Who Broke Your ATS? And Who Will Fix It?

When I left school I did an apprenticeship as a heavy goods vehicle mechanic; anything from tractors to gritters and everything in between. And the driver's attitude was very much:

"We bend it, you mend it".

It was said in jest although looking at some of the vehicles that came in, some really did bend almost beyond repair. But that's how it was. We were an "in-house" team of mechanics who repaired the commercial vehicle fleet for Leicestershire County Council.

Although my mechanic days are a long way behind me, I still like to fix things albeit technological things rather than (too many) physical things.

Fixing your ATS

The ATS Guidebook is designed to be like a Haynes Car Repair Manual, something every aspiring car expert will own for their own vehicle, helping them learn how to do their own car repairs. But I want to go further than "just" an ATS manual because I know that very often we need a bit more help. So my plan is to create an ATS DIY course so that others can learn how they can fix their own ATS rather than leave it to become undrivable and eventually breakdown.

But as with any idea, it needs to be market tested because even though the lack of ongoing ATS maintenance is an real problem, it doesn't mean anyone is going to invest in training someone internally to be able to stop it from breaking. So it was great timing (for me) that Chris Riche-Webber posed this question on LinkedIn and highlighted the issue beyond just my own head.

For those that heard me speak at the Adway West Coast Conference, I explained the concept of fingerspitzengefühl and how with many years of experience we develop the ability to "just know things" within our area of expertise. Whilst I'm not saying my idea to train people to do their own ATS DIY will make me rich, I do know the need is there. I just don't know if the buyer will buy (training) or just leave their ATS to breakdown.

The itch I need to scratch

The problem I am looking to solve is to fix the broken ATS's of the world.

And there are many of them!

I already have the outline of a programme so now I need to find people who care enough about fixing their ATS, don't feel they have the skills to fix it (in their team) but want to learn how to.

1. The programme will give the "students" new skills; should enhance their career development and maybe their salary.
2. The employer is developing internal skills; lots of good things to say about this.
3. The employer gets a better performing tech stack; again lots of good outcomes from this.
4. The ATS vendor wins on support, NPS, relationship and more; can't see any downsides here.
5. Ultimately a fully optimised ATS is only going to improve hiring success; happy CHRO/CEO/Hiring Managers!

Can you help?

Whilst I believe the programme benefits everyone, the market makes the final decision on what it wants. Just ask Liz Truss!!!

To get started I would like 12 Heads of TA to nominate someone in their team as Chief ATS Fixer.

• There is NO COST for the first cohort.
• The programme will be 4 modules of 2.5 hours every per week over a 4-week period.
• It doesn't matter which ATS you have or what size company but you MUST have an existing ATS.
• Your ATS does not have to be "broken" as this programme is as much about maintenance as fixing.
• The modules will cover gap analysis and goal alignment, process mapping and change, candidate tracking, integrations/API's and basic business case building.

So if you are a Head of TA and are committed to developing the skills of your team, please get in touch.

Plus please share this post via any channel you can to help me find the first 12.

#fixyourATS #loveyourATS #hiremorepeople