The 3 Trends That Will Impact Your ATS Strategy

January 2, 2020

 

iCIMS Staff

4 min read

Key Points

• More employers are shifting toward a best-in-class ATS and other recruiting solutions and away from the recruiting modules native to HCMs.
• Google for Jobs is now the 3rd largest source of job seekers for iCIMS’s ATS customers, sending 81% more job seeker traffic.
• AI and ML capabilities within your ATS will free up recruiters to spend more time engaging with candidates.

Recruiting is more complex than ever

Recruiting is consumer-facing, making it more like sales and marketing than like other areas of HR. To give recruiting the focus it deserves, talent acquisition teams are building their strategies around a best-in-class applicant tracking system (ATS) rather than an HCM module.

Companies using best-of-breed for talent acquisition cited lower turnover than the industry average, a shorter time to fill positions, and an improved candidate experience, according to Aptitude Research Partners.

Many enterprise organizations build their tech stack with different best-in-class (e.g., best-of-breed) point solutions that work together seamlessly within one platform. The ability to manage and swap solutions without harming your data flow, workflow efficiency, and without going through prolonged procurement and implementation processes is key.

AmTrust Financial partnered with iCIMS to integrate a best-in-class ATS with its core HCM, Workday. Now the organization no longer relies on recruitment agencies to hit their hiring numbers. AmTrust saves $13 million in agency fees per year in the process.

A best-in-class ATS complements existing HCMs with seamless integration for optimal data flow – without daunting IT projects. The result is a strategic talent acquisition tech stack configured for your business’ unique needs, both now and in the future.

Configure your ATS and recruitment tech stack to meet your organization’s needs.

Google is sending more job seeker traffic

70% of job searches start on Google. Historically, that meant being routed through a third-party job board, where you’d be asked to create a profile. Then you’d get passed to the employer to fill out an application with the same personal information that you had just given to Indeed or Monster.

In less than three years, Google for Jobs has disrupted the industry and become the 3rd largest source of job seeker traffic for iCIMS’s ATS clients, an 81% increase from the beginning of the year. However, as ATS traffic skyrockets, job board traffic continues to take a nosedive.

Google continues to do what Google does best: collect real-time data from every source on the web to create an untouchable user experience. Google for Jobs doesn’t necessarily change candidates’ destination, but it does shorten their journey from initial keyword search to your ATS. The fewer middlemen, the more you save in advertising dollars.

This means that employers need to stay close to Google for Jobs with ATS capabilities that seamlessly send job listing data to the search giant, including salary ranges and precise location details. The result is a stronger candidate experience and a more cost-effective recruitment marketing strategy.

AI and ML will free up your humans to focus on other humans

41% of employers rank AI and ML-powered solutions as their top priority, according to Mondo’s Creative and Digital Trends survey. Like self-driving cars, the buzz around the technology continues to build; however, the focus in recruiting is human-led AI.

AI, ML, and automation should exist in your applicant tracking system to:

• Remove mundane tasks
• Foster better decision-making
• Expose more job postings to qualified candidates

Enter automated processes and conversational AI chatbots like those powered by ARI (Automated Recruiter Interface). ARI layers on top of your existing ATS and communicates with candidates when and where they prefer – such as text or Facebook Messenger.

The result is efficiency and reach. Your recruiters retain complete control without having to be plugged in 24/7. Your candidates have another way to interact with your brand how and when they choose.

Employers like the supermarket chain Dierbergs Markets use this to their advantage without breaking their existing tech stack. The team deployed conversational AI with ARI to engage with candidates in real-time. ARI gets smarter through each interaction with candidates and Dierbergs’ recruiting team has the flexibility to enable and disable ARI as needed.

For Dierbergs Markets and others, AI and ML represents hours recovered for their recruiters and for candidate engagement on a larger scale.

Want to learn more about tips and trends impacting your ATS strategy? Download and share our eBook, 20 Tips to Improve the Candidate Journey in 2020.