Why SMBs need an Applicant Tracking System

Filed under Industry on January 3rd, 2010

For large enterprises and recruitment firms, the need and benefits of an Applicant Tracking System are obvious. The large volume of applicants and resumes makes an Applicant Tracking System a necessity. For smaller organizations with more moderate recruitment needs, the benefits may not be as clear. However, even for the smallest organization an Applicant Tracking System can provide many benefits. The following are a few of the top benefits for smaller organization.

Online job board and application

With an Applicant Tracking System, people will be able to view open positions and apply online to one or more jobs. This is a much more efficient process for both the applicant and the recruiter than the alternative of calling to ask about jobs and then filling out an in-person employment application or emailing a resume to a jobs email address. Often, this job board can be customized to match a company’s website, to provide a seamless experience for the applicant and give a more professional impression.

Save time with screening questions

If you’ve ever advertised a job on a public job board, you’ve likely encountered a case where you get a tremendous volume of applicants, but most of them are unqualified. By using an applicant tracking system you can add screening questions to your application to test for qualifications of your job description, such as required education level / type or number of years experience in a specific role. When reviewing resumes these question answers become part of the applicant record, and it’s much quicker to review question answers than read a resume. Many Applicant Tracking Systems will even enable you to create scoring rules to score applicants on their answers, so you only need to review the applicants that meet your minimum requirements.

Central resume and data repository

With an Applicant Tracking System all resumes for anybody who has applied to any job at your company are stored in a single database. In addition, any data generated during the review process are also stored with the applicant record, such as: notes, assessments, emails, and workflow data. With an Applicant Tracking System all this information is no longer tracked on an individual’s computer (i.e. email and spreadsheets), but rather becomes an organization asset that is accessible to any authorized individual in the organization. Later, when you have an opening for a new position, you can look first in your company’s Applicant Tracking System for people who have applied to your company in the past who are a good fit for your new position.

Provide a professional first-impression to job seekers

In a recruitment process, your goal is to attract top people to your company, which means your system is marketing tool as well as a recruitment tool. People typically associate a company job board and online application with a large organization, and thus implementing an Applicant Tracking System with an integrated job board can provide this professional first-impression to job seekers. Applicant Tracking Systems can also automate professional workflow tasks like sending an auto-receipt email after a person has applied and sending an email when the job has been filled.  All of this communicates a professional image of the company to the job seeker.