A Comparative Analysis Between the Most Popular ATS on the Market

In the ever-evolving landscape of human resources and recruitment, the adoption of technology has become paramount. One such technological marvel that has revolutionized the hiring process is the Applicant Tracking System, or ATS. These systems have swiftly become a cornerstone for HR departments, particularly in larger organizations. Expected to hit a market share of US$ 3.6 billion by 2026, Applicant Tracking Systems not only streamline the recruitment process but also offer powerful insights into talent acquisition. In this article, we embark on a journey to compare and contrast the top ATS options currently dominating the market.

Understanding Applicant Tracking Systems

Before we delve into comparing the best applicant tracking systems, here’s an overview of what an applicant tracking system is and let’s briefly understand its features and benefits.

By definition, an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is a software application designed to streamline and enhance the recruitment process for organizations of all sizes. It acts as a digital hub for managing job applications, tracking candidates, and collaborating with hiring teams. While its primary purpose is to simplify hiring, modern ATS solutions offer a plethora of features and benefits.

Key Features of ATS

Candidate sourcing

An ATS is able to do more than just post opportunities on job boards. It can help an organization create a candidate database that can refine, and sort candidates based on their credentials. That way if an organization ever needs to hire for a vacant position, it does not need to start from scratch.

Scheduling and managing interviews

A Glassdoor United States Site Survey in 2017 revealed that 96% of job seekers say that it’s important to work for a company that embraces transparency. An ATS can quickly and easily help recruiters schedule interviews by integrating with the hiring manager’s calendar. This also makes for a good candidate experience as an ATS can help keep the process smooth and more importantly, transparent.

Managing candidate relationships

Just like customers, candidates are also external stakeholders for an organization. It is only natural to ensure good candidate relationship management. CRM tools within an applicant tracking system will help recruiters maintain higher engagement levels among candidates making them an employer of choice.

Analytics and insights

When an organization recruits at a mass scale, it is important to assess candidates across several parameters like soft skills, work skills, teamwork, aptitude etc. An ATS can help create individual dashboards and also analyze each profile to zero in on or filter out candidates based on patterns, anomalies and other meaningful insights.

Recruitment marketing

A 2019 Open University survey stated that 79% of job seekers say they are likely to use social media in their job search and this increases to 86% for younger job seekers. This is where an ATS can really help optimize the recruitment process. A good ATS can actually help promote open opportunities not just on job boards like LinkedIn, but at every single touchpoint with potential recruits.

Benefits of ATS

Automate mundane manual processes

It is said that a recruiter spends a mere 6 seconds on a single resume. That is not enough time for a human to grasp the contents of a resume, so there are bound to be slip ups and good candidates might be filtered out in this process. A machine, on the other hand, does not need more than six seconds per resume to find candidates with relevant qualifications and work experience.

Don’t just track candidates, track the job opportunity

Most recruiters believe that an ATS will help keep track of all the candidates that have applied to an open position. But an ATS can do so much more. An applicant tracking system will give insights regarding the job posting. It will chart the number of applicants, stages of the application process, reasons for dropout etc. This will help recruiters work on actionable insights and better position the opportunity to attract more candidates.

Easier selection from existing database

Because an ATS can keep track of every single application that moves through its systems, it has an existing database of candidates who are genuinely interested in working for an organization. Recruiting from an existing database will save resources on promotions and is likely to reduce the chances of dropouts.

Hear back from candidates

Feedback, both good and bad, goes a long way in helping organizations improve their operations. An ATS is responsible for keeping candidates engaged from end to end of the recruitment process. This also means that it can collect feedback from a candidate at the end of the process.

Savings in time and money

Recruitment is an expensive process both in terms of time and money. In fact, a study by Harvard Business Review has revealed that companies that do not use an applicant tracking system are likely to pay more than $10,000 per hire in lost productivity. An ATS will not only reduce the amount of time taken to hire a candidate, but it will also reduce the number of times a position will be filled by finding high quality talent, thereby reducing the cost of acquiring talent for an organization.

Now, let’s dive into a detailed comparison of the top ATS options in the market.

Recruit CRM

Recruit CRM is a combined ATS and CRM system designed to streamline the recruiting process. Its user-friendly interface allows customizing the sales pipeline, efficiently parse CVs, and manage clients and candidates on a single platform.

Features:

24/7 Live Support

Allows quick customer query responses.

Predictive Recruitment Reports

Gains insights for better decision-making.

Chrome Extension

Enhances candidate sourcing.

Freshteam by Freshworks

Around 73% of job seekers are passive candidates, emphasizing the importance of passive candidate sourcing. Freshteam is a versatile solution suitable for businesses of all sizes, with a focus on growing firms. This comprehensive platform encompasses hiring, onboarding, employee data management, and HR workflows.

Features:

Centralized Employee Information

Facilitates streamlining of HR management by consolidating employee data.

Efficient Onboarding

Ensures a seamless onboarding process for new hires.

Leave Management

Effectively manages employee time off and leave requests.

iCIMS

iCIMS offers a cloud-based applicant tracking system tailored for commercial and large global employers. It empowers recruitment agencies with tools for automation and pre-screening, enabling them to align with client demands effectively.

