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June 10, 2026 
11 min read
Remember when your recruiting features inside your human resources information system (HRIS) stopped cutting it? Or, when screening applications for a single requisition took days? Maybe the constant manual dragging of candidates into talent pools tipped you off.
A basic hiring module isn’t enough. And with your hiring needs exploding for new locations and upcoming seasonal work demands, a basic standalone applicant tracking system (ATS) won’t work either. You need one with clear reporting, configurable workflows, and automations that can handle the application influx.
Let’s explore what to look for in an applicant tracking system, from essential to advanced features, plus how to evaluate your hiring needs and the recruitment vendors available today.
An applicant tracking system is a software platform that collects, organizes, and manages candidate applications for open roles.
ATSs used to be glorified spreadsheets — just candidate data and résumé repositories connected to open requisitions. They kept records centralized and introduced faster candidate search, tagging, and filtering.
Today’s ATSs are far more sophisticated. Instead of just a candidate database, they help recruiting teams progress candidates through the recruitment funnel, track hiring metrics like time-to-fill, and comply with data privacy and security regulations.
Many offer automations that speed up candidate sourcing, evaluation, and communication. Others provide native integrations with more advanced recruitment tech, including candidate relationship management (CRM) systems or marketing automation platforms.
This makes ATSs essential for recruitment teams. The American Heart Association, for example, saved over 1,000 hours annually by automating recruitment processes using iCIMS’ ATS. It allowed recruiters to focus on building candidate relationships.
Key features of applicant tracking systems include:
| Feature | Definition | Examples |
| Job posting | Create and post open jobs across multiple channels. | Job post syndication across job boards, social media, and career pages. |
| Requisition management | Develop, organize, and track various job openings. | Requisition creation, recruitment team management, and application screening. |
| Candidate database | Collect, organize, and find candidates. | Candidate search, tagging, filtering, candidate profiles, and talent pools. |
| Application parsing | Scan applications, résumés, and CVs to make them searchable. | Résumé keyword search and prepopulated form fields. |
| Recruitment stage management | Create and manage recruitment stages and processes. | Workflow builder, stage creation, interview scheduling, assessment delivery, pre-screening questions, and offer management. |
| Collaboration tools | Support hiring tasks across recruitment stakeholders. | At-mentions, candidate notes, task assignments, role-based permissions, and access controls |
| Basic reporting | Generate and track reports on key recruitment metrics. | Time-to-hire, source effectiveness, diversity stats, candidate pipeline status, and cost-per-hire |
| Data migration | Import existing applicant data from an old system. | Automatic import and assisted data migration |
| Compliance support | Adhere to privacy, anti-discrimination, and data security regulations. | EEO, OFCCP, GDPR, CCPA compliance; SOC 2 Type 2 certification; and multi-factor authentication |
Miss any one of these core features and you create operational risk. You’ll lag behind competitors that leverage applicant tracking systems to discover top talent first.
All ATS solutions should include the above features, but only a few offer capabilities designed to improve efficiency, scalability, and long-term strategy. Depending on your hiring goals, you may need these advanced applicant tracking system features:
The best ATS platform varies by company. What works for your competitor won’t necessarily work for you.
It largely depends on your company’s size and hiring goals. For example, larger companies typically hire more often just to maintain the current headcount. A company aiming to expand into a new market will want to hire local employees.
Generally, startups only need basic ATSs to handle infrequent hiring. Midsize companies look for ATSs with stronger permissions and role management for growing departments. And, enterprises want ATSs with AI and automation to support diverse global hiring, process consistency, and positive candidate experiences.
However, this isn’t universal. A startup with aggressive growth may want an advanced ATS to quickly fill talent needs.
As a result, think long-term when evaluating ATS. A basic system will fall short once you hire for many locations and manage massive application volumes.
An advanced ATS with AI candidate screening and automation efficiently filters top candidates and organizes them into talent pools, even if your hiring team headcount doesn’t change.
For more complex recruitment processes, like sourcing talent for hard-to-fill roles, learn how to combine an ATS with a CRM system.
Determine the right ATS for you by following these steps.
Connect with recruitment stakeholders to identify what’s working and what isn’t in your hiring process. Are teams collaborating well? How easily do candidates move through the pipeline? Where are the bottlenecks?
Understand your current and future hiring needs and budget. Hiring managers and leadership can provide insights on business objectives and budget constraints. HR specialists can offer input on headcount, succession, and internal mobility plans.
With hiring goals in mind, create a checklist of must-have versus nice-to-have features. Some features, like AI candidate screening and matching, may be necessary depending on your size and goals, even if you don’t currently have them.
Listen to your recruitment team when making these lists since they’ll interact with the system daily. If a new ATS doesn’t meet their needs, they’re less likely to use it fully.
Prioritize ATS product demos with all recruitment stakeholders: recruiters, leadership, hiring managers, HR, compliance, and IT teams. Each has different priorities and wants to see how the ATS handles their needs in action.
Demoing products and aligning with stakeholders are critical for adoption. Together, you’ll evaluate the product interface across use cases, assess training and support options, and understand implementation timelines.
Use your feature checklist, hiring goals, product demos, and budget to shortlist top vendors. Remember that the best vendor for you may not be the most popular or brand recognizable.
Always choose the one with the best support or willingness to adapt to your processes. This improves your chances of hiring success with the new platform.
Come prepared with questions as you evaluate vendors and ATS features with your recruitment stakeholders. Here are some to get started:
Want more questions? Check out 17 questions to ask your applicant tracking system vendor.
Product demos are your chance to validate vendor claims. Be an active participant in the demo, not a passive viewer.
First, ensure key stakeholders attend, particularly recruiters, IT, and one or two hiring managers. This helps them understand the platform’s usability and how it supports their recruitment tasks.
Second, bring your preparation materials and be ready to ask about them:
Finally, determine which workflows you want to see live. This gives you a chance to see whether the ATS will complement, enhance, and streamline existing processes or force you to implement new ones.
Common workflows you’ll want ATS vendors to show live include:
Pro tip: Let ATS vendors know ahead of time what workflows, hiring scenarios, integrations, or dealbreakers you want them to address during the demo. This ensures vendors tailor demos to how you actually hope to use the system rather than present generic feature showcases.
Don’t get caught up in these pitfalls during ATS evaluation:
You know now what to look for in an applicant tracking system. But with such a saturated market, which vendors should you start with?
Most vendors will lure you in with the newest, flashiest features or a fun interface that looks like a social media feed. But, few have the years of credibility, testing, and system refining to actually support enterprise needs rather than break under a constant stream of candidate applications.
iCIMS ATS does more than manage applicant tracking. It transforms your recruiter team into strategists with:
See how iCIMS helps teams choose an ATS that scales with their hiring needs. Book a free iCIMS demo.
Gazmend Kalicovic is a Senior Product Marketing Manager for iCIMS, responsible for the global go-to-market strategy of the iCIMS Talent Cloud Platform, including iCIMS’ integration, trust and security capabilities. He is focused on leading iCIMS’ position as the world’s most connected and trusted talent platform.
Prior to iCIMS, Gazmend held strategic product and marketing positions at Brother International, where he led go-to-market strategy for Brother’s document capture solutions, and Billtrust, where he led strategy and execution for Billtrust’s invoicing and payment products. Gazmend holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and history from Rutgers University.
