How to Choose the Best Applicant Tracking System (ATS) for Small and Scaling Businesses

An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is a tool that helps businesses streamline their hiring process. It automates many of the tasks involved in recruitment, such as tracking applications, managing interviews, and communicating with candidates. For small and scaling businesses, selecting the right ATS can save a lot of time and make hiring more efficient, allowing your team to focus on choosing the right candidates rather than getting bogged down in paperwork.

Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) come with a variety of features designed to simplify and enhance the hiring process. Here are some of the common features you can expect from most ATS solutions:

• Job Posting Management: Post job openings to multiple job boards and social media channels from a single platform.
• Resume Parsing: Automatically extract information from resumes, such as contact details, work experience, and skills, to build candidate profiles.
• Candidate Database: Store and manage all candidate information in one centralized database, making it easy to search and filter candidates.
• Interview Scheduling: Coordinate interview times with candidates and interviewers, often integrating with calendars to avoid conflicts.
• Candidate Communication: Automate communication with candidates through email or SMS, providing updates on application status, interview invitations, and follow-ups.
• Pipeline Management: Track where each candidate is in the hiring process, from initial application to final offer.
• Collaboration Tools: Enable hiring team members to leave notes, provide feedback, and collaborate during the recruitment process.
• Reporting and Analytics: Generate reports on key metrics such as time-to-hire, cost-per-hire, and candidate sources to improve recruitment strategies.
• Compliance Management: Ensure adherence to hiring regulations and data privacy laws, such as GDPR.
• Customizable Workflows: Adjust the recruitment process steps to match your specific hiring needs and company policies.

An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is a powerful tool for managing your recruitment process, but it’s important to understand what it can and cannot do before making a selection.

• Automate Administrative Tasks: An ATS can handle repetitive tasks such as posting jobs, parsing resumes, and managing candidate data, which saves time for HR teams.
• Organize Candidate Information: It keeps all candidate details in one place, making it easier to track where each candidate is in the hiring process.
• Improve Communication: An ATS can automate emails and notifications to candidates, helping keep them informed throughout the hiring process.
• Provide Analytics and Reports: Many ATSs come with analytics features that allow you to track key hiring metrics, such as time to hire, source of applicants, and more.
• Integrate with Other Tools: ATSs often integrate with job boards, HR systems, and payroll tools, making it easier to manage the entire hiring lifecycle.

• Make Hiring Decisions for You: An ATS can help screen resumes based on keywords or experience but cannot assess culture fit or make final hiring decisions.
• Replace Human Interaction: While an ATS can automate communication, it cannot replace the human touch needed for interviews, personalized candidate engagement, and assessing soft skills.
• Eliminate Bias Entirely: Although some ATSs have features designed to reduce bias, they rely on the criteria set by users. Human oversight is still needed to ensure fair hiring practices.

Before explaining the selection process, it’s essential to understand that there is no one-size-fits-all Applicant Tracking System (ATS) for every business. Each company has unique hiring needs, growth plans, and budget considerations, which means the best ATS for you will depend on your specific circumstances. Finding the right ATS involves careful evaluation to ensure it aligns with your business objectives and can grow alongside your team.

• Business Size and Hiring Volume: If your business is small with just a few new hires each year, you might need a simpler, easy-to-use ATS. On the other hand, if you are a growing company with frequent hiring needs, you may need a system with more advanced features to handle the volume.
• Current Challenges: Think about the biggest problems in your hiring process. Do you have too many applications to review manually? Is scheduling interviews taking too long? Are candidates feeling left in the dark? Knowing these pain points will help you find an ATS that solves them.
• Growth Plans: Consider how much hiring you plan to do in the coming years. You’ll want an ATS that can grow with your business without needing constant upgrades.
• HR Team Size: If you have a small HR team (or if you’re doing it all yourself), focus on finding an ATS that is user-friendly and automates repetitive tasks.

• Popular Options: There are many ATS solutions in the market. For small businesses, platforms like JazzHR, BreezyHR, and Zoho Recruit are great options because they are affordable and easy to use. For scaling businesses, tools like Workable, Greenhouse, Lever, and SmartRecruiters offer more advanced features.
• Online Reviews: Look at reviews on websites like G2, Capterra, and Trustpilot. These reviews give insights into how others have used these systems, what works well, and any challenges they’ve faced.
• Competitor Research: If you know of similar businesses, find out which ATS they use by looking at their career pages. This can give you an idea of what might work for your stage of growth.

• Business Needs Summary: When contacting vendors, summarize your hiring goals, your company size, and what features you need. This helps them recommend the best fit for you.
• Feature Requirements: List the features that are most important for you, such as job postings, resume screening, or collaborative hiring. Also mention any nice-to-have features like analytics or AI-powered candidate sourcing.
• Budget: Be upfront about your budget. This will help vendors offer you the most suitable plan.

