… Explained in <3 Minutes!  

Pressed for time? Here are the best practices to keep in mind when buying an ATS, right alongside the most common mistakes and how to avoid them. To make them easier, I’ll explain them as a list of do’s and don’ts.

Do Ask for a Proper Budget 

An Applicant Tracking System can have a tremendous impact on your hiring efforts, from saving thousands of hours to decreasing time-to-hire and making sure you snatch the best candidates. All this translates into dollars saved. Hence, it’s 100% sensible to make the case to your finance department that this will be indeed a good investment and secure the best possible budget you can. While there are good free ATS options out there, they’re mostly for smaller teams with minimal hiring needs. 

Do Think Long Term

If you make the right choice, you and your team will be using this tool for years to come. Give yourself time to research and demo several vendors until you feel comfortable. This can be a long process, but if you pick the wrong tool and have to migrate to another one in a few months or a year, it can be way more expensive.

Do Secure Internal Buy-In

Tied to the point above, it’s essential to get buy-in from key stakeholders before buying an ATS. Without internal support, you might face resistance from your team, hindering system implementation. Engage with department heads and managers to ensure everyone understands the benefits and is on board.

Don’t Settle for Just an ATS 

Gone are the days when an ATS would just keep track of candidates down a pipeline and help you schedule interviews and take notes. Explore integrated solutions that offer additional functionalities such as onboarding, performance management, and HR analytics. Investing in a comprehensive HR software suite can provide greater efficiency and scalability as your organization grows.

Don’t Overlook User Experience

While features and functionalities are important, don’t underestimate the significance of user experience. Opt for an ATS that offers an intuitive interface and seamless navigation, ensuring that all users, from recruiters to hiring managers, can easily adopt and utilize the system. Ask for a free trial; you can click and explore and request in-depth demos to evaluate the user-friendliness of different platforms before making your decision.

Don’t Neglect Support and Training

Even the most user-friendly ATS may require some learning curve for optimal use. Prioritize vendors that offer comprehensive training programs and ongoing support to assist your team during implementation and beyond. This ensures that you can maximize the benefits of your ATS investment and address any challenges or questions that arise along the way.
There you have it! Even if you could only spare a couple of minutes, you’re now ready to look at vendors and book demos with the ones that seem like a good fit for your needs.

As a next step, check out our selection of the best ATS vendors out there. If you’re in the US and are looking for a more personalized assessment, you can book a free 1:1 consultation with an HR tech advisor here.

Tech & Tools
ATS hrtech Recruiting Software Technology
Authors
Rodrigo Vázquez Mellado

Rodrigo has worked in tech since 2015 across various marketing and product roles. These roles put him on a path toward the world of recruiting and HR. For instance, he used to help recruiters at companies like Walmart and Alorica to improve their hiring through the use of AI. At other startups, he also took an active part in the recruiting of new team members. More recently, he’s worked as a writer and editor at SelectSoftware Reviews, covering HR software niches like payroll, HCM, workforce planning, and AI Recruiting. Rodrigo is also an avid traveler, recent jiu-jitsu practitioner, musician, and language enthusiast.