Are you considering buying an Applicant Tracking System but questioning whether it’s worth purchasing one? Many myths surround the value and use of ATS’s and many business do not completely understand what an ATS is, what it does and why they might need one.

Following on from one of my previous posts I have collated a number of the most common myths surrounding their use and value.

Myth no. 1: “An ATS is too expensive for small to medium sized companies”

I’ve already debated this subject but it’s always good to underline how essential it is to invest in recruitment no matter the size of the company. Small to medium sized companies (SME) may only recruit a few people a year therefore they tend to believe there is no point in thinking too much about recruitment and its associated costs. But, all companies want to be perceived as professional and cutting edge. Nowadays, there are many ATS’s that provide the same high spec functionality normally reserved for big corporate companies for as little as £199. So, there is no need to continue thinking that all ATS’s are prohibitively expensive.

Myth no. 2: “Tracking candidates can be efficiently done without an ATS”

Using spread sheets rather than automating recruitment with an ATS might save money up-front but it will cost the business in the long run. Most of the times, using spread sheets is a time consuming task, an ineffective and inefficient way to organise and manage CV’s and can lead to over worked HR professionals or unnecessary agency fees. Fortunately, all these problems caused by under investment can be easily and quickly solved with the help of an ATS and recruitment can be moved to another level by eliminating the admin hassle. Companies will then be able to focus more on the quality of hire, time to hire, cost to hire and ways to improve their employer brand.

Myth no. 3: “An ATS requires significant HR & IT support”

An online ATS is usually a fast and economic option to get your recruitment to another level by providing a solution that doesn’t require maintenance or additional servers. And with integrated job posting, built-in hosted career sites, searchable candidate pools, easy to use analytics, applicant tracking and interview management systems, you will get better control of the hiring process in a one easy to use solution. On top of that, it will only need an internet connection to get installed and one or two training sessions to learn about all its functionalities and features.  Also, the system sits on your domain so your vacancies can be found and searched by job seekers.

Myth no. 4: “An ATS only takes care of shortlisting candidates and maintaining a resume database”

The truth is that an ATS can do a lot more! Besides tracking applicants, it will also streamline all recruitment processes like scheduling interviews, providing feedback, candidate status updates and eliminating the possibility of losing out on good candidates; matches any number of candidates to a vacancy in seconds; it converts CVs into structured information suitable for storage and provides a centralized resume database that can be easily leveraged by all users; integrates different recruitment sources like referrals, social media, job boards; makes interaction easy when it comes to things like publishing positions, status of candidates, etc.; captures visitors and provides a better application experience; creates reports on media effectiveness, web traffic and overall ROI statistics.

So, implementing an ATS will make life easier and will give companies the ability to attract talent in a more economical way without any hassle whilst giving them the option to use the same PSL if they wish, to continue to pay the same fee levels, fix them and agree the terms online.

From then on, candidate experience will be considerably improved which will reflect positively on the company’s brand.