How an Over-engineered ATS can cause more Complexity and less Productivity

Have you ever tried looking for a solution to your problem and ended up with even more confusion than you had before? That's exactly recruiters feel when they use an over-engineered ATS which solves less problems and requires more oversight in setting up.

Let’s take a look at how an over-engineered ATS can cause more complexity and less productivity.

First, the Inability of Tools To Go Beyond The Recruitment Realm

It's true that software and technology have come a long way in providing us with all the necessary tools to make our lives easier. The same goes for recruitment products. But take for instance that fact that applying marketing principles to recruitment is not something that comes naturally to even the best ATS out there.

For instance, an over-engineered ATS can provide ready-made candidate outreach email templates that save time. But how do you know which kind of emails will work without rigorously testing each one of them? How often should you send them? How do you ensure that the right email template has been delivered to the right candidate?

A productive ATS would come pre-packaged with this knowledge and automate outreach for you based on proven results, leaving you to focus more on the important tasks at hand.

Next, there’s the issue of Resources and Time Consumed for Integrating an Over-engineered ATS With Other Systems.

Today’s recruitment ecosystem depends on integration with with third-party integrations platforms. But traditional ATS’ seldom have an easy option. There is a complex set of instructions you need to follow in order to integrate your email with an ATS or connecting a third party platform for skills matching. Recruiters sometimes fail to acknowledge that integrating the ATS with such systems can be resource-intensive and time-consuming.

Recruiters Turning off To The Idea of Using ATS

This is one of the biggest shortcomings of an over-engineered ATS. Even though it's pretty clear that software is supposed to simplify the life of recruiters, a complex solution could turn them away from the concept of using an ATS itself. Recruiters start realizing that they don't need all the bells and whistles when they are spending money “feature-bulky” products and are unsure where to go to get them piecemeal, so they would rather stick to the more traditional form of sourcing resumes and storing data offline.

The age-old method of manually posting on job boards is a really bad idea...

Here’s why: first, with every passing day, the volume of job boards keep on increasing so a job-board based sourcing approach is akin to “spray and pray”. Next, job boards never offer a strategy to build the employer brand. Then, when it comes to intelligence, all that recruiters can do is just post, filter, and go, hoping for an appropriate candidate to magically show up! It's no secret that this method doesn't value quality over quantity. Of course, you will get plenty of desperate candidates ready to take up any job under the sky. But this chaotic methodology prevents recruiters from finding the ideal candidate for a specific job.

So, what's the solution?

It's important to remember that you shouldn't let a bulky and over-engineered product turn you off to the idea of an ATS altogether. Instead, you should look for one that helps you hire smarter faster, and better at an affordable price. A great start would be to get an ATS that surfaces candidates in multiple ways and allows you to make an objective determination. Additionally, automatic engagement with talented prospects along with best-in-class HR technologies can go a long way.

Office Troops is one such ATS that manages marketing campaigns along with taking care of the technical aspect. Their compatibility fit screening process matches candidates on the basis of their profile and work style scores. Plenty of storage enables recruiters to store transcribe as well as easily search online video interviews they have taken.

So, if you're looking forward to improving your hiring process, look for these features while finalizing an ATS. You'll definitely save yourself from a bulky over-engineered product that wouldn't do much beyond wasting your time.