Thinking about investing in a new applicant tracking system? As business picks up, now is a good time to invest in infrastructure which will put you ahead when coping with increasing numbers of job applications this year.
First of all, consider what size and scale of a system does your business really need? There is no point paying for an expensive and complex ERP solution when you just need online recruitment software, says Christine Butchart, Marketing Executive at Logical Innovations Limited. A smaller company with less than 500 employees or 50 hires a year will not need to consider reviewing a multi-national solution from some of the larger (and better known suppliers), advises Larry Cucchi, MD of International Operations at Peopleclick . He suggests a local supplier with the appropriate features and functions may be able to provide a more cost effective solution.
Before you start, Mark Kieve, Chief Executive of Amris eRecruitment says that organisations must not forget to benchmark their current position before implementation. This is vital as if they don’t benchmark now, how can they prove a year from now that their investment in a new ATS system has saved money? He suggests a 'super user' internal project manager to co-ordinate information, and that you shouldn’t rule out bringing in external help, saying: “An experienced onsite recruiter/implementation expert can help ensure an ATS is effectively rolled out and ensure that benefits are realised earlier. Ask your prospective ATS supplier what help and guidance they can offer in this respect.”
ATS - your new employee
“Choosing the right ATS for you is no different to hiring a new member of staff to work for you. That's ultimately what a good ATS should be; a very productive administrator and a key member of your team - who never goes on holiday or off sick!” says Phill Gillespie, Sales & Marketing Manager at PeopleBank. As with hiring new staff, our experts recommend deciding what is required, and then interviewing the ‘candidates’.
Paul Clark, Director from GTI Recruiting Solutions declares: “When choosing an ATS provider the first thing you should think about is what exactly you want it to do. For example, do you want to better manage the applications once they come in? Are you inundated with CVs and want to switch to online application forms? Or maybe your business wants to keep CVs as well as a short application form. What reports do you need the ATS to produce? Do you want to reduce the processing time of applications – if so, which areas of the recruitment process are currently running slow? Do you need the ATS to send information to your HR system? Once you have a list of requirements you can use this to assess the suitability of potential ATS suppliers and also compare like-for-like. Getting the initial specification right can save you some much time when it comes to choosing a provider. Also, consider your potential budget; this will determine if you go for a bespoke solution or an‘off the shelf’ solution.
All our contributors agree that a system needs to be adaptable. Tim Richards, MD of Bond International Software UK says one of the hardest questions for many suppliers to answer is whether their alleged system flexibility can be evidenced. He argues that almost all suppliers profess a customisable system, but on closer inspection, it often becomes clear that a user can only modify the system in isolated pockets that actually provide little business value, and not across the whole system. As Mark Kieve points out, when online recruitment is changing, it's vital that a system can cope with the changes, whether this is greater interaction with social networking or more complex requirements surrounding diversity capture.
Mark Kieve also believes recruitment is like a funnel and the biggest benefits from an ATS is at the front end (when candidates initially apply) so expensive integrations with HR systems will not add much value. He advises spending your money on short recruitment videos and other ways to increase candidate traffic to your new careers website. However, David Johnston, Business Development Manager at HotLizard disagrees: “With over 70% of applicants searching for a job online, an integrated ATS is the way forward. Linking your ATS with your recruitment website, payroll system and a multi job posting provider can maximise efficiencies and streamline your whole recruitment process, saving you and your recruitment team valuable time and money. Integration with your career website is a big part of maximising the success of your new ATS, as it will improve the user experience for candidates and your HR/recruitment team. A well known corporate client of HotLizard’s recently saw 96% of interviewed applicants who came from their career website go on to be placed in a role. Any candidates who have been rejected for the specific role that they applied for can be stored within the database to create a talentbank to be considered for future roles.
What awkward questions should you ask?
Having assembled a shortlist of potential suppliers and your requirements, Phill Gillespie advises drawing up a list of questions you will ask them face-to-face, just as in an interview. So here are some‘awkward questions’ for interrogating your prospective suppliers. As Phill Gillespie says, often the most revealing questions are the simplest...
