Applicant Tracking Software

What is the best Applicant Tracking Software?

Applicant Tracking Software (ATS) is a suite of tools and features that help companies track, organize, and manage candidates for open positions in the company. An ATS helps companies collect candidate details, resumes, recommendations, and other details pertaining to prospective employment. 

Applicant Tracking Software can organize and automate the recruiting and hiring process by collecting and organizing candidate information so prospects can be sorted by skills and experience to expedite the recruiting and hiring processes.

The top features of Applicant Tracking Software (ATS) are: 

  • Managing automated job postings
  • Requisition management
  • Candidate acquisition
  • Search management
  • Interview management
  • Candidate communication
  • Employee referrals
  • Self-service portals
  • Video tools
  • Pre-screening
  • Social Media integration
  • Improving candidate experience
  • Reporting features
  • Compliance with Federal Contract Compliance Programs
  • Compliance with Equal Employment Opportunity Laws
  • Managing requisitions
  • Creating applicant profiles
  • Resume management
  • Managing job boards or careers section of company website
  • Automated job posting
  • Application management:
  • Applicant pre-screening processes and customizable question lists
  • Initial candidate short listing
  • Communication tracking and management
  • Pre-employment tests/assessments
  • Interview management:
  • Compliance
  • Managing workflow
  • Video Interviews
  • Managing referrals by existing employees:
  • New employee on-boarding
  • Background checks
  • Certification checks
  • Checking referrals
  • Integration with HR software
  • Social media connectivity and use
  • Self-service portal for candidates
  • Automating appointment letters
  • Track candidates who may be a fit in the future

There are many Applicant Tracking Systems available, each offering an array of powerful, effective tools to support efficient recruiting and hiring in your business. 

Selecting or switching to the perfect ATS software for your company involves deep business examination and thoughtful research and analysis of the features and system capabilities that will best suit your business now and scale with you as you grow.

Top 10 Applicant Tracking Software

PeopleFluent / Gusto / SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting / Trakstar / APS / iCIMS Talent Cloud / HireRoad / RUN / isolved / Oracle ERP

WH Score
8.8
Paychex Flex
13reviews
Starting Price:$5 per employee / per month
Save time and improve payroll accuracy. Paychex makes it easier to enter employee hours, calculate payroll taxes, and keep up with wage and hour laws – without taking time away from your business.
WH Score
8.8
ClearCompany
49reviews
Starting Price:N/A
ClearCompany’s long-standing presence in the candidate management field has led to thousands of happy clients, and counting. Enabling organizations to hire based on their vision, mission and goals, ClearCompany ensures business objectives are always in line with the quality of candidates that ...
WH Score
8.8
Paylocity
65reviews
Starting Price:N/A
Paylocity is a cloud-based payroll and human capital management (HCM) software for small to mid-sized businesses. It offers a comprehensive suite of HR tools to streamline HR processes, improve employee engagement, and support business growth. 
WH Score
8.8
Workday
13reviews
Starting Price:N/A
Workday is a leading provider of enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resources. With a modern, intuitive user interface and a suite of applications that work seamlessly together, Workday delivers a better way for organizations to manage their financials, workforce, and business perfo...
WH Score
8.7
ADP Workforce Now
91reviews
Starting Price:N/A
ADP Workforce Now is a comprehensive software solution designed to help businesses of all sizes manage their human resources (HR) needs. With a range of features that include payroll, benefits administration, time and attendance tracking, and compliance management, ADP Workforce Now is a powerful to...
WH Score
8.7
Paycor
238reviews
Starting Price:$5 per employee / per month
More than 30,000 medium and small businesses nationwide trust Paycor to help them engage, manage and develop their people. Paycor is known for delivering the best unified HCM platform for the SMB market, featuring user-friendly Payroll & Tax compliance software, HR & Benefits, Learning Manag...
WH Score
8.7
UKG Pro
178reviews
Starting Price:N/A
Designed for organizations that prioritize diverse workforces and cultures of trust and belonging, UKG Pro® aims to put people at the center of an organization's strategy. From HR and complex payroll to talent and industry-focused Workforce Management (WFM), UKG's Human Capital Management Soluti...
WH Score
8.7
BambooHR
28reviews
Starting Price:N/A
BambooHR is a leading human resources (HR) software that helps small and medium-sized businesses streamline their HR processes. With BambooHR, you can easily manage employee records, track time off, and automate paperwork.
WH Score
8.7
Namely
51reviews
Starting Price:N/A
Namely is a comprehensive HR software that helps companies manage their employees efficiently. It offers many features, including employee records management, performance management, benefits administration, and payroll management.
WH Score
8.6
Dayforce
24reviews
Starting Price:N/A
Dayforce is a modern, comprehensive, global human capital management (HCM) platform that has features and tools focused on delivering an excellent employee experience.  Dayforce tracks all your data, generated during the whole of an employee's time at your company to provide centralized org...

