Keep Control of Your Applicant Tracking System

A typical human being would feel fairly insulted if a computer told them that they weren't good enough to do something. Imagine you’re going on a ski trip to a mountain that you haven’t been to before: You've got your skis, goggles, warm clothes, you've previously had lessons (on a different mountain), you've bought your mountain pass and lift ticket and you’re fairly confident that with your skills that you will be capable of tackling the runs on this mountain. You get to the entrance, scan your pass and there is a loud buzzer and a pre-recorded voice saying “Sorry, you can’t ski here, you haven’t demonstrated that you have the skills to ski our runs.” It appears that you need to know someone who can get you through the entrance, but you don’t, so holiday over.

What is the cost of the wrong hire…?

Applying for a job via an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) can sometimes be a demoralising process. Even though a vast majority of large organisations and most recruitment companies use an ATS to manage their job postings and candidate applications, many candidates today share their concerns with us about the validity of the technology – how can a computer system effectively screen for capability and potential? We hear of many candidates who will opt out rather than commit their valuable time to fulfil the sometimes significant ATS requirements. And whilst technology can do amazing things and the key word searching/ matching functionality is impressive, technology is unlikely to completely replace the human HR recruitment specialist for a very long time (if ever). However, when candidates see an ATS they should do their best, accept that it is there, and consider other options to work around the system.

A note of caution:

For organisations that place great faith in their ATS to screen out candidates accurately, be careful. Can your ATS assess for a competency alignment? Can it identify future potential and motivation? Does it differentiate between a candidate with a well structured, purposeful career path and a candidate who received a lucky (unrealistic?) promotion? Does it know if a candidate’s resume is aligned to the role requirements due to their experience, or whether they are just good at including ‘key-words’ in their CV?

What if you missed out on the perfect candidate because the candidate’s resume didn't align to the ATS screening criteria? Unfortunately we hear often of internal recruitment specialists who are required to recruit an immense volume of candidates for their organisation and are forced to rely on ATS screening processes to reduce the number of candidates, or rank them, before they are telephone screened. So often they do so with hesitation, with full awareness that this reliance on the ATS may screen out the very candidate they are trying to recruit. But, with so many other open roles they have no choice but to work the most efficient route.

The real question here, though, is whether this is indeed the best route for the organisation? If an ATS screens out the right candidates, even if only a minor percentage of them, what is the cost to your business? What is the cost of the wrong hire…?

An ATS can be a very useful tool, with many benefits that can leverage recruitment functions significantly. Below are a few tips that may maximise your ATS performance:

• Ensure that the users of your ATS are fully trained in the system – know the strengths, know the weaknesses, know as much about the functionality as possible;
• If your ATS provider doesn't already host one, create a knowledge sharing portal for your recruiters to share their tips, post questions and leverage each other’s skills;
• Be cautious and risk averse when building screening criteria – consider a ‘screen-in’ approach rather than a ‘screen-out’ approach, which will allow you to view those candidates who may be a great fit, but not meet your ATS criteria;
• Practice, learn, refine – get to know the sensitivities of your system, tweak your key words and understand the impact;
• Ensure that your ATS supports your employment branding messages – both via the articulated questions and via the candidate experience.

 Applicant Tracking Systems can be highly sophisticated and will continue to improve in functionality. Whilst they can present a significant risk if used inappropriately, when used well, they can be highly effectual. What are your experiences, tips and stories?