Login

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026

Rectec partner with industry leading Recruitment,
HR & TA technology providers.

Trusted by trusted companies in over 47 countries…
Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec
Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec
Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec
Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec
Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec
Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

Table of Contents

What is an Applicant Tracking System?

Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are like personal assistants for your hiring process. They can help you save significant amounts of time in the administration of candidates, job adverts, and job applications via a centralised application management system. More often than not, these platforms are cloud-based, SaaS products, offering a remotely accessible applicant data and process solution.

An ATS collates and automates your recruitment processes, organises and tracks candidates, manages job postings and improves candidate experiences through streamlined application processes and communications.

These automated, digitised processes enable hiring teams to improve speed, efficiency and engagement throughout the process. Applicant Tracking Systems can enhance candidate experience, reduce bias, improve hiring compliance, and standardise recruitment across an organisation.

Applicant Tracking System vendors also provide ample scale, giving hiring teams the flexibility to increase or reduce sourcing and applicant management as required.

Want to know more about Applicant Tracking Systems? Be sure to check out our blog which has a great post, that you may find useful – What is an Applicant Tracking System?

Applicant Tracking Systems Market Overview

The Applicant Tracking Systems market is a constantly evolving and growing niche arm of the tech sector, which has come of age in the digital era. 

That said, the tracking of applicants, however manual or analogue the system, is a concept decades old. It’s only been with the advent of the internet, email, data analysis, job board and resume parsing – and the rise of the Cloud – that we’ve seen Applicant Tracking Systems emerge from the shadows of filing cabinets and complex Excel spreadsheets to drive candidate attraction and client management.

The Applicant Tracking System platforms we know and love today, have their direct origins in the 90s: as computing power increased, data storage became more efficient, and HR compliance became more stringent, it became necessary for HR teams to digitise the process of applicant management.

As a result, the following 2 decades saw rapid evolution in the ATS market, ushering in now-ubiquitous hiring tools such as:

  • Branded career sites: Some ATS providers help produce and host integrated career “sites” that are customised to reflect the company’s brand and culture, and can be easily integrated with jobs boards and candidate management suites.
  • Candidate communications and security: These are tools – such as text messages and integrated emails – that allow recruiters to communicate with candidates easily and on the fly. ATS’ are also protected spaces to keep sensitive documentation, and every exchange is registered and recorded.
  • Video interview integration: the connecting of ATS suites with video interview platforms for seamless candidate interview processes.
  • Recruiting analytics and reporting: These are hiring tools that help businesses track their hiring metrics and performance to improve hiring efficiency and increase workable feedback for future strategy.
  • Compliance and record-keeping tools: ATS platforms now provide businesses with hiring regulation compliance tools via accurate record-keeping.
  • Cloud-based data storage: The storage of applicant information in the cloud for easy accessibility by recruiters.
  • Employee referral program management: Helpful tools for businesses to manage their employee referral programs.

Nowadays, you’ll find an ATS being used at virtually every large enterprise, and increasingly smaller and startup companies are utilising plug-and-play, scalable ATS platforms that have been built specifically to meet their needs:

  • 99% of Fortune 500 Companies use Applicant Tracking Systems.
  • 66% of large companies and 35% of small organisations rely on recruitment software.
  • There are over 450 ATS providers in the global market, with more being launched every year.

The talent acquisition industry is constantly evolving, and businesses need to stay ahead of the curve in order to attract and hire the best talent.

Here are five essential recruitment tech tools that businesses should consider using in 2025;

  1. Programmatic advertising: Programmatic advertising allows businesses to target their ads more precisely and efficiently, which can lead to better results.
  2. AI-powered chatbots: AI-powered chatbots can automate many of the tasks involved in the recruitment process, freeing up recruiters’ time so they can focus on more important tasks.
  3. Virtual reality (VR): VR can be used to give candidates a more immersive experience, which can be helpful for jobs that require specific skills or knowledge.
  4. Machine learning (ML): ML can be used to analyse data and identify patterns that can help businesses make better hiring decisions.
  5. Blockchain: Blockchain is a secure and transparent way to store data, which makes it a promising technology for the recruitment industry.

