What to expect (and not) from the free trial of an ATS software
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What to expect (and not) from the free trial of an ATS software

Is your company thinking of adopting an ATS (Applicant Tracking System) software to improve the management of the search and selection process or does it intend to replace it with a new recruiting software? If you are about to request a demo or are already testing the potential of a recruiting software in the free trial period, this article will shed some light on some important aspects that will allow you to better understand how to evaluate these technologies and to choose to adopt the ATS with greater awareness of the benefits it can bring you.

Why do companies choose to adopt ATS software?

For personnel management, it could be said that companies are the people who hire (and will hire). In fact, employees are the beating heart of a company, they represent it and become its brand ambassadors. This demonstrates even more how important it is to carefully manage the recruiting process.

Recruiters need to be able to focus on finding qualified candidates to hire, rather than on time-consuming and cumbersome processes that not only waste a lot of time, but can also adversely affect the candidate’s experience and deterring them from applying.

An ATS software is a management system for the entire Talent Acquisition process that saves time by greatly simplifying the recruiter’s work. An Applicant Tracking System such as In-recruiting, therefore, allows you to manage the entire search and selection process, from the attraction phase to that of hiring and onboarding with the effect of:

  • Speed up all recruiting process
  • Better manage the flow of applications
  • Find and attract qualified candidates in no time
  • Plan Talent Acquisition strategies
  • Monitor the results

It is now impossible to think of being able to deal with Talent Acquisition efficiently and in compliance with legal obligations (eg GDPR) using Excel, mailboxes, obsolete and not in cloud software. This applies to any organization, from small business to multinational.

The benefit of the free trial in choosing an ATS software

According to what we have just said, and given that it is a significant investment by companies or employment agencies, the choice of ATS cannot be done lightly. So how to choose the right one?

From a practical point of view, when choose a recruiting software you have to try, if you can say so, “don’t judge the book by its cover”. What does this mean? Going beyond the pure literal sense of this expression, we must not stop at the appearance, at a superficial knowledge of the software, but go in depth and strive to understand all its possible features. This is exactly what software providers allow you to do with demos and free trials: highlight your needs and let you experience firsthand the full potential, applications and features of the software to discover if it really is the right one for your needs.

However, it is important to “get your hands dirty” during the free trial, that is to try to simulate a real selection process and not just post a job advertisement and wait to receive applications. As we will see in the second part of this article, the quality and number of applications do not depend on the ATS. The latter helps to amplify the visibility of personnel searches, collect CVs, manage screening, etc. In the same way, taking as an example another type of software used in the commercial field, if you activate the free trial of a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) you cannot expect to automatically receive leads and close contracts. So try to understand the ease of use of the ATS and above all how flexible it is, that is, it allows you to configure it independently according to your needs.

To choose the right ATS, therefore, it is first of all necessary to recognize the real recruiting needs of the company and the HR team, define which processes need to be transformed and which to speed up or improved, which features would be more useful to the recruiter (eg. multiposting, ad sponsorship campaigns, video-interview, artificial intelligence integration) and which could also enhance the candidate’s experience (e.g. automatic feedback and communications, one-click application, etc.). Once these aspects are identified, it will be easier to evaluate the recruiting software.

How the free trial of an ATS software works

Demos and free trials are the ideal tools to understand if the ATS can really meet the needs of your HR team. The ability to interact with an expert consultant in an in-depth and direct manner, during the demo, and as needed, in a free trial, allows you to illustrate and define the main needs of the company and to test all possible software applications.

In-recruiting allows you to try all its core functions for free without limits; to experience the modules calibrated for Employment Agencies (customers and orders, CRM) or specific functions (ADD-ON) for further needs expressed during contact with our experts. Thanks to online help and the availability of our support team, you can experience and test the software yourself for a period of 14 days.

However, the results obtained by testing an ATS software should not be considered as final! It is important to take this aspect into consideration in order not to compromise the judgment that is attributed to an ATS and its performance. In addition to the time factor, there are several elements that, as we will see in the course of the article, can affect the functioning of this technology.