“What happens if something goes wrong?”would concern Mark Kieve. He would expect be told; how secure is the data is, whether it is hosted on a server owned by the vendor and in a secure environment, and whether the server is replicated elsewhere, for example if the London data centre goes down, would the ATS continue to run? Mark Kieve poses another question which may well affect many businesses this year: “If high volumes of candidates are expected, will the system cope? He says that Amris successfully experienced big volumes when one of their clients, a well known high street retailer, opened a new store in Bristol and experienced 14000 applications for 320 jobs over a two week period. Paul Clark cautions: “A cheaper ‘off the shelf’ product may seem attractive at first; however you should consider that making any minor changes to such products can be painful and expensive plus when you have a problem you may find it difficult to get support easily. Many suppliers, especially in the current climate, will price to win your business and then hit you with lots of costs for minor changes, additional applications or the addition of extra users. Therefore it is good to anticipate any changes you may make during your recruitment year and ask how much these will cost upfront. You will quickly find out if they have any hidden charges.” Giles Heckstall-Smith, Commercial Director at Jobtrain Solutions says: “Ensure you’re clear on the support that will be offered to you as part of the licence fee. Ask the following questions:
* How will the implementation be managed and by whom?
* How long will it take?
* Who will be trained and what will be involved?
* How is ongoing training managed and is this included in the licence fee?
* Who will be supported after the system is live? (e.g. core HR users, candidates, agencies, line managers etc).
* When is support available and on what basis? (e.g. online, email and phone)
Seek to establish the nature of the relationships the supplier has with their customers. Any provider should be happy to set up a phone call or a meeting with one or more of their customers in order to help you better understand first hand what to expect when become a client.”
Finally, it’s crucial to consider whether the vendor I select will be around in a year, says Chris Phillips, vice president, international marketing at Taleo. He says:“The recruiting software market has undergone significant consolidation over recent years, with the purchase of some well-respected and seemingly sustainable vendors. The purchase of your ATS vendor can be disruptive to your operations. You will have to determine the impact of a possible acquisition on your service. Try to determine the long-term market position and viability of your first-choice vendor. Consider evaluating the company’s audited financial statements, management team, board of directors, and track record.”
What difference will the right ATS make to your business?
The typical indicators of return on investment from an ATS are an overall reduction of times and costs per hire, explains Tim Richards. However, he says an arguably more important benefit is the freeing up of the resourcing department’s operational time so that fewer hours are spent on logging applications and responding to emails, and more time can be spent on more strategic functions, allowing the department to offer more value to the business as a whole. Paul Clark finds many of their clients also find cost saving from efficiencies gained from moving from paper applications to an online application tracking system. He says: “After implementing our ATS, one of our clients was able to save 30% time per candidate and reduce the resources needed to process applications by 50%. With candidates becoming ever more accustomed with their rights to data held about them by your business, your ATS may even help you to comply with data protection law by holding all candidate information in one place and making it easily accessible.”
Chris Phillips declares: “An effective applicant tracking system will help grow your talent pool, enabling you to identify potential candidates as soon as the vacancy opens up. This saves significant sums by reducing both the need to advertise and the costs of sourcing candidates from agencies. Finally, because an ATS can be configured to provide a standard framework from which to identify the most suitable candidates, it provides greater accuracy and objectivity than would otherwise be possible when making hires. For employers, this means a decrease in staff attrition, saving you the cost of having to re-recruit and onboard new employees.”
For Larry Cucchi, an ATS can help demonstrate your company’s ethos online. He says: “Undoubtedly the career site and associated pages on your website developed with your new ATS will reflect the character of your organisation. A career site today is a bit like the reception area of your organisation and by inviting visitors to your offices through an untidy, poorly laid out reception area will potentially provide candidates with the initial impressions of your company and lead them to form an opinion of what it might be like to work within the organization…hopefully a well structured and informative site will provide a positive impression!”
Whether you require a basic ATS or a fully integrated top of the range model, take heed of the inside knowledge here and choose carefully! A wise choice will revolutionise your business for the new decade.
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