Looking for the ATS features you need before choosing an applicant tracking system?
Features are important, but so is choosing the best ATS provider for your needs.
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Excellent Integration and Investment
“ExactHire has proven to be a valuable resource that has streamlined our candidate and onboarding process. This is very important because our organization is process driven. This means that we align our processes to reduce touch labor, which results in more Return on Investment (ROI).
We have tried previous HR solutions in the past but none has produced the results obtained from using ExactHire. The service provided to us was top notch. I highly recommend this product to companies who want to align their business processes with a time-efficient tool.”
“It’s easy to use, the support staff is very helpful, set up and implementation is very easy, easy to add sources for recruiting.”
Great bang for your buck!
“As a company that has over 50 retail locations, ExactHire offers us the ease of multiple manager accounts to track applications. Visually, the site is very user-friendly and does not complicate the process. Mass emails, unlimited postings, and unlimited user accounts are my favorite features. Also, the 1-on-1 customer support we receive is timely and tailored exactly to our needs–we talk to the same rep. every time!”
OnboardCentric has been fantastic for our company in getting our talent onboarded and ready to go!
“It’s super easy to use! We can go in there and quickly get started on our employees’ onboarding paperwork. It certainly helps us streamline our onboarding process.”
Easy to use and get great candidates
“Really easy software to use and great for job postings. You can set up new ones or copy old ones to use over again with minimal changes.”
Our applicant review process improved ten-fold
“I love how easy it is to post new jobs and review applicants. We have been able to streamline the process so applications go straight to the hiring manager. This cut down work time in HR by eliminating the need to print and send applications via inter office mail to the managers for review.”
Amazing customer service and easy implementation process
“Pros: The cost, the customer service we receive, and the ease of use of the system for admins and managers.”
This has made our application process and Affirmative Action Tracking so much easier!
“Before, we had tons of paper files and long grueling spreadsheets to maintain. Now, I just direct all of our applicants to one website, and boom, all the information needed for tracking is at your fingertips.”
What you need to know before choosing to buy.
Here’s all you need to know about ATS features. Whether you choose ExactHire or another ATS provider, we hope you find this information helpful in making an informed purchase decision.
When looking to buy an applicant tracking system, it can be overwhelming to review the many different features of an ATS. ATS software vendors vary greatly in the type and number of features they offer and the price they charge. Additionally, many ATS features carry different names depending on the software provider. This makes it very difficult to compare applicant tracking systems, and then choose the best ATS.
It’s helpful for employers to first consider what goals they want to achieve from using an ATS. Then, with those goals in mind, they can begin to identify the ATS features that will help them reach those goals. Any features that do not make that list could be considered unnecessary.
100% of the value and benefits of an ATS are often found in 20% of the ATS features.
Hiring goals will differ based upon a company’s industry, size, location, and other factors. However, the reason applicant tracking systems have become essential for employers is that they help hiring managers efficiently execute on critical, often laborious tasks. And these tasks are often addressed through a handful of key features. In other words, 100% of the value and benefits of an ATS are often found in 20% of the ATS features.
Below is a guide for ATS buyers that will help them learn the different features of an ATS. With a basic understanding of the important applicant tracking system features, buyers can then develop an opinion on which ATS will most benefit hiring at their companies.
The best written job post is worthless unless it’s seen. An applicant tracking system is obviously known for its ability to “track” applicants through the hiring process. However, just as important are ATS features that support the advertising of job postings. Some ATS vendors will go very deep in offering numerous features around recruitment advertisement, but here are the key features that every ATS should offer.
Access hundreds to thousands of job boards right from within the ATS. Gone is the need to bookmark dozens of job sites, remember passwords and logins–or even login at all. A best-in-class ATS will automatically push job postings to pre-defined groups of job sites, requiring little effort from the user.
In addition to automating job posts to predetermined job sites, a great ATS will suggest other job sites as well. This helps hiring managers discover new sources of job applicants. Little features like this ensure that employers have the resources and time to experiment with new hiring tactics.
Finally, some applicant tracking systems will take control of the entire job posting process. This is done through the use of programmatic job advertising to determine when and where to post a new job listing. While this is often a premium ATS feature, it may make economic sense for employers who struggle to attract enough qualified candidates.
The importance of mobile recruiting almost doesn’t require mention, as its rapid emergence has earned the full attention of most employers. Still, there are many ATS solutions that do not support mobile recruiting strategies and actually create hiring barriers for mobile job seekers. Here are two ways that ATS features can support mobile recruitment.
First, the applicant experience must be designed to be mobile first. This means employers should assume the job seeker will apply via a mobile device. Career sites and online job applications need to be just as easily accessed on a phone or tablet as they are on a desktop or laptop computer. The job applicant should be able to easily select fields and enter application data.
Second, hiring managers and other members of the hiring team must be able to access the ATS via mobile devices too. Work life boundaries aside, it is critical that employers are able to manage applicants at any time from any place. A competitive job market demands quick and timely responses from the hiring team. By unanchoring the ATS from the “office desktop”, employers can engage with and hire top applicants faster than the competition.