You can read more about recruiting trends and ATS evolution in our blog: The top 5 recruitment tech tools for 2023

The Best Applicant Tracking Systems

Every business, just like yours or the one you work for, is unique. Despite the common misconception, every ATS on the market is unique too. There are literally hundreds of Applicant Tracking Systems in the market, providing an ever-increasing range of features and functionality. They come in all shapes and sizes, each operated by a unique team of people, with varying levels of experience and sector expertise, and the pricing of these solutions can vary wildly too! These are all essential things to consider when looking for the Best Applicant Tracking System for your business.

If you are in the market for a top Applicant Tracking System, then very best thing you can do is compare the ATS market against your business needs. We offer a powerful service called Rectec Compare which will to support you with this, for FREE, with absolutely no catches. It’s the ground-breaking service that everyone is talking about! In just 15 minutes you’ll have a solid ATS shortlist based on your exact requirements. You won’t believe it until you try it! You can request access here in less than a few minutes.

You can also check out the Rectec Marketplace or browse some of the best Applicant Tracking Systems, below.

Please note; as a uniquely impartial service provider, the below vendors are listed in alphabetical order;

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

Applied

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

Ashby

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

Cornerstone Recruiting

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

eArcu

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

EVA.ai

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

Elevatus

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

Engage ATS

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

Fountain

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

Greenhouse

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

HARBOUR

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

hireful

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

Hireserve

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

ICIMS

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

Jobtrain

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

Jobylon

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

LogicMelon

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

Networx

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

Occupop

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

Onlyfy

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

Pinpoint

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

Reach ATS

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

Recrout

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

Recruitive

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

Rezoomo

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

Screenloop

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

skeeled

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

Smart Recruit Online

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

SmartRecruiters

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

TalentLink

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

Talos360

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

Teamdash

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

Teamtailor

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

Tribepad

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

Workable

Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 2026 Rectec

X0PA AI

What are the Common Features of an Applicant Tracking System?

Ever wondered what the key features of a top ATS are? 

We’ve highlighted 7 must-have elements of an effective Applicant Tracking System that we believe can elevate any organisation’s hiring needs:

Automated job posting: This feature allows businesses to post jobs to a variety of job boards simultaneously. The efficiencies are legion – less time administering the posting of jobs to multiple job boards manually, more time focused on candidate management, and saved costs as a result.

Email marketing: A feature that lets businesses send out branded emails to potential candidates. Again, the efficiencies and personalisation of email marketing (both custom and automated) can garner increased applications, improve warm and cold candidate lead management, increase candidate interactions, and improve candidate expectations. 

Applicant tracking: This feature allows businesses to literally track the progress of applications as they move through your recruiting funnel, creating a more “eyes-on” approach to individual and group application dynamics and application stage management.

Interview scheduling: Most ATS providers allow businesses to schedule interviews with candidates. This can help businesses reduce the back-and-forth of finding a time that works for everyone involved, reduce the frustrations with administering interview prep, and create a more transparent application process. 

Candidate scoring: A feature that allows businesses to score potential candidates based on their qualifications and experience – knowledge is power, after all, and an ATS can help pre-vet candidates for roles through scoring tools.

Reporting & Analytics: The ability to track the performance of a recruiting process has slowly become an incredibly effective business improvement and change management tool. Accessing data via analytics can help businesses identify areas where they can improve their recruiting process, such as time-to-hire or cost-per-hire metrics.

Integration with other systems: Many ATSs can be integrated with other systems, such as a CRM or HRIS. This can help businesses streamline recruiting processes and improve collaboration between different departments, teams, management strata and even client stakeholders.

An ATS is a valuable tool for improving recruitment processes. However, with over 450 applicant tracking systems available it’s vital that HR leaders source the right ATS for their organisation, that fits their organisational needs and matches the requirements of their business and its users. 

What are the Benefits of an Applicant Tracking System?

