How your business can leverage a resume applicant tracking system

Recruiting top talent is no simple task – especially in a competitive labor market. The ever-growing wave of people leaving their jobs in search of better has only further complicated recruiters’ work. And it doesn’t end with the Great Resignation. The aftershock from this mass exit has developed into a new phenomenon: the Great Regret. People who left their original jobs are now second-guessing their decision.

Now, more than ever, job seekers have a clear career trajectory, and until the labor market shifts, they wield significant bargaining power.

While applicants with a vision make for great candidates, getting them to an offer is tough and requires consistent effort. Organizations use resume applicant tracking systems (ATS) to organize hiring procedures so they can onboard the best of the best. Here’s how your business can make use of all an ATS can do.

Get organized, fast

Recruiters and hiring managers have hundreds – sometimes thousands – of resumes to comb through. Though a large talent pool is a good thing, it takes a lot of time to analyze and sort through so many people. A sophisticated applicant tracking system – also called an ATS – helps hiring managers set the record straight with a system-wide rules engine built into the software. With the added power of AI, recruiters can assess search parameters and adjust job requirements as needed.

Improve candidate interaction

When generating interest in a job opportunity, you need more than flashy career webpages and aimless, keyword-stuffed job descriptions. Genuine interest comes through a meaningful connection between candidate and employer. Your relationship with the prospective employee begins from first contact, and you decide where that interaction happens.

What does a modern candidate interaction look like? It starts with quick SMS chat and texting, which are two of the best ways to take advantage of ATS communication features. You can remove obstacles to applying and interviewing with an all-in-one resume applicant tracking system that enables direct interaction between candidates and recruiters.

Save time and money

It’s no secret that recruiting new people is costly. According to Zippia’s compiled research, the average cost of a job vacancy is about $98 per day, reaching a total of $4,129 over 42 days – the typical time required to fill one open position.¹ And this is just the cost of one empty position; imagine the total sum lost for all open roles at a business.

Use your applicant tracking system to automate time-consuming administrative tasks like email responses, offer sends, and rejection letters. This division of labor gives recruiters and hiring managers more time to interview and connect with candidates. The result is a reduced time to hire with less administrative burden on recruiters so they can spend time where it matters.

Know the cost of a bad hire

Recruitment costs don’t just stop at the cost of vacancy. Hiring managers must account for another phenomenon: the cost of a bad hire. Whether the cause is a value misalignment, role mismatch, or skill gap, a bad hire can throw a wrench in your onboarding plans and set you back more than one step upon quitting or firing. SHRM lists a few key factors that add to this secondary cost: advertising fees, staff time, relocation and training fees, team and project productivity disruption, lost clients, tarnished brand, and even legal fees.² While this list isn’t exhaustive, it covers many of the hidden costs of bringing on the wrong hire.

Since each open position is unique and a recruiter must find the right person for the job, the assistance of an ATS goes a long way in ensuring organizational alignment. By using data-empowered results and AI-driven candidate recommendations, you can match candidates with your company values and required role competencies. Why hire someone who doesn’t fit your company culture and may even quit after a few months?

Hire on the go

Recruiters have to manage several communication streams. While these discussions are simple to complete in an office setting, candidates often reply after work hours or on weekends. With such variable communications, recruiters need flexibility, being able to respond from anywhere, at any time is a must. Mobile-friendly software enables recruiters to view and sort through resumes, contact candidates, and shortlist top picks when away from their desk. This is the perfect option for hiring managers who spend much of their day on-site but away from their computer. Select the top-rated potential hire, and contact them at any time.

Post where it matters

Finding high quality candidates often requires diversifying your application streams. While you may have an internally managed career page, non-employees will have difficulty finding your open roles. Post your job descriptions where it matters by using an ATS with access to hundreds of job boards. Get the message out and see who takes an interest. Gone are the days of cold calling. Try mass publishing your jobs any time a role opens up.

Automate candidate screening and ranking

In the world of work tech, automation is the pinnacle of intelligent assistance. While data and reporting capabilities are helpful, technology that can take the next step by making predictions and setting automated recommendations significantly reduces the burden of daily work tasks.

One of the more time-consuming tasks for recruiters is vetting applicants and ranking their skills. An automated ATS candidate screening function can assess each resume and pull relevant information. With all the datasets complete, it can predict which candidates most closely match the job description by keywords and skillset.

Now, some may wonder how an artificial intelligence can arrange coherent, nondiscriminatory candidates rankings. In order to ensure diversity, equity, and inclusion among all candidates, the algorithm grades employees based on experience, job history, education, and skills, completely ignoring age, race, name, and gender information. This feature helps all employers create a diverse workforce, giving diverse candidates a seat at the table.

Share offers and start onboarding

ATS systems help you manage the entire recruiting cycle. Once you have the right person for the job and you’ve completed all interviews and assessments, you can share an offer directly through the platform. Once the new hire is in the system, they’re ready to transition to onboarding and becoming a valuable member of your team.

Whether you’re a recruiter expanding the candidate search or an HR leader optimizing the onboarding process, resume applicant tracking systems are here to help. Keep an eye out for ways to cut down costs and make the most of your recruiting experience with an intelligent ATS.

[1] Elsie Boskamp, Average cost per hire [2022]: All cost of hiring statistics, Zippia, Jan 2022.

[2] Lisa Frye, The Cost of a Bad Hire Can Be Astronomical, SHRM, May 2017.