Through effective job advertising, employers can successfully capture the attention of job seekers. The next step is to convert that interest into a completed job application. Depending on where the job seeker expresses interest, this can be accomplished through the use of a few different ATS features.
Despite the dramatic rise of online job searches, some industries are still extremely successful at sourcing applicants through more traditional methods. Print media in the form of fliers, table cards, magazine and newspaper ads are still effective channels for employment marketing. And while these channels succeed in capturing job seeker interest, converting the interest into a completed application is often inefficient.
Enter the QR code for hiring. By simply including a QR code on printed recruitment marketing materials, employers can divert job seeker interest into one online application experience. The QR code allows job seekers to apply with their phones at the point of initial interest, and it eliminates common barriers to conversion like:
By allowing job seekers to apply with QR codes, employers make it easier for applicants to act on their interest. In turn, employers do not have to manage a separate application process or applicant experience. QR codes save both the employer and the job seeker time, and provide significant value as well.
Even with the advantages of an ATS, employers often find themselves frantically searching for talent to fill open positions. For some, this cannot be avoided. However, a simple change to the online application process can uncover hundreds of new job candidates. That simple change is to allow job applicants to apply for multiple positions through one application experience.
If a job applicant is interested in three job opportunities, a great ATS will allow the applicant to select each of those jobs, and then provide them with a job application that meshes together the three unique applications. In this example, a few things are accomplished:
With an adequate number of job applicants for a job posting, employers must enable the hiring team to screen and manage the job applicants effectively. This is possibly where an ATS benefits companies the most. However, it requires the right set of features and functionality. Here are the key ATS features to look for:
What good is a wealth of job candidates with no way to track them all or find the qualified ones?
The moment a job applicant clicks “submit” they should enter the applicant tracking system with an applicant stage. This initial “Applied” stage is the first milestone from which hiring managers can begin their work. A good ATS will enable administrative users to customize subsequent applicant stages. This allows hiring managers to align the applicant tracking system with the employer’s unique hiring process.
At any stage in the application process, a hiring manager may decide to disqualify an applicant from consideration. This is where applicant statuses become important. To simply find and hire the best candidate for an open position is not enough. The best hiring teams will track why an applicant did not meet the requirements for the position and apply the appropriate status. This information helps employers continuously improve the hiring process.
Finally, when it comes to screening applicants to determine a final group of job candidates, an ATS will provide hiring managers with the ability to filter applicants by stage, status, and other criteria.
Managing job applicants efficiently through the hiring process is made easy by an ATS. However, if the job applicant’s status is not communicated accurately, and in a timely manner, then the possibility of losing qualified job candidates arises. This is where ATS features that support job applicant communication become so crucial.
A great ATS should offer hiring managers the ability to communicate with job applicants via text messaging and email. But it should also provide features that support consistent, quality communications with messaging that aligns with an employer’s brand and eliminates the possibility for errors. Some of these ATS features include:
After screening job applicants to determine the most qualified and best candidates, it is critical that employers engage with job candidates through a quick-moving, efficient interview process. A competitive job market means that candidates may have other offers. So staying in front of job candidates with an organized process, clear expectations, and warm welcoming messages can help keep competitors at bay.
Beyond applicant text recruiting and email mentioned above, employers can also ensure consistent, accurate communication with candidate interview guides. With this ATS feature, hiring managers can create a list of interview questions to ask job candidates. This guide not only ensures that the interviewer asks the same questions of each candidate, but it provides the interviewer with the ability to record answers, notes, and private comments from within the ATS.
When the time comes to make a job offer, hiring managers can attach or link an offer letter and send it to the candidate through the ATS. This ensures that a complete thread of candidate communications and activities is included with the applicant record and available for subsequent reference.
Finally, when the candidate accepts a job offer, employers can quickly move to launch the new hire into the employee onboarding process. This is accomplished with an ATS that features integrated employee onboarding.This valuable feature helps keep candidates engaged as they prepare to begin employment.
An ATS with integrated assessments is often only seen as a feature that supports candidate screening. However, ATS assessment tools are also valuable in candidate engagement. Employers can present (and use) candidate assessments as a means to learn how a job candidate can thrive as an employee. In this way, candidate assessments not only inform hiring decisions, they ensure that employers have the data and insight required for effective employee onboarding.
True job fit requires both candidates and employers who are willing to adapt; pre-employment assessments provide a guide as to where those adaptations should take place.
It is often standard practice for employers to conduct background checks after a candidate has accepted a job offer. This formal, legal driven process certainly doesn’t add to the candidate experience. But, if not executed properly, it can certainly make a bad impression on the new hire.
A great ATS will allow you to order a variety of pre-employment screening packages and instantly launch a background check request to your job candidate from within the software. This helps ensure a seamless pre-boarding experience for the new hire.