Many organisations use Applicant Tracking Systems to help their team manage all aspects of the recruitment cycle. From screening candidates to scheduling interviews, an ATS allows business leaders the freedom to optimise their time and focus only on the candidates that best match specific job requirements.

An ATS can benefit your organisation in many ways, here’s a few of our helpful guides you might want to check out;

In our blog How the right Applicant Tracking System (ATS) can benefit your organisation, we highlight 5 key benefits of using an Applicant Tracking System:

Improve the quality of hire: Having the ability to better screen and qualify candidates will ultimately have a positive impact on your quality of hire. If your job advert elicits hundreds of applicants, your ATS plays a huge role in narrowing down your talent pool by sifting through under-qualified candidates and pre-vetting the best in class.

Reduce your hiring costs: Through a combination of recruitment process improvements and building a talent pool, an ATS will support your direct sourcing strategies, reducing the reliance on external agencies. Sophisticated reporting capabilities can also be leveraged to provide vital data and metrics, minimise costs and direct your spending towards sources providing the best value for money.

Speed up your hiring process: An ATS is designed to automate, simplify and speed up the entire recruitment process. It will help an organisation’s hiring team reduce the time-to-hire and result in a hiring strategy that is more productive and time-efficient. Manual tasks that would require hours of work like sifting through hundreds of CVs, checking references, and communicating with and engaging candidates can all be done automatically.

Create an engaging experience for your candidates: If your candidate does not feel seen or valued through the hiring process, their negative feedback could be to a hiring team’s detriment. Delivering a more modern and engaging recruitment process will not only add value to an organisation, it will create a heightened candidate experience too.

Enhance your employer brand: A better candidate experience will also reflect well on your employer brand, resulting in fewer candidates dropping out during a hiring process, and more competition for active roles. Using an ATS to streamline talent acquisition will enhance the candidate journey, whilst enabling HR leaders to promote their organisation.

Why We Need Applicant Tracking Systems

When it comes to hiring efficiencies and end results, it’s clear that a well-placed ATS can revolutionise hiring processes and increase both the sourcing and the retention of great talent in an organisation.

The return on investment (ROI) of utilising an ATS is one of, if not the, most foundational reasons for integrating an ATS into your recruitment tech stack. In our view, there are few technical purchases you could make that make such a marked improvement to hiring outcomes.

In our guest blog by Phil Strazzulla, the founder of SelectSoftware Reviews, 3 simple, but highly effective ways to calculate ATS ROI, he highlights 3 key reasons why every HR team needs an ATS:

Reducing the cost of a bad hire: A ‘bad hire’ is typically an employee who negatively impacts the company’s performance, morale, and culture. It can also mean someone who leaves the organisation within 12 months of being hired.

The average cost of a bad hire is around 30% of the employee’s first-year salary. A good ATS can help you avoid this by:

  • Finding more qualified candidates through specialised sourcing tools.
  • Make better hiring decisions through standard evaluations, cognitive assessments, and video interviews.
  • Involving not just your HR/TA teams but also the hiring managers and existing employees.

Time cost savings: Using an ATS instead of complicated Excel spreadsheets and email chains can save you a lot of time, energy, and most importantly, money.

A good ATS has intelligent automation in place to streamline candidate communication, interview scheduling, and other administrative tasks while reducing human error. It also ensures that all important information is easily accessible and stored in one place.

Time to fill improvements: Simply put, time to fill is the time taken for the recruitment team to hire for an open position. Whilst different organisations measure this period using different data points, the premise remains the same.

Using an ATS reduces the time to fill by:

  • Providing access to more candidates through referral programs and past applicants within the database.
  • Creating a better candidate experience through faster interview cycles.
  • Streamlining workflows, in turn boosting recruiter productivity.

Challenges With Applicant Tracking Systems

As with any technical implementation, without due diligence and strategy, not to mention good training in platform usage, HR leaders could find an ATS is more of a hindrance than a benefit.

These challenges could arise due to:

No project-based approach: Implementing an ATS is a complex project that requires careful planning and execution – and alignment of strategy, cost, training and methodology are essential to make any ATS integration really work. Having a project less approach to ATS integration will only result in scattergun success and misalignment across hiring teams.

