3 Important Qualities for the Future of Applicant Tracking Systems

 Talent acquisition is not just a crucial component of your organization’s hiring process, but its overall success as a business. And how you acquire talent ultimately influences the type of talent you bring on board—whether good or bad.

For most firms, one of the biggest and most influential “hows” of the talent acquisition process is the applicant tracking system (ATS).

It’s important to note that not all ATSs are created equal; what works for one business may not necessarily prove beneficial for another. Yet, no matter the industry, the fact remains that the way candidates search for jobs has changed over the years, and an efficient ATS must be able to mirror the pace of this forward movement.

But how can you be certain that your firm’s ATS is “keeping up with the times”? To help businesses understand the criteria of a quality system, recruitment industry experts have outlined three different features 2014’s ATSs will include—features you will want to ensure your next ATS possesses for a successful talent acquisition process this year.

1. The Rise of Strategic Talent Acquisition

As applicant tracking and onboarding tools mature, the C-Suite will begin to look to technology for a broader picture of how recruiting and talent connect with their business strategy.  These connections will begin to solve fundamental challenges that exist at a higher level in today’s recruiting environment.

The demand for technology that can show these connections is being driven by managers  and executives who want to understand how their talent is hired and allocated toward major company initiatives, and if new hires are becoming top performers.

Tools that can provide this level of insight will empower recruiters, managers, and executives to strategically hire, train and allocate the best talent when and where it’s needed to ensure the optimal alignment of employees toward organizational goals.

– Andre Lavoie, CEO, ClearCompany 

2. Enhancing Hiring Decisions

Applicant tracking no longer consists of merely resume storage and search functionality. Hiring managers today need an ATS that ultimately helps them make the right hiring decision. Sure organization is important, but it’s critical to one’s hiring process to consider the key components of an ATS, things like interview guides and pre-employment assessments, before committing to one system.

Applicant tracking systems also need to be user-friendly. It’s not just corporate HR departments utilizing hiring tools anymore. More and more small business owners are investing in the necessary tools to help them make better hiring decisions. Hireology recently achieved our 1,000^th active customer milestone, and with the vast majority of our customers representing small to mid-sized businesses, we’ve quickly learned that a successful ATS incorporates the right tools and data to help these managers continuously make qualified hiring decisions.

–Adam Robinson, CEO, Hireology 

3. Refocus on User Interface Design, Speed and Mobility

2014 should prove to a very active year in the applicant tracking software industry. While there may not be quite as much vendor consolidation as in years past, the lack of M&A activity will be made up for with the introduction of new technologies that will dramatically improve the user experience for recruiters, executives and hiring managers alike.

For the past couple of years, the ATS industry has focused on the development of social recruiting tools but now that they are nearly ubiquitous, progressive ATS vendors will refocus on core functionality like interface design, speed and mobility.

Until very recently, a major challenge facing developers of applicant tracking systems (and business apps in general) is to create platforms that perform well on multiple devices, monitors and browsers. For an applicant tracking system, now a mission critical platform for nearly every small and medium-sized employer, one layout of data and controls isn’t sufficient anymore given the variety of screen variations used to access recruiting software. Scrolling, zooming, pinching and squinting are not viable options for end users anymore. Simply put, viewing an applicant tracking system on a mobile device, will no longer be acceptable.

2014 will usher in more ATS products with “responsive” design: one product that automatically responds to the environment in which it is being used. From 4 to 7-inch phone screens, 7 to 10-inch tablet screens, 11 to 27-inch monitors screens, and 40+ inch flat panel displays in conference rooms, new future friendly applicant tracking systems will understand what screen size is being used to access the product. These “future friendly” recruiting systems will automatically provide context and will appropriately juxtapose the right data being displayed, with the right controls, on any device, all the time. The usability, user satisfaction and user adoption benefits created by responsive design and the resulting mobility and speed will be immeasurable. 2014 is going to be an exciting year for this industry and for buyers of applicant tracking software.

– Joel Passen, Head of Marketing and Co-Founder, Newton Software 

This story is a part of Recruiter.com’s 2014 Recruiting Technology Trends series.