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Go BIG or Go Home – why an ATS is a must-have for large companies hiring at scale

If you’re hiring at scale, finding efficiences in time and cost is an imperative. No matter how large your HR team, recruiting at high-volume is a massive undertaking, and one that can quickly feel unmanageable. 

Applicant Tracking systems are a fantastic tool for both large and small businesses. For small businesses, they offer a means of managing and automating recruitment even with a one-person hiring team. 

But when you’re a large business, an ATS quickly becomes the most important tool in your HR arsenal. It empowers your team to streamline workflows, automate approvals, and effortlessly manage the huge amounts of day-to-day admin that high-volume hiring requires. 

Got some BIG questions on the benefits of an ATS for hiring at scale? Here’s what you need to know: 

Dealing with Demand. 

If you’re managing vast quantities of applications then you’ll know keeping tabs on the progress of each and every vacancy is a BIG deal. 

By using a good quality ATS software, you can: 

  • Automate all standard correspondence from application acknowledgements to interview requests. 
  • Filter out all candidates who don’t meet your necessary requirements, leaving you to focus on those who match your essential criteria.
  • Set reminders and ‘nudges’ to alert colleagues when they have actions to complete (score applicants, sign off requests to hire etc.)
  • Keep candidates ‘on the hook’ with regular, personalised automated correspondance
  • Share documentation and integrate with your other HR tools such as DBS, Right-to-Work to carry out all your pre-employement checks. 
  • Use dedicated portals and workflows to increase collaboration and communication between the multiple stakeholders involved with hiring across your business.
  • Keep a talent pool of applicants, saving you time, effort and advertising costs* when hiring for recurring vacancies. 

Phew. Sounds pretty good doesn’t it? But that’s not all. 

Once you’ve found your successful applicants you can use the Applicant Tracking Software to send out contracts, onboarding instructions and even invite them to team meetings, getting them up to speed before they’ve set foot in the building. (This also reduces the chance of no-shows.) 

Speaking of advertising. A good ATS will do that for you too. It will integrate with job boards, offer a range of ad templates, and allow you to automate approvals workflows to keep those job ads flowing.  A really good ATS will come with a Job Posting and Candidate Attraction service too – wonder which one offers that? (Yes, of course, It’s our very own Reach ATS.)

Talk Data to Me. 

If you’re in the market for a new ATS, data integration and security should be top of your shopping list. Here’s what you should be looking for: 

Integration: 

When you’re hiring at scale, you need a software system that works with the rest of your systems.  If that fancy new ATS doesn’t play nicely with others – walk away.  You need an ATS system that won’t require you changing up the rest of your software.  

Find an ATS that is capable of integrating with job boards and social media platforms as well as (sounds silly to say it but it needs to be said!) your own website. Many companies fall at this first hurdle. You need your applicant journey to feel like an extension of your website, if an ATS can’t handle that, it’s not worth the money. 

Any ATS worth it’s salt will integrate with your HRIS, will handle DBS checks, and run happily alongside Teams and all major video platforms.  If it can’t work with these well-known systems, it’s not going to work for a large-volume recruitment team. Plug’n’play is what you’re looking for. 

Data Anaylsis:

Find a system that offers at-a-glance data on all your live recruitment. A good ATS will have an intuitive central dashboard offering data insights into your current vacancies.  

It’s easy in the quagmire of constant high-volume hiring to get bogged down in the day-to-day details. Robust ATS data insights allow you to look at the big picture and make data-driven decisions. An application tracking system lets you identify trends, monitor your recruitment strategy and optimise the ROI of the recruitment process. All in one place. Whenever and wherever you need it.   

Look for: 

  • Pre-configured reports
  • Customisable reporting
  • Report scheduling
  • Customisable data exporting
  • API exports
  • Power BI integration for greater reporting control.

If you get all that, you’re onto a winner! 

But is my data safe? 

When you’re hiring at volume, data security is a heightened priority. You’re dealing with hundreds or thousands of applicants a year and any data breach would have a catastrophic effect on your business. An ATS provider should take your data security as seriously as you do. Look for a company that has an ISO 27001 certification (like us!).

All the knobs and whistles – don’t make a BIG and costly mistake. 

When you’re involved in large-scale recruitment, a feature-rich ATS is great. BUT beware the fancy features that might make life more complicated… Choose a system that prioritises ease of use. You want all your colleagues to be at ease using the software, or they just won’t use it. 

Ask yourself: 
What are its integration capabilities?

What analytics does it offer? 

What training will my team receive?

How quickly can I get it up and running? 

And, most important of all, will it streamline our processes or complicate them further?

If you’re in the market for a new ATS and want more information on how a Reach ATS could support your high-volume recruitment, then please, Reach out today.

Alternatively, consider reading through the features of our ATS to see what we offer

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