ATS stands for Applicant Tracking Software. It is a software that scans resumes based on certain criteria or keywords and eliminates the ones that do not contain the keywords or match the pre-fed criteria.
For a recruiter, going through thousands of applications, identifying suitable candidates and scheduling an interview is a mammoth task. The process is tiresome and lengthy.
With ATS this process becomes automated and streamlined. The software helps the hiring managers scan the resumes, track their progress and in turn save time and effort.
How does ATS work?
Step 1 – Job requisition is entered into the software. It contains details like job requirements, job title, job description, job location, required experience, and salary bracket (if necessary)
Step 2 – Based on this information, the software creates an image of an ideal candidate.
Step 3 – When the applicants submit their resumes, they are recorded in the software.
Step 4 – The ATS scans them, sorts them, and ranks them on the basis of the ideal candidate profile.
Step 5 – Recruiters thus can easily access the qualified candidates from the pile of applicants and schedule interviews through the software.
A study states that 94% of recruiters and hiring professionals saw a positive impact on their hiring process due to ATS.
The advantages of ATS are as follows –
- Time saver – The tedious task of posting a job opening, scanning multiple CVs, following up with candidates, scheduling interview calls, etc. can be made easy due to this software. It saves time and the hassle of manual labour.
- Transparency – The entire process is automated software and every team member involved in the recruitment process has the access to it. This makes the process transparent.
- Sieves the irrelevant – Since the image of an image candidate is already fed into the system, scanning irrelevant candidates becomes easy.
- Scaling up – As the company scales up and hires a large number of people for various roles, ATS makes the process easy and saves the time and money of recruitment and selection.
- Hiring bias – An important benefit of ATS is that it removes hiring bias. Since the process is transparent and has minimal chances of error any biases or human errors can be avoided.
- Measurement & monitoring – The data is available in the software, hence monitoring the progress of each application can be done through it. Similarly, HR analysts can forecast recruitment needs and cyclical changes based on this data.
- Saves money – ATS saves time and effort of people, thereby saving the costs incurred in the recruitment and selection process.
Identifying and managing the hiring needs of an organization requires deep analytical skills. It requires accurately predicting the demand & supply and forecasting the staffing requirements. It also includes strategizing and implementing it to meet needs to achieve business goals.
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