internal recruitment might want to use an Applicant Tracking System. And in some industries, those reasons might be different to others. However, an ATS brings some benefits that are hard to ignore.

Using an ATS saves companies time and money. Gone are the days of pen and paper – using an electronic solution brings everything together in one place. Recruiters can get an overview of the recruitment process and the tools to dive into the details when they need to.

With an ATS, the risk of human error is also greatly reduced. There are no misplaced files and each interaction with the ATS is timestamped, which means recruiters can see what’s happened and work together. It also makes it super easy for employers to communicate directly with candidates.

Organisations that get large numbers of applicants use an ATS to simplify and automate parts of their recruitment. For all companies, using software to organise information and track potential employees makes lots of sense.

How does an Applicant Tracking System help job candidates?

An Applicant Tracking System is designed to benefit candidates too. For example, with Tribepad ATS, recruiters can automate communication to ensure candidates get the information they need at each step. It means no waiting around or worrying about whether their application or documents have been received.  

As a candidate, it may be daunting for them to know that their application is going through an ATS. They may feel better suited to face-to-face or over-the-phone contact. But the system brings many opportunities. It gives candidates a chance to research roles and optimise their CVs to get the best chance of success.

Some argue that an ATS removes the human element from the recruitment process. But that is not the case at all. It’s true that candidates may want to think about key terms they could include in their applications. But it is recruiters who use the ATS to choose the best talent based on criteria that they set.

How does it help recruitment teams to focus their efforts?

An Applicant Tracking System is great for managing the recruitment process. However, as we know from our own customers that use Tribepad ATS, it’s the analytics that can have the most impact.

For medium and large companies, having thousands of candidates applying for a high volume of jobs produces lots of data. An ATS gives recruiters built-in tools to analyse that data and get vital insights. With Tribepad ATS, our clients can turn those insights into easy-to-read reports that inform key decision making.

Want to know which channels bring in the most job applications? Is social media effective or do job boards lead to the best results? Once candidates are in the system, where do they drop off or run into problems? Are your roles attracting the right kind of candidates?   

Only with an ATS can you answer these questions quickly and easily. It gives you everything you need to focus, analyse, iterate and improve.

Find out more about Tribepad ATS

Learn more about Tribepad’s Applicant Tracking System and how it can transform your company’s recruitment process. If you’d like to speak to one of our friendly team, just email team@tribepad.com or pick up the phone and call 0114 3122 110.

 

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