Implementing a job applicant tracking system is essential for modern businesses aiming to streamline their recruitment process. With an effective ATS, companies can efficiently manage job applications, enhance candidate quality, and significantly reduce hiring time.

The job you just posted requires 5+ years’ experience and the first applicant has only two. It starts immediately and they’re under contract for another six months. The position is hybrid and they live 1,300 miles away…in another country. Why did they even apply for the job? Simple answer: Why not?

With so many online job boards out there, applying for a position has never been easier, leading jobseekers to roll the dice on multiple openings, even if they’re not right for the position. That’s great for candidates, but not so great for recruiters in charge of filling the roles! Enter hiring process automation, commonly referred to as an applicant tracking systems (ATS).

An ATS is a software solution that helps recruiters and HR teams stay organized and streamline the job hiring process. The system filters candidates, schedules interviews, houses records, and in short, acts as a single source of truth. It’s become a fundamental recruiting tool for many companies. In fact, 97.4% of Fortune 500 companies use an ATS…but only 20% of small to mid-sized businesses do. If your business hasn’t made the investment in this recruitment technology, here are five reasons why you should!

1. Job Applicant Tracking System Streamlines the Entire Job Hire Process, Start to Finish.

Did you know the average time most jobseekers wait to hear back from a company before giving up is two weeks? Time is of the essence to find (and contact) worthy candidates, but it can take hours, even days to go through the hundreds of applications manually. Recruiting software solutions streamline the process, from job publishing to screening applicants to scheduling interviews to sending follow-up emails. It even includes onboarding features, automating paperwork, setting up training schedules and first-day meetings.

At Accu Data, our ATS solution features dashboards to help you stay on top of all jobs in the hiring pipeline. And you can even rate the success of your hiring processes by tracking KPIs and using other marketing measurables.

2. A Job Applicant Tracking System Finds Quality Talent.

According to a survey of 300 recruiters, 78.3% credit their ATS for the overall quality of candidates they receive. For starters, an ATS helps you cast a wider net, posting to multiple job board with one click and reaching a broader range of candidates. Then behind the scenes, the online recruitment platform screens and shortlists the best applicants for the specific position. But that’s not all; it’s also thinking ahead, gathering and storing a database of top applicants who may not be a perfect fit for one position, but might be perfect for a new job that opens up later!

3. It Frees Recruiting and HR Teams to Focus on Other Responsibilities.

Posting on multiple sites. Checking the boards. Poring over hundreds of resumes. Filtering out those “why not?” applications. Scheduling and rescheduling interviews. The repetitive manual tasks involved in finding a new hire can eat up days. They can also fry brains cells! An automated talent acquisition system frees your job hiring teams from time-consuming administrative assignments, allowing recruiters to focus on top candidates while allowing HR managers dedicate their time on other job responsibilities, like payroll, PTO and other HCM duties.

4. It’s a Great Engagement Tool for Potential Hires.

First impressions matter. There aren’t many jobseekers that want to be caught up in a slow-moving hiring process. They’re looking for work. Now. An ATS is a candidate experience enhancement, moving them through the funnel quickly and efficiently. This experience tells your candidates that you are a buttoned-up company that values its staff’s (and potential staff’s) time and that you are serious about the position and the person they choose to fill it.

5. It Saves Money!

For enterprises, every dollar counts, but for small and medium-sized businesses, every dollar really counts. An ATS provides your company with significant cost-saving advantages by increasing recruiter and HR productivity and speed to hire. But the greatest asset of an ATS is it helping you find the right talent. According to Indeed, the cost of finding and setting up a new hire costs the average company anywhere from $4,000-$20,000. Making the right hire may be the biggest money saver of all!

Do you need assistance with new hire applicant tracking? Contact Accu Data today to learn how we can help you increase the quality of your candidates while reducing the time it takes to find them! We’ll answer any questions you have about our applicant tracking software and will offer a free consultation.