Most organizations adopt an applicant tracking system (ATS) to solve existing problems, so it can be unpleasant if there are challenges that impede the implementation of the system.
Challenges
Fortunately, anticipating these challenges can help your organization be prepared so that the implementation and use of your ATS goes as smoothly as possible. That’s why recruiters.com lists five challenges that you can tackle ahead of time.
1. No project-based approach
Although a supplier can and will gladly take a lot of work off your hands, the choice and implementation of an ATS requires a project manager with extensive experience in the field of recruitment, project management skills and affinity with ICT. The workflow needs to be redesigned or described, technical and functional requirements need to be set, integration with a website needs to be realized, standard forms and letters need to be introduced, users need to be trained, et cetera.
2. Streamline the recruitment process
Although an applicant tracking system can do much to streamline the recruitment process, it does not perform miracles. For example, if the recruitment process was already unstructured before implementation, recruiters must find their own way to improve the process. Training, as discussed in the next point, can have a positive influence on this.
3. Undertraining
The hiring staff will have to work with the new system every day, before that happens it is important that they have extensive knowledge of how to use this system. By ensuring that the staff is thoroughly trained, you can optimize the hiring processes while maintaining staff satisfaction.
4. Poorly defined objectives
A stumbling block to implementing (and succeeding in) a system is poorly defined objectives. Often the problem here is that different layers of the organization only know their individual part in the recruitment process instead of seeing the process from start to finish. Holding an overall meeting to define the goals of the ATS prior to implementation can help streamline them as well as produce better results after going live.
5. Links to other systems not well coordinated
An ATS often needs to be linked to other systems such as the HR information system, recruitment site (XML link) or multiposter. If you don’t coordinate this properly, the implementation can take much longer and be more expensive.
Sources: applicanttrackingsystems.net, recruitmentsystemen.nl