Lack of streamlining: Although an ATS can help to streamline any given recruitment process, it does not perform miracles. Businesses still need to have a well-defined recruitment process in place to get the most out of their ATS – HR leaders need to critically understand where streamlining and efficiencies will be most keenly felt.

Undertraining: Employees who are not properly trained on how to use an ATS are more likely to make mistakes. Naturally, this leads to dysfunction and frustration, which can hamstring any hiring team’s efforts.

Poorly defined objectives: Before implementing an ATS, businesses need to clearly define their objectives – what do they hope to achieve by implementing an ATS? Where will the maximum impact be felt? What processes are prioritised in the hiring matrix and are they really being made better? Above all else, will a new platform improve candidate interactions, management and placement of talent into work?

Uncoordinated integration with other systems: Efficient and effective integration with other tools is absolutely vital to maintain hiring efficacy. However, challenges can arise – such as duplicate data, errors in the recruitment process, missed candidate comms, poorly administered job advertisements and so on – if no one takes responsibility for multi-platform integration.

Who Should Use An Applicant Tracking System?

The primary users of an ATS are:

Talent Acquisition teams: The day-to-day users of any given ATS are TA teams. They are typically members of the HR function, who’s primary responsibilities are focussed on attracting and onboarding the best talent into the organisation.. Although they work closely with Hiring Managers, they will often be the first port of call for candidate communications and job marketing, job advert posting and applicant management such as sourcing, screening and vetting, as well as interview preparation and planning. They will also utilise ATS platforms for other tasks such as reference gathering, background check management and outsourcing.

Hiring Managers: the lead partner in any organisation’s hiring management and talent acquisition strategy, the Hiring Manager will ultimately take responsibility for hiring outcomes and ATS management during the hiring process.

Employees: employees may be provided with access to their employer’s ATS platform to help encourage employee referrals (becoming a sort of one-stop-shop for employee referral incentives and information) They may also be asked to input feedback during the selection process.

How To Compare Applicant Tracking Systems

This is where Rectec rise above the competition, providing a genuine value-added service for every company, HR team or recruiter seeking an ATS to elevate their hiring game.

Through our unique platform, Rectec Compare, we’re on a mission to help recruitment and talent leaders around the world, to procure and implement the right recruitment tech for their business.

Rectec Compare is designed for employers and staffing agencies who are looking to identify the best Applicant Tracking System or Recruitment CRM for their needs.

Registration takes a matter of minutes, and once you’re into our system, our sophisticated matching algorithm will review all of your unique ATS requirements, cross reference them against over 200,000 bits of verified ATS vendor information, and compare every vendor in our platform.

We automatically shortlist the best ATS vendors in the market, based on your specific needs.

It’s completely impartial, completely free to use and is simply the best and most effective way of comparing Applicant Tracking Systems.

Here is why Rectec Compare is the best way to compare Applicant Tracking Systems:

Identification: The major barrier for companies seeking agile, relevant, affordable, and usable Applicant Tracking Systems was identifying the right one. We launched Rectec Compare – a free tool that enables anyone to identify the best Talent Acquisition technology for their business within less than 15 minutes…as opposed to the 6 – 8 weeks it takes on average for businesses to manually source, compare and organise demos with the same providers.

Connection and choice: Connection and Choice means more than simply putting the right solution in front of the right person. It means creating a relationship beyond the service – and that, we found, was made easier when we improved our service by connecting our users with the wider recruitment tech community through more accurate choice and shortlisting of only the most relevant ATS providers on the market.

Time and Cost Saving: How long does it take the average HR leader to search, refine, and manually shortlist any tech provider for any HR service? We found on average it takes over a month to go through that process. That money, and time, can be better used. Rectec Compare distils hundreds of man hours of searching and shortlisting into a niche search tool that takes less than 15 minutes to use.

Risk Mitigation: The consequences of implementing the wrong ATS solution are insurmountable. Using Rectec Compare significantly reduces the risk of selecting the wrong solution for your business, often something that only becomes apparent when it’s too late.