What ATS software can really do to improve the recruiting process

As we have already said, there are very specific reasons that push companies to adopt an ATS. A software like In-recruiting helps

  • manage all recruiting activities in a more organized, digitized and centralized manner;
  • identify qualified candidates for their ads and direct application flow;
  • save time to devote to long-term strategy planning and other activities that require more human contact;
  • support recruiters and HR managers in research and selection, in coordinating the work of the team and various offices / branches or in the management of outsourced selections (in the case of employment agencies and research and selection companies);
  • optimize the publication of job advertisements;
  • manage interview planning, including online;
  • manage candidate data safely (in compliance with the GDPR legislation);
  • improve communication with candidates and that between the systems used by the company (with software and API integrations).

If you’re trying an ATS, you’re likely wondering why you’re not getting enough applications, why incoming CVs aren’t relevant to your ad, or even why you don’t have additional features. All this does NOT depend on the ATS software also because, for example, the visibility of the ads may depend on other factors such as the integration of the Job Boards or the budget invested in sponsorship campaigns. So that’s why you shouldn’t rate the free trial by the number of CVs.

7 factors that impact the quality of ATS performance

1. TIME

When we say that time affects the performance of the ATS, we mean both “how long” we use it, and “when“. In the first case, the goodness and effectiveness of a software cannot be compromised after just a few weeks of use. This is not because there is a universally valid period after which we are authorized to express our opinion, whether positive or negative, but because it is necessary to have sufficient time to get to know it, become familiar with the interface, make it familiar, understand how it works and it’s full potential. In the second case, the performance of a recruiting software changes depending on the period of the year in which it is used. We have already talked about it in our article: there are better times than others to start a selection process and, consequently, better times than others to test the effectiveness of the software or get better results.

2. BRAND

The way people perceive your company, how you promote your Employer Branding or even how you communicate with candidates or customers, are all factors that can affect – even indirectly – the performance of the ATS. A software cannot induce candidates to register for a job posting or to change the opinion they have about the company. An ATS like In-recruiting, however, can offer you useful features to make the Candidate Experience more enjoyable and Recruiting Marketing services ideal for companies that work in the HR world and need to better communicate their Brand.

3. APPLICATION FORM

We must abandon the long and complex application forms and exploit all the potential of ATS software, and even more. Create structured and personalized registration forms, diversify them using conditional fields by segmenting candidates from the start, ask the right questions and, if possible, integrate artificial intelligence to allow candidates to fill out the form with a simple click. Then carefully configure the form and put yourself in the shoes of the candidates, simulating an application: in this way you will have the opportunity to evaluate the average application time and verify that all the questions are clear and useful for the selection.

4. WRITING THE ADVERT

Can writing the ad compromise the success of the selection? Yes! It is not enough to write an ad and publish it using an ATS to get many applications or even to make them all relevant to the ad. When writing the job ad, whether it is organic or sponsored, the mistake is just around the corner. It is necessary to take care of the structure, the clarity of the contents and the choice of course.

5. CONTRACT

The type of contract offered to applicants will also affect the number of applications you will receive for your selections. It is important to always include this information within the ad description.

6. LOCATION

We talked about the importance of time, the period in which a selection opens, and the possibility that this alters the performance of the ATS. The same goes for the location. Although it may seem obvious to say it, opening a selection in a large city will not have the same effects (in terms of applications received) as the same advertisement published for a small country or in an area where there are few candidates with the characteristics that You are looking for.

7. COMPETITION

Competition can become a real obstacle to an ongoing selection. This is a factor that can make the recruiter’s efforts in vain and that cannot be fought immediately. However, you can try to limit the impact by working on the optimization of recruiting processes, activities and the correct use of the software features at your disposal.

Here’s what to expect and not from an ATS software, right from the free trial. Do you feel ready to try it? Request an In-recruiting demo.