Maximizing Recruitment: Benefits of Applicant Tracking Systems

Traditional paper applications, filing cabinets, and manual, time-consuming processes are becoming a thing of the past. New technology is giving hiring managers, business owners, and other stakeholders greater control over how they hire, ultimately finding the best candidates more efficiently than ever. 

The rise of the internet and digital solutions also saw the invention and improvement of the applicant tracking system (ATS). An applicant tracking system is a software tool that helps manage the hiring process, assisting HR team members in collecting, sorting, filtering, and evaluating candidate profiles and resumes. 

The benefit of an applicant tracking system is that it takes work off of the recruiting team’s plates by providing tools such as automated interview scheduling, application tagging, and sorting features. These tools remove stress while helping source qualified individuals in a variety of industries and Fortune 500 companies. 

The ATS is vital recruiting technology for modern workforces, and today, we explore how the modern ATS can benefit businesses of all types. 

Streamlining Recruitment in Enterprises with ATS

Enterprises are massive organizations with more departments, significant staff counts, larger budgets, and more roles to fill. These organizations often have robust human resources teams that rely on technology to unite team goals across the business. 

Applicant tracking systems are essential to these HR departments, which need tools to target individuals for a broader range of roles and required skills. An ATS can help these professionals with several steps, including:

• Administering skills evaluations

• Tracking job applications through a longer and more formal interview process

• Tagging applicants and appropriate stakeholders to organize hiring

• Analyzing pipelines, staffing trends, and retention efforts

Enterprise organizations have longer hiring cycles with more steps that include initial screens, panel interviews, and one-on-one interactions. ATS platforms help keep applicants centralized, automated, and organized. 

Likewise, enterprises are often more committed to DEI initiatives, making it a cornerstone of their brand recognition. A DEI-focused ATS, like Gem, can help keep your organization committed to DEI efforts.

ATS Advantages for Financial Services Recruitment

The financial services industry is home to formalities, government regulations, and traditional business practices. Despite this image, many financial service businesses want to leverage new technology and tools to rebrand the sector and attract quality candidates. 

Financial services businesses must also manage their reputations, a by-product of the multiple banking failures experienced over the last 20-plus years. An ATS is the perfect tool to help hire the right people to change the perception of the financial sector. 

An ATS helps hiring teams manage the formalities and legal regulations of the financial services industry, providing tools to help filter based on credentials while combing through high-volume applications for sizable customer service teams. 

Financial service companies compete with tech and fintech businesses and must adapt to changing expectations, such as remote work. Robust ATS platforms, like Gem, provide the tools needed to locate qualified individuals while keeping personal information safe and compliant. 

ATS Impact on Life Sciences Talent Acquisition

In recent years, the demand for life science professionals hit new highs, with the industry expected to grow by as much as 20% in the next two years. The life sciences industry is home to sectors like pharmaceuticals, biology, biotech, and biochemistry. 

Recruiters looking to hire life science professionals face extreme challenges, especially with regards to DEI, since many scientists feel a glaring gap in employees from underrepresented groups. 

Hiring professionals must also contend with highly specialized roles demanding highly educated talent with a broad range of required skills. Luckily, an ATS solution can help with sourcing against tight competition and location-based obstacles. A feature-rich ATS, like Gem, will have the tools you need to navigate complex sourcing requisitions. 

Enhancing Manufacturing Recruitment with ATS

Companies were once sending countless manufacturing jobs overseas, but supply chain concerns, material quality, and a global pandemic are starting to drive manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. While this is an excellent boost to the economy, it’s proving to be challenging in several key ways. 

For instance, the manufacturing industry is very homogenous, with little diversity in terms of gender and ethnicity. Additionally, demand for higher compensation continues to rise, but a widening skills gap continues to form, adding pressure on businesses to find the right candidates. 

An ATS can be invaluable for manufacturing recruitment professionals looking to change the perception of manufacturing and hire better employees. ATS solutions have tools that support filling specialized or technical roles while also recruiting for high-volume positions. 

Recruiters can leverage an ATS to deliver assessments and engage in skills-based job matching and outreach to find untapped potential candidates. Further, you can utilize your ATS to streamline the onboarding process, automating various parts like collecting work authorization, employee details, and providing documents.

ATS: A Staffing Agency’s Recruitment Powerhouse

Many businesses only have one hiring manager or HR professional handling the hiring and recruitment process. The power of a staffing agency is essential for small businesses or organizations where HR professionals are spread thin and need hiring help.  

An ATS boosts the power of a staffing agency even further by automating repetitive tasks, such as scheduling interviews, sending follow-up communications, and initial screening. Staffing agencies can also engage with top talent through social media job postings on sites like LinkedIn and Indeed. 

These sites can save a lot of time finding potential candidates who aren’t actively engaging with job postings or job boards. Staffing agencies can use their ATS to target ads highlighting the employer brand and expanding the talent pool. 

Gem’s ATS helps make staffing agencies more efficient through CRM integrations and seamless communications with hiring managers and invested stakeholders. Request a demo today to see how Gem’s ATS can supercharge staffing agencies. 

Data Insights: The Strategic Advantage of ATS

There is a saying that data is more valuable than money, especially in our modern, digitally-driven world. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning rely on vast amounts of candidate data to create the latest tech advancements we use in our ATS software. 

When you collect and utilize that data, you create accurate models capable of locating job seekers, evaluating the best candidates, and providing data-driven insights.  

Here’s a brief look at some of the data you can collect and leverage from your applicant tracking system: 

• New employee performance data – how well do new hires stack up against benchmarks? Does the quality of hire exceed previous results? 

• Hiring funnel performance – how is the top-of-funnel performing? Are you meeting your recruitment goals? 

• DEI metrics – what are the passthrough rates for underrepresented individuals? What percentage of qualified candidates came from diversity sourcing channels? 

• Return on investment (ROI) – do you see ROI on the recruitment tech you use? What is the average ROI on each new hire? What is the cost per hire after each milestone? 

• Retention rates – how do your Net 30, 60, and 90-day retention numbers compare with your industry? Are you utilizing referrals to attract new hires from satisfied employees? 

• Capacity planning – how does seasonality impact your hiring position? Do you need to make adjustments to staffing levels? 

The data you collect can tell you a lot about the health of your organization. When you use Gem’s ATS, you gain access to visualized data through customizable dashboards. Get actionable insights from your data in real time and with the accuracy you need to make informed decisions.

Elevating Recruitment with Gem’s ATS

Recruiting is becoming more challenging as more factors contribute to what defines a successful new hire. The challenges compound when looking at individual industries, like life science’s dependence on highly educated individuals or the widening skills gap found in manufacturing. 

Luckily, businesses can deploy modern ATS software to manage the entire recruitment process like never before. Recruiters and hiring managers can automate previously manual work, filter high-volume requisitions, and dial in the right candidate for each position with tagging and outreach functionalities.   

The best ATS platforms integrate with your existing CRM software to unify business workflows. Gem’s recruiting software suite includes a robust ATS with CRM integration that saves time, building a positive candidate experience while empowering you to make the right hiring decisions.