How to Buy an Applicant Tracking System

There is a simple strategy any HR leader needs to put in place ahead of buying any Applicant Tracking System that echoes our Comparison list above:

Identification of needs: This is something that we urge even first users of Rectec Compare to really dive into before using our unique comparison tool – if you don’t know what you need, and you don’t know the exact reasons why you feel an ATS will improve your hiring metrics and outcomes and why, then you’re starting off on the wrong foot. Identify where you need to make key improvements and every stage along the ATS buying path will become easier and more focused.

Supplier Shortlisting: Rectec Compare shortlists better than anyone, negating the need to trawl the market for information, and obtain recommendations from peers who don’t possess the required understanding of your business needs. If you’re going to get external recommendations in putting your shortlist together, make sure that you’re absolutely clear on what it is you are looking for, and the specific problems you’re trying to solve.

We know that some ATS providers are well known within specific sectors for their unique and specialist software offerings, so compiling a shortlist of who threads that niche needle is also vitally important.

Vendor evaluation: Booking a demo is one thing, but making sure recipients of each demo are actual platform users, is vital in ensuring buy-in and take-up from the business. Bringing a cross-section of the hiring team to a demo is a great way of making sure every stakeholder in the platform feels considered and involved, which is something that should be carried through training and implementation too.

Ensuring that vendor evaluations are consistent is also important, and that your requirements remain front and centre during each demo. It’s very easy to lose track of time and get blind-sided by exciting new features, that important requirements can get overlooked and a bad decision made.

Rectec Compare provides a free, yet comprehensive vendor evaluation tool, allowing vendors to be evaluated based on your specific business needs at the click of a button! If you’re not a Rectec Compare user, you should at the very least create a detailed check-list of your needs and take this into every demo with you.

Although you could end up buying the first platform you see, make time to ensure that you receive a good number of demonstrations, at least 4-5 is good practice. This will support your decision making and provide you with confidence that you’ve made the right choice. Confidence going into a technology implementation project is paramount!

What do Applicant Tracking Systems Cost?

Every ATS provider will offer their own unique platform at their own unique price point. However, there are universal structures or pricing tiers that most ATS providers offer customers:

Freemium: a free-to-use, but limited form of ATS use which provides limited use or limited access. This encourages payment for increased access by allowing the use of a few, key functions, and by highlighting the benefits of the platform through the marketing of further functionality and usefulness.

Pay per User: this sort of unique licensing deal means companies pay for a set number of users of a platform, or licences to use the platform.

Pay per Feature: this echoes the Pay Per User offer but with features – which can work for ATS companies will a wide range of plug-and-play additional features such as video interviewing tools or DEI tools.

Flat fee: just as it says – a flat fee for your organisation to use the ATS. This will typically be on a contractual arrangement, with subscription period which is typically 12-36 months. Normally, the longer the initial subscription the better the deal you’re likely to get by locking in those fees for the duration and avoiding price hikes. For larger enterprises, or public sector organisations, it’s not unusual for these initial subscriptions to be 5+ years in duration.

Most ATS vendors provide flexible pricing structures to attract and retain companies, knowing their model is agile enough to work for any sized company. However, shortlisting and truly understanding ATS Return on Investment (ROI) can be complex and unyielding if you’re not experienced in purchasing technical recruitment solutions.

Reducing those costs, simplifying purchasing, and getting ATS bang for your buck is something we here at Rectec specialise in, via our Consulting Services.

By utilising our Consulting Service, we can help any HR leader with a range of personalised, bespoke tasks, from Requirements Analysis, to Vendor Selection, Project Management, Implementation Consulting, User Training and more, reducing spend, maximising ROI, and simplifying your ATS procurement process.

Which Applicant Tracking System Should I Choose?

This is where a deep dive into your operational make-up, hiring needs, volume, budget, growth plans and integration is key to knowing which ATS to buy.