Schedule demos with the vendors you’re interested in. Some may offer trial periods, so you can test the system and see if it meets your needs. To make the most of a demo, prepare specific scenarios or tasks that reflect your hiring process. Ask the vendor to demonstrate how the ATS handles these scenarios, such as posting a job, managing candidate pipelines, or scheduling interviews.

During the trial period, involve all key stakeholders, including hiring managers and recruiters, to gather diverse feedback. Test the system’s integration capabilities, ease of use, and response time for customer support. Make notes on any issues that arise, and use these insights to ask follow-up questions with the vendor.

This approach will help you understand if the ATS truly fits your business needs and ensures everyone on your team is comfortable with the new tool.

Understand how vendors price their systems. Some charge by the number of users, others by the number of open jobs, and some offer flat-rate pricing. It’s important to determine which pricing model aligns best with your hiring needs and budget. For example, if you have a small team but anticipate a high number of open positions, a pricing model based on users might be more cost-effective. Conversely, if your hiring volume is low but involves multiple team members, a per-job or flat-rate model may be more advantageous.

Additionally, consider hidden costs such as setup fees, integration charges, or additional fees for extra features or support. Understanding these nuances will help you make a more informed decision that matches both your short-term and long-term requirements.

• Small Business Pricing: Vendors like JazzHR, BreezyHR, and Zoho Recruit often have affordable plans that are perfect for small teams.
• Scaling Business Pricing: Vendors like Workable, Greenhouse, and Lever may cost more but come with more features to support growing teams.

Make sure to ask about customer support options. It’s important to know if you’ll get help when you need it, especially during onboarding and early use. Some vendors only offer support through a ticketing system, which may result in slower response times, while others provide a dedicated point of contact for quicker and more personalized assistance.

During your evaluation, ask if support includes phone, email, live chat, or a dedicated account manager. Understanding the type of support available will help ensure that your team can resolve issues efficiently, especially during critical times like implementation and high-volume hiring periods.

Create a detailed comparison chart that includes each vendor’s features, pricing, ease of use, customer support, integration capabilities, scalability, and user reviews. Consider including columns for specific features such as job posting automation, resume parsing, collaborative hiring tools, analytics, and AI capabilities. Also, evaluate factors like setup time, customization options, and mobile-friendliness. This comprehensive approach will provide a clearer picture of which ATS best fits your current and future needs.

Negotiation options vary depending on the vendor. Some vendors may not negotiate, while others are open to discussions, particularly for longer contracts or bulk purchases. When navigating negotiations, consider asking about flexible payment options, discounts for multi-year commitments, or additional support services like extended training. You can also request features such as extra integrations or increased user licenses at no additional cost.

If the vendor is not open to price negotiation, they may still be willing to provide added value in other areas. Being well-prepared and understanding your needs can improve your chances of negotiating successfully.

• Implementation Timeline: Ask for a clear timeline for setting up the ATS, including training for your team and system configuration. It’s also important to understand who on your team is needed during the implementation and what you are responsible for as a client versus the responsibilities of the vendor.
• Data Migration: If you have candidate data from previous hiring efforts, check if the ATS can easily import this data. Data manipulation is typically necessary to ensure that the information fits into the new system. This can require work on your part.
• Integration Setup: Make sure the ATS integrates smoothly with your existing tools, like payroll software or other HR systems. They should consult with their IT department and/or a technical resource at the other software vendor to confirm capabilities. Additional charges may apply for integration set-up and maintenance.

Checklist for Selecting an ATS #

1. Identify Requirements:
   • Current hiring challenges
   • Team size and expected growth
   • Key features needed (e.g., job posting, resume parsing)
   • Must-have integrations (e.g., payroll, HR systems)
2. Research Vendors:
   • Check reviews on G2, Capterra, etc.
   • Look into competitor ATS use
3. Prepare RFP:
   • Summarize business needs, key features, budget, and security requirements
4. Evaluate Vendors:
   • Request demos and trials
   • Understand pricing models
   • Review customer support options
5. Implementation:
   • Ensure data migration capability
   • Establish a clear implementation timeline
   • Integrate with existing systems

Conclusion #

Selecting an ATS involves understanding your current hiring process, anticipating future needs, and evaluating which solution fits best with your growth plans. Small businesses may prioritize affordable, simple systems that get the job done efficiently, while scaling businesses often need more robust tools that offer advanced features, such as analytics and automation. By evaluating your options carefully, you can ensure that your ATS supports efficient hiring, allowing you to focus on finding and hiring the best talent for your team.