Learn more about Applicant Tracking Software

What is Applicant Tracking Software (ATS)?

Applicant Tracking Software (ATS) is a suite of tools and features that help companies track, organize, and manage candidates for open positions in the company. An applicant tracking system. ATS helps companies collect candidate details, resumes, recommendations, and other details pertaining to prospective employment. 

Applicant Tracking Software can organize and automate the recruiting and hiring process by collecting and organizing candidate information so prospects can be sorted by skills and experience to expedite the recruiting and hiring processes.

Do I Need an Applicant Tracking System?

You need an applicant tracking system if you are looking to save time identifying suitable candidates for open position, screening applicants, and streamlining the interview and hiring process by identifying the best candidates in your applicant pool. 

What are the Common Features of Applicant Tracking Software?

The most common features of Applicant Tracking Software include:

  • Managing requisitions
  • Creating applicant profiles
  • Resume management
  • Managing job boards or careers section of company website
  • Automated job posting
  • Application management
  • Applicant pre-screening processes and customizable question lists
  • Initial candidate short listing
  • Communication tracking and management
  • Pre-employment tests/assessments
  • Interview management
  • Compliance
  • Managing workflow
  • Detailed reports (standard and custom reports)
  • Video Interviews
  • Managing referrals by existing employees:
  • New employee on-boarding
  • Background checks
  • Certification checks
  • Checking referrals
  • Integration with HR software
  • Social media recruiting
  • Self-service portal for candidates
  • Automating appointment letters
  • Track candidates who may be a fit in the future
  • Smartphone compatibility
  • Improved self-service capability

What are the Benefits of an ATS?

The benefits of an ATS include:

  • Savings in costs, time, and resources
  • Managing all job applicants in a centralized system
  • Posting jobs with more ease and organization
  • Streamlining hiring, onboarding, and training
  • Reducing manual processes and paperwork
  • Improving compliance in hiring practices

Who Uses Applicant Tracking Software?

All types and sizes of companies use applicant tracking software. While almost all large corporations use this type of software, a growing number of small businesses are also using these systems to identify candidates and expedite the hiring process. 

What are the Challenges with Applicant Tracking?

The challenges with applicant tracking can include:

  • Lack of candidates
  • Interviews taking place without all the proper candidate data collected and verified
  • Resumes being used as a sole factor in the hiring decision
  • Disorganized hiring practices and processes
  • Poor employee retention

Do Small Businesses Use ATS?

Some small businesses use applicant tracking software to identify and verify candidates, but many also skip the investment in the early phases when employee numbers and hiring processes are manageable in email and spreadsheets. 

How Much Does Applicant Tracking Software Cost?

Applicant Tracking Software costs start at around $4 -$10 per employee each month. Many ATS vendors offer packages with reduced fees as candidate or employee numbers grow so that they can continue to offer competitive pricing as your company grows. 

How to Buy Applicant Tracking Software?

You can use the following checklist to help you determine how to buy the best ATS for your business.

  • Focus on business needs, recruiting and onboarding issues, and growth goals driving the decision to get a new or upgraded ATS.
  • Plan for data migration, implementation costs, IT involvement, and any downtime that may impact employees or new hires during the transition.
  • Make a plan to support user adoption through training.
  • Understand the recruiting, hiring, and onboarding processes you’re looking to streamline and automate.
  • Don’t skip the product demos offered by ATS software vendors to show features and functionality.
  • Understand reporting and analytics needs.
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