4 Valuable Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Applicant Tracking Systems

As a recruiter, HR manager, or employer – the word applicant tracking system or ATS most definitely rings a bell. You must have heard about it from a fellow recruiter who works in a different company. Or learned about its functionalities if you graduated with a Human Resources degree.

But most importantly, you must have also read hundreds of blogs that put a shining light on its incredible benefits.

An ATS helps you hire candidates faster. You don’t say…

An ATS helps you automate processes. We know that already…

But the truth is, there are certain things that you probably didn’t know about applicant tracking systems. Especially if you haven’t started using one yet.

Today, we’re spilling the beans on what you probably don’t know about applicant tracking systems.

Improve hiring compliance significantly

Before hiring the perfect candidate, it’s normal to end up with a large amount of personal data from candidates. We’re talking about phone numbers, dates of birth, resumes, addresses, and well obviously, names. Which means, you’ll have to pay very close attention to the way you manage their personal data. At the end of the day, your company most likely doesn’t end up with serious data breaches that tarnish your employer’s brand.

This is where being GDPR compliant comes to the rescue.

But first, what is GDPR and why does it really matter in recruitment?

GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation. In short, it’s a series of regulations established by the European Parliament and Council of the European Union. In recruitment, GDPR serves to preserve and secure all the personal data of the individuals involved.

So as a tech company at its heart, we at Elevatus believe in the importance of securing data. And for that, our solutions are GDPR compliant.

Many applicant tracking systems like EVA-REC comply with GDPR to help you keep data protection at the top of your priority list. Where it makes sure your data is saved in a GDPR-compliant ATS. Not only that, but it also gives candidates greater control and transparency over their own personal data by placing checks on the way their data is collected, used, and stored.

For example, one of the biggest privacy concerns within the hiring process is the deletion of candidate data. In order to improve hiring compliance, such data needs to be deleted regularly. Luckily, an ATS will take away some of this stress and take care of the way your data is stored and deleted.

So ultimately, an applicant tracking system is a data processor that processes the candidates’ data on behalf of your company by following your company’s instructions. But most importantly, GDPR allows you to get the candidate’s consent to process sensitive data. So an applicant tracking system that is GDPR compliant, requires that you ask for consent when you’re processing data regarding disability, culture, genetic or biometric information. So if you’re using an applicant tracking system to store your candidate’s data, it’d be far easier to delete the data of those who were disqualified without the hassle.

Store and retrieve resumes without the hassle

No matter how incredible and efficient your hiring process really is, success is strictly as good as your candidate pipeline. Which can only occur when you can store, retrieve, and manage resumes.
Luckily, an applicant tracking system is an excellent recruiting tool to help you store and manage all your resumes in one single place. We’ve seen how recruiters limit themselves by selecting only a few candidates because researching for them in the midst of hundreds of CVs is tougher than an Olympics race. We’ve also seen how recruiters spend excruciatingly long hours looking for resumes in different databases, only to end up losing top candidates because they don’t have a universal search.

Say goodbye to storing resumes on your desktop or your file cabinet. And say hello to the innovative way of storing your resumes! Sure, many systems out there in the market allow you to store resumes. But an applicant tracking system like EVA-REC offers extensive filters that assist you in turning your offline resume database into an online and searchable one. Not only saves you a ginormous amount of time, but also makes it significantly easier for you to fill up your pipelines will only the best candidates.

How?

Hold tight, we’ll break it down for you now.

With an applicant tracking system like EVA-REC, you can effortlessly upload all the resumes that you have with a simple drag-and-drop. Got a hundred – or a thousand – resumes? Easy. Just upload them to EVA-REC and it will instantly parse them all, create a profile for each candidate, and create a centralized place for you to store and retrieve resumes.

Not only that, but our ATS can intelligently help you match these resumes with pre-existing job posts that you have! So if you ever dreamed about having a technology that you magically match the best candidates to the most suitable jobs – we got what you’re looking for. Where in one single click you can match resumes to your job vacancies or any other job descriptions that you have. Therefore, incredibly saving your time by helping you spot the most qualified candidates with just a glance and a single click!

Make onboarding new employees easier

Onboarding new hires can be a challenging task for recruiters. Especially if recruiters need to begin using a specific onboarding software – in addition to their existing HR software. But what you probably didn’t know, is that many applicant tracking systems allow you to onboard new hires in addition to optimizing the hiring process. So essentially, it’s like hitting two birds with one stone.
First things first, an applicant tracking system makes the transition smooth and easy for new hires.

An ATS allows you to start onboarding new hires before their first day! By simply integrating new members faster, providing a hub of useful resources, and familiarizing them with the company’s policies and procedures. Not only that, but an ATS allows you to get your internal teams to collaborate together in one place so that everyone will be on the same page. Meaning, they can seamlessly distribute tasks, assign roles, organize documents for new hires, and set automated tasks and reminders.

Plus, an applicant tracking system allows you to take the admin out of onboarding candidates. Where you can easily set up a structured and automated process to get the paperwork done on time. So instead of sending new hires piles of paper to read on their first day, you can send them onboarding tasks and material before they even join!

Synthesize team communication and collaboration

The Beatles said it best “I get by with a little help from my friends.” This song lyric also applies to recruitment. When it comes to hiring candidates, it can never be a one-man show. One recruiter alone can’t manage the entire hiring process – indefinitely. Eventually, the company will grow, the team will expand in size, and the recruiter’s tasks will start ballooning.

This is why team collaboration and inter-department communication are key. Aside from the long amount of time that it would take to streamline communication between departments, recruiting teams often tend to work in silos.

Why’s that?

Because since the rise of remote work – they don’t seem to have a centralized place to work.
Luckily, we have been blessed with applicant tracking systems that offer teams from different departments, one collaborative space to communicate and work together.

Tired of getting your emails only opened on quick lunch breaks? Skip the hassle and centralize communication between deskless employees and candidates. An advanced ATS like EVA-REC enables recruiters to integrate and sync their emails with Microsoft Outlook and Gmail, for a seamless communication experience.

Besides, an applicant tracking system allows you to invite as many teammates as you would like, to support you with the hiring process. Where you can specify their permissions and allocate tasks from the very first day. You can even track the progress of your teammates and get timely notifications that keep you in the loop. But the best part is, an applicant tracking system makes it super easy to evaluate candidates, leave feedback, give ratings, and discuss candidates with the whole team. So everyone with access can leave notes, update a candidate’s status, and share up-to-date information.

Over to you

We hope that today’s article showed you the plethora of benefits that an applicant tracking system can offer, even more than what you previously deemed. An ATS is an indispensable tool for every hiring process. It will guarantee to take your recruitment to the next level. From helping you improve your hiring compliance, centralizing your database, and creating a seamless onboarding experience, to synthesizing team communication – an applicant tracking system is an investment that will revolutionize the way you hire, forever.

EVA-REC is a futuristic hiring platform that automates and improves the hiring process with AI technology. It arms leading enterprises with world-class features that help them create a rich and immersive hiring experience for recruiters and candidates alike. With EVA-REC, companies can drive merit-based, objective, and fair hiring practices that minimize bias, without dehumanizing the hiring process. Request a free demo. 

Author