How can Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) help the SME?

Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are proving to be the recruitment must-have for businesses, of all sizes. An Applicant Tracking System stores the job vacancy details and all the candidates in one place.  This allows businesses to track and manage applications quickly and easily across their business.  The recruitment software can be plugged into a vacancy page on your website and also enable you to publish your vacancy to multi-job boards & social media at the click of a button.

In addition to the features below, the right recruitment software will help you streamline your recruitment process so that everyone involved in the recruitment cycle knows what is going on including your hiring managers, HR, Directors and applicants.

So for starters, here are just five ways an ATS can help Small-Medium Sized businesses:

1. Save time with effective admin
No more excel sheets, no more CV’s clogging up your inbox.  All your candidates are stored in one place which everyone can access.  This means your staff can spend more of their time doing what you pay them to do and not administrating recruitment.

2. Tracking applications and building talent pools
An ATS will help you organise the recruitment process into stages.  These can range from ‘CV Received’ to ‘Arrange 1st Interview’ and ‘Unsuccessful’.  This means that you can move applicants between the stages to keep your recruitment as effective as possible. This also enables you to keep a record of them, so if you have a vacancy in the future you could refer back to applicants who are tagged with ‘Shortlist’ or ‘Keep in Mind’ for future hires.

3. Improve your employer brand
Once on the relevant stage, unique communication templates stored on the system can be sent out en mass.  This makes it easier to advise candidates of the outcome of their application so that engagement with them is easy to manage and monitor.  Meanwhile your reputation as a company worth working for – goes up!

4. Online interview booking facility
Arranging interviews has never been easier, some ATS’s (including the Flat Fee Applicant Tracking System) gives both company users and applicants the access to an online interview booking facility which is integrated with Microsoft Office & Google. This means that everyone can organise and book interviews without the need for lots of phone calls.

5. Reporting function
Want to know which methods of advertising and marketing is working best for your buck?  Track it, measure and use a variety of reports to turn information into real business tools.

There are so many more ways an Applicant Tracking System can help you recruit smarter!  All our advertising campaigns come with access to our Flat Fee Applicant Tracking system.