Why use an ATS?

Using an ATS will:
- Allow you to make more placements
- Add more time to your day
- Increase Revenue!

According to Mark Berger of SWAT Recruiting,

"There is only one answer to this simple question in my mind. To make more placements using a database than if you did not use one. If you can’t increase your revenues by using an ATS, then why use one? This is what you have to keep foremost in your mind in your search for the best automated solution for your office. Increasing productivity is one of the best reasons to have an ATS, candidate/client/recruiter communications is another, getting out of the paper-shuffling game is yet one more. There are many more. You don’t dare select a database product because of the cool bells and whistles it offers. A lot of software developers don’t understand this. Some systems offer more “glitz” than “meat.” I have noticed two basic types of database software vendors. There are software sales companies that have decided to jump on the ATS bandwagon. These firms typically do not have a strong background in our industry and simply do not have enough knowledge of the way our business works on a day-to-day basis to offer a top rated solution, although there are exceptions. The other type of vendor has developed a system based on years of successful recruiting and staffing experience. Some have even developed a system for their own use then decided to market that system to the recruiter market. It would behoove you to ask any potential database vendor what type of recruiting industry experience their executives have. Do they have any hands on recruiting and placement industry experience, or is it nothing more that software industry sales and marketing experience. Look at the way you do business now and look for a solution that allows you to do business in the same manner, just more efficiently. You should never have to re-engineer the way your office does business to conform to the workings of a database…it is the other way around. The database serves you. If it doesn’t, keep looking. As you evaluate one database versus another, be asking yourself a question:

Does this database make you money or save you money?

Let’s talk about ACT!, Goldmine and Outlook for a minute. These products are technically not Applicant Tracking Systems but are in the Contact Manager software category. All ATS’s are great contact managers but not all Contact Manager’s are great ATS’s. To this day many recruiters use these products, as they are quite excellent in doing their job of keeping the recruiter in touch with both their clients and candidates, however, unless you employ an expensive third party solution or add-in, these products don’t do a very good job of keeping track of job orders, resume submissions, client interviews and placements…integral parts of managing your desk or your business. They are not the worst solution…there are simply much better options available.

Are you still using Word and Excel documents? So are many others. Before databases, I did as well…had all my candidate submissions, interviews and placements recorded but each document was an island. Had to type the same thing over and over. No big picture here…no integration…no reporting. Probably a better solution than index cards but…will it put real money in your pocket?"

As always, call me to discuss!

Tammy
314.854.5002
twirths@sendouts.com

"The job of a headhunter is very different from that of a placement agency"

What is the difference in a headhunter and placement agency? A client of mine recently addressed this question in an article published in the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

Just 12 heads, one a month.

As an executive recruiter, or headhunter, that's Bob Bishop's benchmark for a successful year's work.

Originally a photographer, Bishop established his one-man recruitment firm in July 2001. "It was, perhaps, the worst possible time," he said, describing the state of the economy. read the rest of the story . . .