COVID-19 moved many of us to working from home and pushed more technology into the workspace, including the hiring process. But even before the pandemic, many employers and businesses were already relying on Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to assist with finding, hiring, and onboarding talent. By using software and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to filter through the many dozens of job applications, managers and human resources can streamline hiring processes.
How ATS Streamlines Finding Talent
In order to hire a new employee, you’ll need to find or attract the talent in the first place. ATS streamlines finding quality talent in a number of ways, including allowing you to build a portal for applicants to browse open positions and see the required credentials.
Applicants can apply quickly using these portals as the software will quickly report their application to you, minimizing the time between applying and interviewing. They can upload their credentials and resumes directly to the application portal, which simplifies the process for both parties.
ATS can further streamline your talent-finding process by tracking metrics such as time in each recruitment stage, where the applicants heard of the job, number of applications, and more. Some Applicant Tracking Systems are capable of advertising open positions on social media, or high-traffic job boards such as Indeed or LinkedIn.
How ATS Can Streamline Hiring Processes
It’s one thing to find and attract applicants, but ATS can also streamline hiring processes once applicants actually apply. To hire quality talent, managers and human resources have to sift through dozens of applications, which include CVs, letters of recommendation, samples of work, and more. Needless to say that process is tedious and time-consuming! And you can probably guess that a bunch of the applicants probably aren’t qualified or a proper fit for the position.
With ATS, employers can input keywords, qualifications or other terms that make an applicant more desirable, or just about anything else that they’re looking for in an application. This offloads a lot of the busy work onto the AI, which will filter out applicants that don’t have the required words. Additionally, ATS can compile applications into a database, making them easily searchable and shareable, further streaming the hiring process. This saves time, money, and headaches by letting recruiters focus on the quality applicants.
How ATS Streamlines Onboarding
Once an applicant has passed through the AI’s screening, then impressed the managers with an interview or sample of their work, ATS can further assist by streamlining the onboarding process. When an applicant is selected for hiring, their application can be forwarded directly to Human Resources via the database it’s archived in.
Human Resources can then forward job materials, onboarding documents, and other resources directly to the applicant through the portal. Certain aspects of job training can also be done through the ATS, as videos and digital resources can be sent to the applicants as well. This is especially important for positions where the new employee will be working from home for the majority of their time.
When your company needs help to streamline hiring processes, it’s recommended to utilize an Applicant Tracking System.
