Is an Automated ATS the Solution to Recruitment Challenges? Let's Discuss!

Hi Friends,

I am Abijith, working for a Product Development Company. I would like to post a query among the recruitment fraternity and get some valuable inputs from fellow members.

1. Is there a need for an automated ATS (Applicant Tracking System)?
2. If yes, what would be the salient features the industry would prefer?
3. What are the common pain points in managing applications/applicants?
4. Would you prefer it to be on a subscription model or a one-time payment model?
5. What price would you be willing to pay for both models?

Your response is highly appreciated.

Abijith

Hi,

My responses to your questions:

1. Is there a need for an automated ATS (Applicant Tracking System)? It depends on the volume of recruitment activity undertaken in your organization. If the numbers are very high, then it would definitely be a yes. Even if you have a cross-locational team, an ATS provides many benefits for the entire recruitment cycle. It helps you maintain feedback and candidate details. Some ATS can even provide reports that can be very useful for the recruitment function.

2. If yes, what would be the salient features the industry would prefer? Features such as report generation, a one-shot view of activities done by any particular recruiter, a one-shot view of submissions for a particular position, resume search by name/cell number, and notification of duplications, etc.

3. What are the common pain points in managing applications/applicants? Maintenance in terms of speed depends on which server the application is sitting on and how many people access it. These aspects should be checked with the vendor.

4. Would you prefer it to be on a subscription model or a one-time payment model? It will vary. In a one-time payment model, the initial investment may be high, but you should negotiate for maintenance services even in this model. You should begin with a subscription model and then decide to migrate to a one-time payment model. If you realize the choice has been wrong, you can actually opt out of it.

5. What would be the price you would be willing to pay for both models? It varies with different vendors, but there is definitely a lot of scope for bargaining!!!

Hi Abhijit,

The usage of an ATS depends on the volume of recruitment activities happening in your organization. As per my knowledge, an ideal ATS should include the following features:
- OCR Resume Scanning
- Letter Generation
- EEO Reports
- Ability to schedule/track interviews
- Job Descriptions
- Statistics: Activity, Recruiter, Sources
- Requisition Analysis
- Cost Analysis
- Applicant Profiles
- Mailing Labels
- Online Notes

I have experience in using Kenexa Recruiter. It's worth your time and money. I hope this information is useful to you.

Regards,
Pavan
+91 9866687847

Difference Between ATS and Portal Offerings

In what way is an ATS different from what is being offered by many portals—sometimes under the same name?

As far as I can think, that would be the differentiating factor. For a large organization, a portal subscription is a minor cost, and they already have a huge and ever-growing database of candidates. So why reinvent the wheel?

No experience, just asking...

Regards.

Hi Abhijit,

I was going through your posting and thought to respond. I am working with a big consultancy firm in Delhi, and we use "Recruit Plus - A product from ITCONS e-Solutions". It has given us immense benefits. Here are the answers against each point.

1. Is there a need for an automated ATS (Applicant Tracking System) - Yes, it not only helps in organizing resumes but a good ATS also helps in reducing the total time of searching and processing a resume.
2. If yes, what would be salient features the industry would prefer - One should see if this helps in searching the resumes based on various search conditions like total experience, current company, designation, past company, salary, education, college name, location, etc., apart from a keyword search.
3. What are the common pain points for Recruitment and Staffing Companies? - To extract data from emails that are unused and to quickly search for the right fit from the database.
4. Would you prefer it to be on a subscription model or a one-time payment model - Since most companies offer ATS on both models, one has to consider the one-time purchase cost versus the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) in the monthly subscription model. In my opinion, if the company is small, say up to 5 users, they should opt for the monthly model.
5. What would be the price you would be willing to pay for both models - I have seen demos of all the good ATS in India, and each one is priced based on the number of user licenses. Roughly, each user license costs between 7k to 15k.

Thank you.