What are the best ATS features to enhance the candidate experience?

1. Simple application procedure 2. A responsive interface 3. Clear status updates 4. Self-service for candidates 5. Reminders and scheduling for interviews 6. Personalised career portal 7. Effective collaboration and communication 8. Video interview functionality

Studies show that up to 70% of job applications were made via mobile devices since 2021. If your ATS isn’t mobile-friendly, candidates could become frustrated with its lack of usability or perceive your business as not being “with it”.

The majority of ATS are changing this year, albeit it doesn't truly improve the applicant experience. Candidate satisfaction will always depend on how the recruiter manages the entire hiring process while keeping them informed. Well, there are times when a recruiter finds it difficult to update the candidate due to workload or financial constraints, so having an ATS where both the candidate and recruiter can virtually observe the phases would be very helpful.

Candidates will have an enhanced experience when they can apply by phone after seeing a suitable job, while also being able to track where their application is in the hiring process.

The best Applicant Tracking System (ATS) features to enhance the candidate experience include user-friendly interfaces for easy application submission, mobile optimization for accessibility, and personalized communication to keep candidates informed about their application status. Additionally, features like interview scheduling tools, skill assessments, and feedback mechanisms can streamline the process, providing candidates with a positive and efficient experience that reflects well on your organization's professionalism and efficiency.

Candidate experience is king, if the ATS enables for autofilling based on parsing (wether it’s LinkedIn or the CV), it ensures a higher application rate as candidates are not always willing to go through a slow and ineffective process as all of the information is within their personal resume options. That being said, I really hate Workday.

Resume parsing can sometimes create a poor experience for experienced candidates, as ATS may fail to fully parse all of their experience, requiring manual editing afterwards. This diminishes the candidate experience.

Parse the resume or don’t ask for the information that was already included in the resume. That’s my rule of thumb for organizations implementing or optimizing their candidate experience in an ATS. The quickest way to lose a candidate during the apply is to create friction points like asking for the same information multiple times. Respect your candidates’ times and energy by creating a seamless apply experience.

An effective resume parsing system. I have had countless conversation with candidates who exit a application process due to a glitchy system. If your system is making candidates parse a resume but yet still input manually you are losing talent. Speed is king. The faster your online application process is the better off your team will be.

Implement resume parsing technology, which automatically extracts appropriate information from resumes and populates application forms. As a result of this feature, candidates can save time and effort by eliminating the need to manually enter data.

ATS can be effective when algorithms are unbiased. However, it's important to remember that these algorithms are created by human beings, who may introduce bias, making complete reliance on AI problematic. Furthermore, ATS systems may not always recognize the full potential in candidates. They have limitations in assessing human potential accurately.

Yes and no. It really depends on the talent pool you recruit in. AI is good for matching based on keywords and ranking based on recommendations; but AI can't really identify the "maybe" or "wildcard" candidates - and so many of my placements have come from those ones... the candidates that don't fully match all the criteria but have been the best overall fit!

AI powered recommendations to the candidate - job titles differ in each company and each industry. - the r?le candidate is trying to apply may or may not have best chances to fit - once the candidate has applied, an AI powered recommendations to tell them more about other relevant jobs that they haven’t seen or applied from the same company.

With NYC’s Local Law 144 (and likely many more AI laws coming soon), it’s incredibly important to inform candidates that artificial intelligence is being used in the screening process and giving candidates the option to opt out of it if they wish. If your ATS vendor is touting their AI tools but not explaining how they are able to ensure you stay complaint when using them, jot down the yellow flag and be sure to ask the necessary follow up questions.

If candidates lack resume-writing experience, AI-powered screening may overlook promising applicants. On the other hand, it can accelerate hiring while decreasing candidate drop-off rates and improving the application experience.

"Candidate Enablement" is the future of hiring. There are some fascinating products in pre-Seed/S stage right now for this exactly. Once the framework for the commercialized product - mobile native [VR?] is established, we'll see more holistic data sets on companies in the hands of candidates. What does that mean for recruiting? MoFu drop off [lower yield ratios]. The future of work is now and there are products in development lifecycle that look much different from the existing candidate experience from MM and enterprise HR vendors.

Providing a user-friendly and efficient platform for job seekers to engage with employers. It simplifies the application process, improves communication, and allows candidates to have more control and visibility throughout the hiring process.

This is absolutely right, a proper ATS system should have this feature. It will allow candidates to fully track their application status and improve the overall application experience.

Not always will this be an option. A lot of times and, in the current job market, candidates are reviewing the stages of their application as they normally apply to several companies at a time. External portals (Such as Teal) really do a better job on tracking applications.

Candidate portals can actually be frustrating to job applicants because they require that the job applicant create an account in order to apply to a job. That is a lot of log in information to keep track of if someone is in an active job search. Candidate portals do allow candidates to log in and check the status of their application, but that also puts the obligation on the candidate when it should be on the Recruiting team.

Pre-recorded interviews are impersonal and have shown to present bias in the hiring process. For high-volume, non-desk worker roles like customer support and retail video interviewing solves for reducing cost of hiring high churn roles. Use case would be a large publicly traded retailer optimizing basis points in a P&L, or reducing payroll expenses in field recruiting budgets. At a certain point in the hierarchy of needs, candidates aren't optimizing for time and flexibility to find a job. Mid and advanced career knowledge workers don't interview this way, nor should hiring teams attempt to attract talent with these technologies.

Pre-recorded interview questions that is relevant to the role, yes. This can be very intimidating to a lot of candidates but can be extremely useful as they can do it when they are available and less stressed as well as saving travelling money / time. Social media interviewing is becoming a norm as well (MS Teams, LinkedIn Video, Zoom, Google Video, etc). There is flexibility in conducting interviews via these various platforms.

Most of the ATS this year are evolving although it doesn't really affect in enhancing candidate's experience. Candidate experience will always be on how the recruiter handle the end-to-end recruiting process by keeping the candidate updated. Well, there's a time that workloads and ends meet happens and if a recruiter is having a hard time to update the candidate so having an ATS where both the candidate and recruiter can see the stages virtually would be a big help.

Some more features of ATS that can make a big difference and enhance candidate experience - 1. Real-time communication: If ATS allows direct communication with candidates via email or message on contact number.This reduces time lag. 2. Feature to send bulk messages or personalized message to update candidates. 3. Is able to push your jobs on Social media and job boards with smooth connection 4. Allows to tag candidates and help in creating future pipelines or candidate database. 5. Clearly bifurcates all applicants' stages - Applied,shortlisted,Interviewed, Rejected,Offered and Hired 6. Allows automated interview scheduling based on calendars.

Communicating with candidates in the way they expect is critical. Candidates are seeking real time communication like never before. Adding text messaging to your ATS will enable your Recruiters to reach applicants faster and in the way that applicants want to be contacted. Opt in and out is required of course.

The Applicant Tracking System (ATS) needs to be compatible with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. This compatibility should facilitate seamless integration between the two, enabling us to monitor both our reactive and proactive talent pipelines effectively. This is crucial for future planning and maintaining continuous engagement with potential candidates.

A humanistic Candidate experience is a crucial aspect of the hiring process, and the right ATS features can make a significant difference. Feedback and transparency is my next go to feature because from a candidate perspective receiving personalized communication and feedback is something which makes them feel that they are not deep down in a rabbit hole and there is a voice or some communication channel or soundboard where they can reach out to.