Research Report Summary: The State of Applicant Tracking Systems 2018
Learn about current challenges, HR preferences and future directions
Posted on 10-19-2018, Read Time: Min
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In today’s tight labor market, organizations continue to look for any competitive advantage that improves their ability to find, attract, hire and retain the best possible candidates. Many turn to applicant tracking systems (ATS) to improve their Talent Acquisition (TA) capabilities.
Applicant tracking systems, or ATS, entered the HR technology space shortly after the emergence of online job boards in the mid-1990s when more individuals accessed e-mail and other automated communications tools for their job search. HR teams had to adapt or get overwhelmed with the sheer volumes of data.
The evolution of ATS continues as social-media-inspired features and functionality appear, integration with other systems becomes more necessary, and artificial intelligence emerges as a feature with great promise. Along the way, job applicants’ needs started to occupy a more prominent role in the core functionality of today’s ATS.
To gauge the breadth and depth of ATS adoption and usage, HR.com surveyed the HR community during the summer of 2018.
Following are some of the key findings from the report.
Finding #1: Most responding organizations use ATS today. And, most of those that do not use ATS are considering implementing a system in future
About 64% of respondents said their organizations use an ATS, with this group split between point solutions (32%) and solutions that are part of an integrated platform (32%).
Among participants in organizations with 1,000 or more employees, 87% use an applicant tracking system, whereas, for those in organizations with fewer than 1,000 employees, the ratio is 49%.
In what may reflect the growing importance of ATS to the talent acquisition process, most of the survey participants whose organizations are not currently using an ATS are either planning to add one or are thinking about it. Twenty-nine percent said they are implementing an ATS either within the year (19%) or later (10%). Another 37% are considering adding an ATS to their talent acquisition system. Only 34% said they have no plans at all.
Among participants in organizations with 1,000 or more employees, 87% use an applicant tracking system, whereas, for those in organizations with fewer than 1,000 employees, the ratio is 49%.
In what may reflect the growing importance of ATS to the talent acquisition process, most of the survey participants whose organizations are not currently using an ATS are either planning to add one or are thinking about it. Twenty-nine percent said they are implementing an ATS either within the year (19%) or later (10%). Another 37% are considering adding an ATS to their talent acquisition system. Only 34% said they have no plans at all.
Finding #2: Cost, followed by lack in leadership buy-in, are cited as main reasons most do not use an ATS
Fifty-seven percent of the participants cite cost as the primary reason they don’t use an ATS, whereas about 23% said leadership won't support investments in ATS.
In general, organizational leadership usually finds ways to allocate funds to initiatives or systems they view as priorities. So, if recruiters believe their firm could benefit from an ATS, they will need to make a convincing case to leaders.
In general, organizational leadership usually finds ways to allocate funds to initiatives or systems they view as priorities. So, if recruiters believe their firm could benefit from an ATS, they will need to make a convincing case to leaders.
Finding #3: Organizations using ATS appear to be more effective in talent acquisition
About 49% of the survey respondents said their overall talent acquisition is good or excellent. While we cannot draw a connection between the use of an ATS and the effectiveness and efficiency of talent acquisition, 57% of organizations using an ATS rated their talent acquisition good or better, whereas, only 37% of organizations not using an ATS considered their talent acquisition good and only 1% said excellent.
Strengths of ATS
1) ATS are typically good at tracking workflow and simplifying processes
2) Applicant tracking systems tend to help teams to stay organized (77%), save time (68%) and are easy to use (67%). In a majority of cases (56%), they also provide a positive return on investment.
2) Applicant tracking systems tend to help teams to stay organized (77%), save time (68%) and are easy to use (67%). In a majority of cases (56%), they also provide a positive return on investment.
Weaknesses of ATS
1) Most ATS are relatively poor at personalizing the hiring experience and at intelligent matching of candidates to job postings
2) ATS fall short in terms of enabling HR professionals to locate internal talent or allowing them to reach candidates who are passively looking for jobs
3) Most ATS don't typically integrate well with other systems
2) ATS fall short in terms of enabling HR professionals to locate internal talent or allowing them to reach candidates who are passively looking for jobs
3) Most ATS don't typically integrate well with other systems
- Fewer than half of respondents said their applicant tracking system is good at integrating with anything at all.
- Management- and data-driven systems such as client satisfaction measurements and workforce management are both relatively new to the market, and ATS simply do not yet appear to integrate with them very well.
- Most ATS do not integrate well with video interviewing tools, which are still a relatively new addition to the TA solution set.
- Most ATS have mobile functionality these days, but few offer API for integration with third-party applications (34%) or candidate relationship management (33%)
4) Reporting and analytics appear to be a persistent challenge for ATS users
- Fewer than half of the survey participants said their ATS was good at compliance reporting (47%), offering dashboards (48%) and tracking key performance indicators such as quality and time to hire (45%).
5) ATS does not offer functionality to gauge the candidate experience (52%)
Conclusion
Strategic talent acquisition goals may include improved quality of hires, greater employee retention, greater engagement with passive job candidates, better integration with other systems and a shortening of the organizational learning curve for newly hired employees.
If your current system’s functionalities are not satisfactory, look for ways of either upgrading the current system or seeking new systems that meet organizational needs better.
If your current system’s functionalities are not satisfactory, look for ways of either upgrading the current system or seeking new systems that meet organizational needs better.
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