Recruitment has become a hot topic during and following the pandemic. The old recruitment style of submitting applications via post or email has quickly become outdated as the process is too manual for recruitment/HR managers.
Organisations are now choosing to use Application Tracking Systems (ATS) to streamline the recruitment and selection process by removing a lot of the manual tasks. So, what are the 5 things you should consider when choosing an ATS?
- School/Academy Profile and Goals
Firstly, you need to consider if the ATS fits with your organisations size, goals (i.e., recruitment) and especially budget. In Education, there are several safer recruitment requirements which you’ll need to be able to address easily during the recruitment process. Is the applicant tracking system able to assist you in carrying out these checks, or will it be another manual task to add to the list? - Technical Capabilities and Tools
Can the ATS be easily customised for your preferences, can you add your school identity to the system and will it integrate with your existing or other HR systems. The system needs to be technically capable to hold your school data, applicant data, be easy to amend, add job descriptions/person specifications, job adverts, salary scales and application forms. These are important questions to address, if you’re using an applicant tracking system, you want it to have your school brand and be integrated with your current systems, so that you are not duplicating tasks. Will it be user friendly for you and for external/internal applicants? If they cannot use the system or easily follow it, can it be used as an effective tool? Is it worth the investment of your time and money? - Social Media and Sharing Capabilities
Discover what social media sites an ATS will allow you to access and use for listing job postings. You’ll also need to be aware of any hidden/additional charges because of sharing to other job boards. Will those who are job seeking or recruiters be able to see and share your opportunity? Will your organisation gain the exposure to get the best calibre candidate? You will also need to consider whether the ATS will help your organisation to develop an internal applicant pool with employee references and referrals. - Reporting and Data Capabilities
Reporting on the success or downfalls or your recruitment campaigns is crucial to ascertaining its value in your recruitment process and for your organisation. If you have successfully appointed numerous candidates of the proper calibre, knowledge and skill set, the system would be deemed successful. However, if you’re not appointing to 50% of your vacancies, is the system right for you? By reporting on the number of applications who see, apply and are successful to shortlisting/interview or appointment, your organisation will easily ascertain its success. - Customer Reviews and Ratings
Finally, have a look at the reviews of similar organisations and the candidates applying through the system. Are they providing positive and accurate reviews or is there a high volume of negative reviews or a lack of reviews all together? Focus on how accessible the system is, how user friendly it is and if the organisation or candidate were satisfied with the support they received during the process. Other useful information is the number of successful appointments achieved through using an ATS and whether this is something that could be replicated in your organisation.
Applicant Tracking Systems are on the rise in the corporate world however, there are not many which are education specific and incorporates the safer recruitment and safeguarding protocols to be followed during the recruitment process. So, why not have a demo of application tracking system – FACE-Ed – a Fusion of Application Checks Exclusively for Education! Just click here to book a demo today.
Furthermore, if you would like any advice managing your recruitment processes, please get in touch with our Education Specialist HR Consultants at FusionHR by calling 01924 827869 or by clicking here.
