What is an Applicant Tracking System? How AI combined with ATS will change the future of hiring?
The hiring process can be time consuming for employers. There is no efficiency in spending hours manually scanning resumes and finding the best applicants for further interview process. To simplify this time taking process, applicant tracking systems came into play.
What is an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)?
An ATS is a computer software program that collects, sorts and manages thousands of resumes. A basic ATS system follows four steps. First, a job requisition is entered into ATS which includes basic details such as job title, skills and experience. The ATS uses this information to craft an ideal candidate. Then it parses and sorts all the available resumes based upon the standards. Managers then can check most qualified candidates identified by ATS from the lot and continue with their hiring process.
Applicant Tracking Systems have been playing a huge role in talent acquisition for quite some time. It saves time for the recruiters by clearing out the resumes that do not fit the required role. The main function an ATS plays is to automate the end-to-end recruiting process by ranking candidates in a single database. But ATS also comes with a number of disadvantages. The standard applicant systems cannot review resumes the way humans do.
The HR industry has been implementing AI based technologies to solve different hiring issues and improve their process. The next development in talks is the combination of artificial intelligence and Applicant Tracking Systems. Different speculations are buzzing around the use of ATS and whether the blend of both will help HR managers get the best of both quality talent and seamless process in the long run? Can AI-integrated ATS surpass its previous limitations and help companies in better hiring? Let’s find out.
01- Smarter evaluation of resumes
A very common and one of the biggest limitations of an applicant tracking system is that it often rejects qualified candidates and shows resumes that are completely irrelevant to the job, simply because the selected resumes contained the ‘ideal keywords’ or are formatted in a way easily comprehended by it. This can cause problems for talent acquisition specialists, since ATS ends up doubling their work, instead of solving their problems. Introducing artificial intelligence and machine learning into recruitment will increase the efficiency of the process. AI will improve these pain points of an ATS. AI will help the system understand what recruiters are looking for by teaching the ATS to not reject the resumes which have used a different set of keywords or formatting.
02- Stacking ranking prospective candidate profiles
AI will accommodate ATS to study every piece of vital information on a resume and decide how well it matches the job description. An AI-powered ATS can not only help to find best profiles, it can even stack them rank-wise to provide recruiters a clear list of top candidates most suitable for the job. Criteria can be decided on the basis of the job profile, skillset, work experience, salary expectations etc. On the basis of this, ATS will be able to narrow down better candidate applications. This makes it easier for recruiters to make better hiring decisions.
03- Generating talent pool by re-targeting candidates for future jobs
AI integrated ATS also ensures better collaboration, saves time and cost per hire. With AI, companies can make the most of the current and past resumes in the system. AI-powered ATS can segregate similar nature of rejected applications and create a new talent pool. Conversion rate of a past applicant is higher since they had shown interest in the company. Thus, in case of filling new vacancies, these talent pools can be considered first. The employers can engage with the candidates directly through one platform instead of cold calling or using other networking platforms. This also helps team members collaborate easily, as they can track the progress of the recruitment process.
04- Efficient agency performance
An AI- integrated applicant tracking system will give recruitment agencies a sharper eye to find candidate profiles faster for their clients. This can be easily done by accepting new candidates or scanning the agency talent pipeline.
Also, recruitment agencies will be able to create better candidate pools so that no talent goes into waste. These passive candidates can save a lot of time for agencies and strengthen their network. AI can also help agencies create and automate better job descriptions and source profiles from other niche job boards as well.
These factors will improve the overall quality of candidates the recruitment agency can source and will improve its performance.
05-Crafting a better recruitment process
An AI-powered ATS can help talent acquisition specialists improve their overall hiring process. The analytics will provide companies insights related to the hiring process and quality of the candidate pool. On the basis of this data, recruiters can spot any inefficiency in the process and take adequate measures. After the changes are made, managers can measure the effectiveness of the same through analytics and further optimise the process. This will make the overall recruiting efforts more fruitful for the business.
The ATS systems most companies use today are going to transition very soon. Will ATS systems ever become a thing of the past? The answer is hard to find. Companies will always need tools to make their hiring process smooth and efficient. As the future ATS will continue to learn and evolve, the recruiters will rely on it completely to perform the repetitive tasks and optimize their operations.
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