We at ‘Sourcing Adda’ recently conducted our first ever ‘#SAMeetupPune’ session that was held in ‘Pune’ on 31^st October 2014. The interactive session was conducted with experts in the Recruitment field from reputed Companies and their views on the “Dream Application Tracking System (ATS)”were shared. The session covered all the aspects of an ATS comprising of both the positive and negative ones and also the different ATS’s that the participants used.

We are glad to report that it was a success, as the session was not only informative and insightful for the participants but for us as hosts too. So let’s find out more about this successful ‘#SAMeetupPune’ session that we enjoyed. But before we go into the nitty-gritty of things let’s understand what is meant by an ATS?

What is meant by an ATS?

For those of you who are unclear on the concept of an ATS, in a nutshell it is, “software that assists’ sourcers to pull up CV’s that are in the company’s individual database.”

The topic for the session was on the “Dream Application Tracking System (ATS)”. The discussion covered different aspects of the ATS, touching upon vital points like benefits and drawbacks including a recruiter’s experience with past and current ATS’,why an ATS becomes a black hole and whether it can be a sourcer’s best friend. The participants were also asked to give their views on what their dream ATS would be like if they could create their own.

During the discussion that followed the common issues that sourcer’s faced with their individual ATS’ were highlighted including how each individual ATS was different from the other and also views on their ideal ATS? So here are the names of the ATS’ used along with the points that surfaced:

Benefits and Drawbacks of ATS’s

Avature

It met most of the criteria’s of how an ATS should be or function; hence it was a good system. But which system is perfect, right? While it accepts Boolean Search Strings and can be easily customised to suite your needs, you don’t get user created reports, parsing isn’t good and most importantly it is expensive defeating the purpose of cost effectiveness.

SuccessFactors

It too met the criteria’s of an ATS. SuccessFactors an SAP Company, is a Cloud based Human Capital Management (HCM) Software that integrates on boarding, social business and collaboration tool, a learning management system (LMS), performance management, recruiting software, Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and more, in order to simplify a sourcer’s tasks.

JobDiva

On the other hand, JobDiva also met a sourcer’s requirements and could take long Boolean Search Strings, you can also create a community and the Vendor Management Systems (VMS) is customizable too, but with minimum drawbacks.

VirtualEdge

Although it integrates with popular social media; its main drawback was that when sourcers found potential candidates via social networking sites, they were able to check other vital information about the applicant except their experience details. This is definitely an issue as recruiting the right candidate for the job spec largely depends on one’s credentials and more importantly their experience. Without this information, recruiter’s couldn’t proceed forward and instead they were stranded.

PeopleSoft

Even though it met a sourcer’s criteria, one of them being a good parsing system that is vital to a sourcer but it lacks social media integration. The ATS is more focussed on a recruiter’s need rather than candidate’s, but doesn’t parse ones Job History.

Features of Dream ATS

Of the many features that are available with the present ATS’ there were some other that surfaced namely the ATS Should be:

• User friendly,
• Parse effectively,
• Generate reports,
• Candidate scheduling should be done,
• Send reminders and auto emails,
• A transparent system with Job Descriptions needs to be attached,
• Should have mobile integration
• Automatically update the information of the changes that candidates make to their social network page i.e. in sync with the software and should be visible to the sourcer too.
• It should be a Search Engine that searches multiple databases,
• Has one interface for everything and acts as a wall paper,
• There should be a central database as well.

Overall the inputs were very informative and insightful giving us a clear understanding of the issues, faced by most sourcer’s these days with ATS’. This information can help companies and future ATS developers to come; create exceptional ATS’ that incorporate these modifications, thus improve the quality and efficiency with which sourcing is conducted.

To end on a positive note, we are delighted to announce that we have received tremendous response and will be conducting more such ‘#SAMeetupPune’ sessions in the near future. So stay tuned and

watch for updates about our latest’s activities. So that you can learn, update your knowledge on latest’s developments in the recruitment field while you still have fun.

Do let us know how you would like your Dream ATS to be?