{"id":20247,"date":"2024-11-21T04:55:30","date_gmt":"2024-11-21T04:55:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/recruiterflow.com\/blog\/?p=20247"},"modified":"2025-10-09T09:26:43","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T09:26:43","slug":"what-is-an-applicant-tracking-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/recruiterflow.com\/blog\/what-is-an-applicant-tracking-system\/","title":{"rendered":"What is an Applicant Tracking System? A 101 Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Research shows that 55% of recruiters<\/a> spend an average of eight hours per week\u2014equivalent to a full workday\u2014on administrative tasks like screening resumes, scheduling interviews, and managing candidate communications.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Compared to traditional, manual hiring methods, implementing an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) can dramatically streamline these tasks, reducing time spent on administration and improving efficiency.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Companies that adopt hiring software report a 27% faster time-to-fill for open positions and a 20% reduction in cost-per-hire, leading to a more effective and less costly recruitment process overall.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In this article, we\u2019ll investigate the Applicant Tracking System, what it does, and its role in organizing hiring workflows and implementing best practices.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

<\/span>What Is an Applicant Tracking System?<\/span><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The Applicant Tracking System primarily serves as a database for monitoring the entire recruitment process, including job applicants, the status of each application, candidate information, and so on. The ATS can also organize applicants based on metrics like experience and skill set and even set specific automated filters that act as the first layer of verification for incoming resumes.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Applicant tracking software<\/a> frees up recruiters from doing unproductive tasks\u2014manually checking every application, creating engaging job orders, posting jobs on multiple boards, tracking candidate source and status, manually sending emails and follow-ups, creating reports for internal and client governance\u2014and lets them focus solely on the most qualified applicants.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It also helps staffing agencies implement a multitude of industry best practices when executing recruitment operations. The best applicant tracking systems<\/a> (such as Recruiterflow) take on multiple roles to keep your hiring pipelines lean, accessible (to the right people), and effective.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Read More: 16 Types of Recruiting Tools to Kick off Your Hiring in 2024<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

<\/span>How does an Applicant Tracking System work?<\/span><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

While the functioning of individual ATSs will vary, they do the following at a base level:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Creating the job order<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Once recruiters receive the assignment and details from a client, they create a job order with the ATS. It includes the position being hired for, along with all details around expected qualifications, experience, salary offerings, and so on. It should also detail the responsibilities and goals set around the position.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Recruiterflow\u2019s in-built AI engine <\/em>RFGPT<\/em><\/strong> can generate detailed job descriptions from a few rudimentary details. Create an extensive framework within seconds, and make manual edits if required. What usually takes a couple of hours to do manually now becomes a matter of minutes.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Posting the job<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Recruiters use the ATS to post the job on multiple job boards and platforms such as LinkedIn, Indeed, AngeList, and so on. Posts are also made on social media, either by integrating them with the ATS or simply posting from the company account.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Recruiterflow users can post jobs to 150+ integrated job boards simultaneously with a single click.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Building a candidate database<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Candidates send in applications via the company website, job boards, or email resumes. The ATS maintains a record of all interactions with candidates, creating a centralized database that lies at the core of any recruiting agency’s success.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Collating resumes in different formats<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Candidates will send in resumes in various formats and from diverse sources. The ATS will accept, collate, and categorize all these resumes in a single storage location. It can recognize the right sources from which applications are coming (email, job board, LinkedIn, etc.), and store this data along with the original resume documents.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Resume parsing<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

With all these applications, you can’t forward candidate profiles as they come in. People structure their resumes<\/a> in different ways, resulting in inconsistencies that slow down the pipeline. Parsing automatically extracts and evaluates data from resumes and restructures it into pre-set, searchable formats, capturing diverse experiences such as those from one-on-one tutoring<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Parsing automatically extracts and evaluates data from resumes and restructures it into pre-set, searchable formats<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Data points like:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n