You recognize applying for jobs at your company is not as easy as it should be. You’ve also witnessed the HR department becoming increasingly frustrated with how time consuming and tedious it is to review submissions and communicate with applicants. As your company grows, you need to find a better, more productive way to hire.
Through your research, you’ve determined applicant tracking software (ATS) is the best solution. An ATS centralizes the data your company requires during the hiring and recruiting process (from basic applicant contact information and resumes to a full array of questions, assessments and tests), streamlining the process and saving the company time and money.
Before you’re able to invest in an ATS, you likely need to get budget approval from a few key decision makers—decision makers who won’t hesitate to turn down projects and tools they deem unnecessary. Anticipating the questions they’re going to ask about your proposed ATS budget and preparing concise (yet thorough) answers to those questions that justify your company’s need is one of the best ways to get their approval.
Here, I share three questions those decision makers will likely ask and offer suggestions on how you can best answer them.
Question: Why do you think there’s a problem with our hiring and recruiting process now?
Your Answer: Our hiring and recruiting process is entirely manual and highly inefficient. Currently, when the HR department is tasked with making a new hire, a representative must write the description and post it to each job board individually. When applications come in, they go directly to the representative’s inbox, which makes it difficult to keep applications organized and continuously disrupts their other job duties.
Needing to fill the position quickly, the rep will review as many applications as best he can, most of which are not qualified for the position. He’ll pass on the applications that stand out the most to the hiring manager all while knowing there are plenty of applications he still hasn’t reviewed.
The process is likely causing our company to miss out on top candidates. What’s more, it causes stress and dissatisfaction among our HR department.
Why do you think an ATS is the solution? Can’t you develop a better process internally?
Your Answer: An ATS has a number of features that can help us fill open positions with the right candidates quickly. For example, the Hyrell ATS allows for:
- Automatic Position Posting, which allows us to post openings to thousands of online job boards in minutes.
- Applicant Communications, which helps keep applicants informed and engaged from the moment they submit their applications.
- Hiring Analytics & Reporting, which helps us measure and share data for actionable insight on applicant sourcing, evaluations, interviewing, hiring and more.
While it is possible for us to develop and implement new structures and procedures that address these pain points internally, that will take months of continuous, in-depth research. In the end, whatever changes we make to the company’s hiring and recruiting process still won’t make the HR department as efficient as an ATS would.
How do you know an ATS will save us money in the long run?
Your Answer: It’s true using an ATS comes with a monthly fee, and an ATS may not seem like the least expensive solution. However, when you factor in the time HR is spending on reviewing the influx of resumes as well as the cost of making a bad hire (27% of U.S. employes say a single bad hire has cost their company more than $50,000), the picture looks different.
While it’s possible for me to estimate our company’s return on investment, it’s not possible to guarantee an ATS will save us money. What I can do is show how more companies are abandoning manual hiring and recruiting methods to adopt an ATS. We can also read through ATS customer case studies to get a better sense on the quantitative results we can expect.
You know applicant tracking software is the best solution to make your hiring and recruiting process more efficient and organized. Now you have the answers to get other company decision makers on the same page.
Have you chosen the best applicant tracking software for your company? Download this helpful eBook to find out.
