The transfer window in the football industry is one of the most intense hiring processes in the world.

Club owners and coaches must select and convince the best players in the market in a short time. Before making their choice, they must identify the needs of their team and the essential profiles to fill the gaps in the field. What positions need to be filled? How to assess the potential of players? What can this or that player bring to the team?

The life of your company may not be as exciting as a football championship (or, on the contrary, it seems to you much more interesting than any match), but if you are a recruiter, you live to the beat of your own transfer window.

And you have an advantage over sports selectors, a special tool that assists you in the recruiting process: Applicant Tracking System, also known as Applicant Tracking Software or ATS. With a tool of this type, companies can organize and automate their hiring process.

And by working with the right applicant management tool, you just might find your champion. But first you need to know what exactly it is and how to take advantage of this type of tool.

Before you can advantageously integrate this solution into your workflow, you must indeed know its capabilities, and that is exactly what this article is about.

Applicant management software: main features

Like any good player, recruiting software must above all be versatile and flexible.

Some systems only process applications while others take care of the entire process, from the job offer to the welcoming of the new employee. Most can be adapted to your business needs.

But what are the essential elements of any good ATS software? The first is obvious… but worth clarifying.

Applicant Tracking System

Applicant tracking consists of tracking applicants from the first contact to the final stage of the hiring process. Recruitment support software must therefore allow you to follow each candidate step by step and to constantly know their status to ensure that the process is clear, that no one is forgotten along the way and that applicants are not confused.

The software must list the slightest change in the status of candidates, as well as all the documents and information exchanged concerning them. It also tracks every edit and who made it, which is extremely useful for recruiting teams working in conjunction with the same tool.

Applicant Tracking System

Automatic e-mail sending system

You cannot hire everyone interested in the position you are offering. You must therefore, willy-nilly, notify the unsuccessful candidates.

What if all you had to do was write one rejection letter and let your software do the rest? This is exactly what a good applicant management tool does. You can set up automation to send emails to all unsuccessful applicants, saving time and effort for you and applicants.

Screening of applications

By accident or because they still want to try their luck, some candidates apply for jobs for which they are not qualified. These inadequate applications hamper the recruitment process.

The problem can be solved with application management software that filters out unsuitable profiles before you even have to consult their CV. This skimming technique can be automated and speed up the selection process.

The software can also be used as a ranking tool by positioning the most interesting options at the top of the list. You just need to make sure you have well-calibrated keywords to make your life easier.

Data analysis system

At this point, you may feel like the recruiting process is a science. But science without data is meaningless. So you need information to dissect and any self-respecting applicant tracking software should be able to provide it.

A good reporting feature records your recruiting team’s productivity levels, the quality of candidates, the time they spent in each stage of recruiting, and their overall satisfaction level. It is an essential tool for any HR team constantly seeking to improve.

Data Analysis in Newton

Digital storage system

Application tracking software centralizes all the (many) documents associated with any recruitment procedure in their databases. Users can easily retrieve any information about a candidate rather than digging through countless folders and files.

Thanks to the cloud, data can be accessed on a tablet or phone, which is convenient for interviews and meetings. With this storage system, you no longer have to hang around for hours in front of the photocopier or printer.

Interview planning

If you’re worried about your screening interviews overlapping, trust the scheduling tool in your ATS software. Some systems are totally hermetic while others can integrate Microsoft Outlook or Google Calendar.

A scheduling tool allows you to schedule appointments at the most convenient times for you and your candidates, usually via an easy-to-use interface. Reminders help you be on time and well prepared for every interview.

Maintenance planning in JobScore

Publication of job offers

In the field of job offers, the time of copying and pasting is well and truly over. With recruitment management software, you can post multiple ads to different channels from a single interface.

If you are used to using Facebook or Twitter, be sure to choose software that integrates your favorite social networks to be able to publish on your favorite platforms.

Support for new employees

Some applicant tracking software doesn’t go beyond the recruiting process. Others accompany you until the reception of new employees in order to help your employees find their place smoothly thanks to training modules and performance monitoring tools.

(If your recruitment management tool doesn’t include this option, you can use employee onboarding software .)

Request Manager

Stop responding at short notice to questions from anyone who is worried about whether this or that position will soon be filled. With an ATS system, everyone in the company can easily follow the evolution of the procedure, from the identification of the need to hire a new employee to the selection of the best candidate (and sometimes beyond).

Anyone with access to the software can see the status of the process and know if you are about to hire a collaborator, freeing you from a series of endless and annoying emails.

What are you going to do with your candidate management software?

And you, what features are you looking for in ATS software? At what stage of recruitment do you need the most support? Tell us everything in comments!

And if your HR team is ready to get an applicant management tool, be sure to shop the Capterra Applicant Tracking Software Directory to find the perfect candidate. You will be able to filter software with the features you want and easily compare your options.