An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is computer software which facilitates an organization’s administration in their staffing requirements. It is also referred to as a talent management platform or more simply, a resume database. Applicant tracking systems are increasingly moving online, i.e. web-based ATS, making it easier for customers to sign up and get started.

The basic purpose of an applicant tracking system is to aid an organization’s administration, or more specifically the HR department, in keeping a track of their incoming job applications, and in turn helping them hire the right people.

An ATS usually stores information about the organization’s job openings, the hiring workflow, incoming applications and resumes, and all communication with applicants. Applications are stored on the basis of resumes and information gathered at the time of the job application. Applicant tracking systems use this information to allow users to filter, sort and search applications, in order to make it easier to find the right candidates and track them.

With the increasing popularity of job portals and mass-scale recruiters, organizations are swamped with countless resumes, the majority of which belong to under-qualified or mismatched candidates. This had become a source of nuisance to the human resource departments, but has been resolved to an extent with the advent of applicant tracking systems. Applicant tracking systems help organizations easily filter through these candidates to find the ones that match the job and organization requirements.


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Applicant Tracking System