A good ATS simplifies the hiring process for applicants and HR staff, while also securing sensitive applicant data. A great ATS will provide an employer flexibility in how the hiring managers and HR staff access the system, allowing for unlimited user logins and pre-defined roles to spread the work around.
ATS users permissions are the building blocks of a streamlines, secure hiring process. These settings define what a users can and cannot do once logged into the applicant tracking system. The ATS administrator has the highest level of access and can create users roles and assign user permissions as needed.
ATS user roles are created by assigning a particular set of permissions, or role, to an individual user login. This is especially important for larger hiring teams that may include staff outside of the human resources department, who do not need to see (or shouldn’t see) sensitive applicant data. Roles are assigned by the ATS administrator.
Human resources professionals are people-focused professionals that also are required to keep their eyes on the numbers–a lot of numbers. Balancing these priorities can be exceedingly challenging without the use of an ATS for reporting.
Effective applicant tracking software can make managing compliance issues and tracking success easier and less intimidating.
Adhering to federal compliance regulations and conducting equal employment opportunity (EEO) compliance reporting is essential. A key aspect of a great ATS is its ability to provide integrated affirmative action reporting (AAR) and EEO reporting. A great ATS simplifies compliance reports and applicant flow log requirements by automating tasks related to affirmative action plan reporting. They also include a standard EEOC Compliance Report, which allows hiring managers to effortlessly collect, organize and manage EEOC-required applicant data.
Beyond HR compliance reporting, high performing HR teams will also need to look into different hiring metrics. Some ATS providers will only export raw applicant data, requiring HR staff to organize, calculate, and report data in a spreadsheet. This approach is not only time consuming, it can comprise the security of applicant data.
A best in class ATS will provide hiring metric reports right out of the box–and right on the ATS user’s screen. By integrating HR reporting with an ATS, an HR department can begin to move away from separate software solutions and manage the whole hiring process from one platform.
The most important features to look out for will somewhat vary by company. Some companies need particular features more than others. Identifying those specific features is important in the hunt for an ATS. However, some features are inherently more important than others and should be sought out when researching an ATS.
The below list of the most important ATS features is based around three main concepts. The first, is getting your job posting or application in front of the right eyes. Second, is making your application easily accessible so you can get the most applicants. Third, is to manage all of the applicants effectively to get the best candidate for the job.
Let’s take a look at the feature groups that help in these areas.
As previously stated, this feature group helps with posting to relevant job boards. This gets your job in front of the correct eyes. It offers the highest chance for qualified individuals to view your job posting and ultimately apply for your position. Without this group of ATS features you could waste a lot of time researching relevant job boards or even worse posting to irrelevant job boards and getting unqualified candidates applying to your position.
These features would be things such as QR code applications, mobile recruiting as stated earlier, phone application, etc. These features make the entire application process easier. They make the actual application convenient and accessible to all people and cut down the time or “investment” of filling out your application. This allows your company to receive the most applications as possible. If the application is posted to the correct places, then more applicants should mean a wider talent pool of qualified candidates to choose from.
Effectively manage hundreds of candidates in an efficient way to optimize results for your company. More applicants is not necessarily better if there is no way to effectively manage them. With a top-of-the-line ATS you won’t have to worry about this. Categorize as many applicants as you want with a few clicks and have a full scope of the talent at your disposal. This will give you all of the benefits of a large applicant pool, while minimizing the downsides.
These three feature groups are non-negotiable for any decent ATS. Without these three you will miss a crucial piece of the hiring process and render the whole process inefficient.
There are, of course, other important features that should be included in your ATS. However, in an effort of keeping a clear and concise list, these are the three most important features.
At this point, it might be clear that ATS features are not the same across the board. This of course makes sense; some ATS providers offer less features at a lower than average price because they feel top-of-the-line systems offer too many useless features.
On the other hand, some ATS providers offer more expensive applicant tracking systems with all the bells and whistles because they feel large companies need a multitude of time saving features for a robust hiring operation–and are willing to pay for it. There is of course everything in between too, and this it what makes choosing the right ATS difficult.
There are only so many ATS features that are crucial for success, however you may feel that your company needs more than the features listed above. The needs of each company are different, and there are plenty of options out there for you to shop around.
What is important in choosing an ATS, is looking at your hiring process, understanding where the limiting factors are, then searching for the best ATS to fix those for you. Some companies have trouble getting enough applicants, some get too many applicants. Each company’s hiring challenges are unique, but they can almost assuredly be solved through the use of a good ATS.
After reviewing the ATS features that are critical to your hiring success, you may benefit from taking a closer look at ExactHire ATS. ExactHire has designed an ATS with every feature listed on this page, along other powerful features that help improve your hiring process at an affordable cost. Some of those features include:
ExactHire offers the most robust ATS on the market at the low starting price of just $165 per month–and we back that with a 60-day satisfaction guarantee, or your money back.
If you are interested in learning more about ExactHire, book a demo today to learn how our ATS features combined our team of SHRM certified strategists can help you get the hiring results you need.