Features:

Candidate Assessment and Interview Scheduling

Streamlines the assessment process and scheduling of interviews.

Job Advertising

Conveniently advertises job openings directly from your ATS.

VidCruiter

VidCruiter is an all encompassing applicant tracking, video interviewing, scheduling, and reference checking solution. This applicant tracking system is designed to enhance the candidate experience by providing interview flexibility, embracing mobile-first hiring practices, and offering customizable, automated alerts at each stage of the hiring process.

Features:

Powerful Automation

Streamlines recruitment processes with automation, saving time and improving efficiency.

Data-Driven Tools

Leverages data-driven insights for informed hiring decisions.

Seamless Integrations

Benefits from integrations with other VidCruiter platforms, creating a unified recruiting ecosystem.

Hireology

Hireology is a comprehensive recruiting platform that addresses the complexities of hiring and retention.

Recruiters benefit from its ability to effortlessly build and nurture a talent pipeline. Hireology automates candidate screening, skills testing, reference checking, and background checks, facilitating the identification of top candidates.

Features:

Diverse Candidate Sourcing

Allows access to a wide range of candidates from diverse sources.

Digital Onboarding

Simplifies the onboarding process for new hires.

Recruitment Analytics and Insights

Shares valuable analytics and insights to enhance recruitment strategies.

How to Choose the Right Applicant Tracking System

ATS systems are designed to maximize the efficiency of a recruitment process. That is why most are affordable as well as user-friendly. That being said, it is very important that an organization selects an applicant tracking system that is compatible with their hiring process. The right ATS system will not only make the current hiring process easier, it will further optimize it for better efficiency.

Identify and Zero In on Your ATS Requirements

It is important that an organization has a clear idea of its hiring goals before selecting an applicant tracking system. Keep parameters like hiring time, hiring size, job hierarchy, nature of the vacant position, and ATS integration capabilities in mind before employing an ATS system.

An ATS Needs to Be People-Friendly

A major task for an applicant tracking system is to communicate with stakeholders – internal as well as external. It is important that an ATS system provides an easy and enhanced user experience at every touchpoint.

Pricing Matters

For recruiters, each candidate is an expense. A good ATS system needs to be affordable or needs to be capable enough to prove its worth in terms of cost efficiency.

A Comparative Analysis Between the Most Popular ATS in the Market

Let’s analyze how each of the featured Applicant Tracking Systems can benefit recruitment.

Recruit CRM

Pros and Cons

Freshteam by Freshworks

Pros and Cons

iCIMS

Pros and Cons

VidCruiter

Pros and Cons

Hireology

Pros and Cons

Optimizing ATS with AI Recruiting Tools

While the aforementioned ATS options offer a range of features to enhance the hiring process, it’s important to explore how additional AI recruiting tools can supercharge an Applicant Tracking System. Arya by Leoforce introduces Arya Quantum, a robust solution designed to seamlessly integrate with an ATS. Arya Quantum takes an organization’s hiring efforts to the next level, offering advanced capabilities in Talent Intelligence. Here’s a closer look at what Arya Quantum brings to the table:

AI Search and Match

Arya Quantum leverages multiple machine learning models to achieve more accurate job-to-candidate matches compared to traditional ATS or AI tools.

Discover New Talent

With access to a vast talent database comprising over 850 million profiles from 70+ platforms, Arya Quantum enables the discovery of talent that might be missed while resorting to conventional methods.

Reduce Sourcing Time

Arya Quantum streamlines the sourcing process, simultaneously sourcing, scoring, and ranking candidate profiles for 90% of jobs in under 5 minutes.

Multiply Interview Pipeline

It stands out as the only AI platform using seven multi-dimensional factors and 300 attributes to score and rank talent. This approach slashes shortlisting time by 50% and accelerates the interview pipeline.

Fill Niche and Critical Positions

Arya assists recruiters in identifying the most effective sourcing parameters, including talent clusters, skill set distribution, compensation, and more, making it easier to fill niche and critical roles.

Eliminate Recruitment Bias

Arya Quantum includes built-in diversity indicators, helping organizations promote diversity and inclusivity in their recruitment processes.

By seamlessly integrating Arya Quantum with existing ATS systems, organizations can harness the power of advanced AI-driven Talent Intelligence to make more informed and efficient hiring decisions. To see how it can accelerate your hiring, Request a Demo today!

Conclusion

In our comparative analysis of popular ATS solutions in the market, we’ve explored five leading platforms: Recruit CRM, Freshteam by Freshworks, iCIMS, VidCruiter, and Hireology. Each of these solutions offers unique features and capabilities, catering to different organizational needs. However, it is also important to delve into solutions that can help optimize the potential of each of these applicant tracking system solutions.

The ATS landscape is a dynamic one, with solutions designed to suit a wide array of organizational requirements. ATS systems combined with enhancements like Arya Quantum, empower HR departments and recruiters to make data-backed decisions, optimize the hiring process, and ultimately build stronger, more diverse, and efficient teams.