Check out our blog: How to find the perfect Applicant Tracking System for your business

When choosing an ATS, you should consider the following factors:

Your business size: To say smaller companies don’t need as many ATS features as an enterprise-sized company is a misnomer – often the needs are parallel, it’s simply a case of scale and user base size, and of course hiring volume. Business size will affect licensing particulars and cost, above all else. And it must be said that smaller companies may, but not always, need simpler, more refined systems for a smaller user base, with less delineation around team-specific requirements, or customisation of features.

Company needs: What features are important to an HR team in an ATS? Is ease of integration a high priority, or is it applicant marketing and employer brand advancements? Highlight your needs first, and the right ATS will come to you.

Budget: ATSs can range in price from freemium to a few hundred dollars per user, to several thousand dollars per year for a full suite of ATS services. Understanding benchmark costs is vital to choosing the right ATS, and being flexible where possible can help take advantage of the variety of ATS services on offer.

Reporting and analytics: An ATS should provide a suite of reports and analytics that will help track recruiting performance. So try to understand where maximum impact will be felt and where data can elevate performance before a decision is made.

Integration with other systems: An ATS should be able to integrate with other HR systems, such as HRIS, ERP, and payroll, and any complementary technologies which may be in use, like video interviewing and onboarding tools. This will help streamline operations, avoid data entry errors, and improve hiring performance.

User-experience: An ATS should be easy to use for both recruiters and candidates. This is where having a strong cross-section of your team involved during the evaluation phase, will help to perfect your decision, as collectively they have the strongest understanding of the business needs, more than anyone else.

Where possible, we always encourage users to question ATS vendors at the demo stage about key particulars of their hiring solution, and how their solution can improve or better measure important hiring metrics such as the candidate experience, candidate profiling, referrals and pipeline management, social media integration, customer service, and user training.

How to Implement an Applicant Tracking System

The implementation of a new ATS can be incredibly complex and involve a variety of stakeholders, integrations and training periods, depending on the size and complexity of the organisation and the particulars of the ATS vendor.

But like at every stage of buying any recruitment tech solution, understanding the buying process and learning where implementation will have the most effect goes a long way to correctly assigning resources for a thorough and snag-free implementation. The implementation process typically includes the following steps:

Identification of project resources: Someone needs to take ultimate responsibility for the project. Working with internal and external stakeholders to manage and control the project plan, and co-ordinate each phase of the project through to a successful go-live. Project phases may include for example; requirements analysis, solution design, system configuration, testing, training and deployment.

Each phase will occupy a duration on the project plan, and contain multiple tasks, checkpoints and milestones. The Project Lead should act as the glue between the ATS vendor, TA team, hiring managers, and other project stakeholders, keeping everything connected and moving.

Evaluation of the current-state hiring processes and implementation strategy: This includes identifying the pain points in the current system, determining what a successful future state would look like, and understanding where implementation will make the most impact, especially around workflows that the buyer wants to design differently.

Requirements Analysis: This is perhaps one of the single, most-important phases of any successful ATS Implementation project. Everything hinges on the requirements being correctly understood, as they inform the project team of what the project must deliver to the business.

This is a good opportunity to take advantage of the requirements analysis which you may have conducted pre-contract, expanding on this to ensure that the current-state process is mapped out accurately, that the capabilities of the selected vendor are considered, and that a future-state process map is created. This is what everyone will be working towards delivering.

System configuration: This involves carefully configuring the ATS solution to meet the business requirements, through a range of configuration options. Not all of these options may be accessible to the project team, and may need to be configured by the solution provider. The ATS may also need integrating with other systems, which, depending on the solutions being integrated, may require a more technical review of the configuration and available API’s.

Testing and training: This involves everyone, most critically the implementation team and project lead, testing the system to ensure it works as designed, and problem-solving throughout implementation to help onboard stakeholders onto their new ATS.

Migration: Migrating legacy data over to the new system, and involving key stakeholders in the transference of processes, will guarantee continued good service to candidates and clients with minimal interference.

Deployment: This is the exciting part, often referred to as your Go-Live! Your Applicant Tracking System becomes operational across your business, typically following a strategy of single deployment, or phased rolled-out. This will often depend on a number of factors, such as the size of your business and the complexity of the solution.