Applicant Tracking Systems for SMBs

Large companies aren’t the only ones who can reap the benefits of a good applicant tracking system (ATS). While adoption has been largely centered in Fortune 500 companies, SMBs are starting to follow suit, taking advantage of better and cheaper ATS solutions to streamline their recruiting processes and make them more effective.

Should you consider adopting an Applicant Tracking System, and if so, which one should you choose? Here are three big benefits and three different Applicant Tracking Systems for SMBs to consider:

1) Streamline Your Candidate Pipeline

The recruiting process is much like the sales process. To improve your success rates you need to be able to break it down step by step and analyze how effectively prospective buyers (candidates) are navigating each conversion opportunity/touch point.

For companies experiencing growing pains and looking to hire more and more top talent more quickly, the strain can push your current recruiting process and hiring managers past their limit. Unless, of course, you’re able to monitor candidate flow in greater detail, identify bottlenecks, and remove them. That’s exactly where an ATS comes into play, allowing you to increase your hiring efficiency and ultimately cut down the average time it takes to make a hire.

2) Increase Your Candidate Capacity

Job aggregators and the ability to share job postings across multiple social media avenues can result in more applications. While that’s certainly not a bad thing, it can result in an overwhelming influx of candidates to manage and follow up with.

If you have a smaller recruitment function within your organization, having an ATS can make it much easier to individually manage and communicate with each candidate, resulting in a better candidate experience and all the benefits that entails.

3) Deeper Insight into Hiring Data and Metrics

One of the most important benefits of an ATS is the ability to track key statistics in regard to your hiring process to determine areas of improvement. With automation in place not only can you scale your outreach, you can also enhance your ability to optimize the entire hiring process based not on guesses and assumptions, but on data and results.

As the recruiting industry continues to move away from candidate excel sheets and extensive email chains, it is important to make sure that your company doesn’t get left behind.

Which ATS is Best for SMBs?

Do you think your company could benefit from implementing an ATS? Well then, it’s time to take a look at some of the options that are growing in popularity across small and medium-sized businesses, specifically.

Note: Two of the biggest factors that will impact your decision are budget and needs. Despite increasingly widespread use, the cost of an ATS can still be relatively prohibitive (some options range in the 5-6 figures). It’s important for you to do sufficient research and take advantage of various trial periods that are offered.

Jobvite

Highlight: Great for integrating and engaging with social media (Jobvite’s site)

Lever

Highlight: Excellent customization; options to tag co-workers for feedback or questions (Lever’s site)

Greenhouse

Highlight: Detailed scorecards and interview kits (Greenhouse’s site)

Outside of these options, there are always newer solutions that are breaking into the market with great features expanding past just the hiring process.

Free Comparison Tool

The options are pretty robust for applicant tracking systems. Determining which system will be best can seem like a daunting task. The good news is that these companies provide detailed walk-throughs and trials to assist your decision process. Make sure to make the most of your trial and try some “out of the box” techniques to see how the system handles your needs.

Also, Capterra has created a good ATS comparison tool you can find here.