How to use an Applicant Tracking System: HR guide

What is an applicant tracking system?

An applicant tracking system (ATS) is a game-changing tool for recruiters. These hiring platforms enable efficient, cost-effective management of even the largest hiring campaigns, while promoting a positive recruitment journey. 

An ATS is a form of recruitment software that allows HR teams to manage applicants from the moment they apply for a role, through assessment, screening, interview, offer stage, and new starter onboarding. Applicant tracking systems automate many traditionally manual processes, saving hiring teams time, money, and resources.

How does an applicant tracking system work?

• View real-time, AI-powered talent analytics to support data-driven workforce planning
• Get support writing job adverts and descriptions, with support from AI recruitment tools
• Automatically post to a range of jobs boards
• Receive job applications in one central platform
• Filter applications against predetermined criteria to identify the best skilled candidates
• Automate candidate screening and reference checking to streamline the recruitment process
• Schedule interviews with candidates, and access video interviewing software
• Automate SMS and email communications to avoid ghosting applicants
• Send out contracts and enable electronic signing
• Provide employee onboarding support to new starters

HR top tips: how to use an applicant tracking system

The different applicant tracking system features are designed to make hiring faster and easier for HR professionals. It’s important to take the time to learn how an applicant tracking system works to ensure your team experiences the benefits of more automated, streamlined, cost-effective hiring. With this in mind, here’s how applicant tracking systems work to support your in-house recruitment: 

1. Centralise your recruitment advertising

A strong recruitment advertising strategy is essential for attracting the most compatible candidates. Job posting tools within Talos ATS allow you to centralise your recruitment campaigns – posting to multiple platforms from one user-friendly dashboard.

Talos ATS comes with a fully integrated advertising management suite, allowing you to create, optimise, and distribute vacancies across all major platforms. This ensures you never miss a trick when it comes to online advertising, helping you to maximise the reach of your hiring campaigns.

If you aren’t making use of all the available advertising platforms, you’re likely missing out on a large number of compatible candidates. Don’t run the risk – make sure you understand how to use an applicant tracking system to access multi-posting tools to cover all bases!

2. Integrate application forms for automated data collection

Integrated application forms automatically stream candidate information into your ATS, saving valuable time for your team, and ensuring every applicant is accounted for. This is especially useful for high-volume recruitment campaigns, and small-scale employers who wish to manage hiring internally. 

Make sure you know how to use an applicant tracking system’s integrated application forms to capture information from new candidates – your ATS account manager can help you to get to grips with this feature. These can be embedded on your careers website, and linked to within job advert copy. 

This not only makes life easier for your HR team, but also improves the candidate experience by centralising your application process. Forget clunky, long-winded application forms; your ATS makes it easier for candidates to apply for your vacancies across all devices and platforms.

3. Use automations to identify your strongest candidates

Learning how to use an applicant tracking system’s intelligent ATS features makes it possible to search applications for keywords, allowing you to automatically highlight applicants with specific skills and qualities. This gives you instant visibility of your strongest candidates, allowing you to engage them as soon as they apply.

Recruiter scorecards are a great way to speed up your candidate screening process. By using features like ‘killer questions’ in your application forms, your ATS can automatically filter out unsuitable candidates, and highlight the most compatible talent. Identify your strongest applicants, and score these based on compatibility with the role, and your employer brand.

Screening candidates can be a time-consuming process – especially when dealing with a large number of applications. Recruiter scorecards do the hard work for you, ensuring your HR team is presented with compatible talent from the very beginning.

4. Schedule candidate communications

Ever find it difficult to keep in touch with your candidates? Communication scheduling tools within your ATS allow you to prepare personalised messages in advance, sent once applicants reach the appropriate hiring stage.

This is especially useful for things like application receipts, interview booking confirmations, and onboarding comms. Automating these SMS/Emails ensures your applicants remain in the loop with the progress of their application – without the need for time-intensive individual contact. 

High-quality contact is the key to keeping candidates engaged, and building a strong employer brand reputation. Don’t let your applicants fall out of the loop; automate recruitment and onboarding comms to give candidates a more positive hiring experience.

Within Talos ATS, hirers can create templates that are automatically personalised for each candidate, and sent out at key recruitment stages, such as:

• ‘Thank you for applying’ emails
• Interview confirmation
• Onboarding comms

5. Use video interviews to speed up hiring

The speed of your hiring process has a huge effect on its success. Knowing how to use an applicant tracking system efficiently can help you to reduce time to hire; if you don’t get in there first, you’ll likely lose compatible candidates to your competitors

Many ATS platforms come with video screening and interview tools, allowing you to meet with candidates quickly – and from any location! 

Talos ATS allows you to meet with candidates virtually using its online interview room. This means you can engage new talent quickly, and provide a faster turnaround from application to initial interview.

Video interviewing also holds a number of benefits for diversity and inclusion. Meeting with candidates virtually makes your hiring process more accessible – especially to candidates with caring responsibilities, or from outside your immediate location. You can also record interview sessions to be reviewed by a larger number of decision-makers, reducing the risk of unconscious recruiter bias.

6. Retain an engaged talent pool

It’s impossible for every single candidate to be successful – the first time around at least. However, retaining the details of previous candidates within your ATS gives you a pool of talent to engage when new opportunities arise.

This helps to boost your employer brand – giving unsuccessful, but compatible candidates a future chance of joining your team, while providing you with on-demand access to relevant talent. This can speed up talent sourcing, reduce new-hire fees, and promote well-informed hiring decisions. 

7. Provide onboarding support to new staff

Talos ATS can continue to support your team after a vacancy has been successfully filled. Learning how applicant tracking systems work involves understanding how they can help with employee onboarding too. Our onboarding suite provides a dedicated place for you to manage new starter checks, and monitor how engaged new hires are in their first few weeks with your company. This is key to understanding employee engagement levels and managing staff retention.

Talos ATS: Make hiring easier!

Want to make hiring easier? Talos ATS is the ultimate all-in-one recruitment solution – giving you access to all the best tools for attracting, managing, and hiring new talent.

Intelligent talent technology with recruitment automations

Talos ATS combines the very best of applicant tracking software with intuitive automations, virtual hiring tools, and recruitment advertising management. It even comes with a mobile-friendly, fully-branded online careers page.

Talos ATS includes:

• Next-generation applicant tracking system
• Multi-platform job-poster 
• Automated progression of your strongest applicants
• Recruitment advertising suite
• Video screening and interview platform
• SMS/email update automation for candidates
• Remote onboarding tools
• Dedicated account manager to show you how to use an applicant tracking system for your specific hiring needs

Discover an easier way to manage hiring – cut costs and save time with Talos ATS: