Top 5 Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) for Startups

Keerthi Rangan — Mon, 27 Jul 2020 06:13:30 +0000

When it comes to hiring, posting, and managing jobs and streamlining applications is the most tedious task. To effectively and efficiently manage this, recruiters have been using modern technology, i.e., an ATS.

An applicant tracking system or ATS is a software solution that manages all recruitment needs and that works as a database for all hiring-related processes. ATS software has become one of the go-to solutions to save time and resources in talent acquisition.

Why use ATS?

ATS enables recruiters to automate the applicant tracking process. This includes scheduling interviews for candidates, email distribution, screening and shortlisting candidates, keeping a track of applicant status and communication details, etc. ATS also helps HR teams access and efficiently process vast volumes of data.

ATS options are now available for organizations of all sizes, be it an enterprise, midsize, or a startup.

💡 90% of large organizations and 68% of small businesses used ATS in 2019 alone.

What are the advantages?

Create an efficient and faster recruitment workflow for your business.
Collect and organize data such as candidate information, job descriptions, interview details, etc.
Automate posting JDs directly to job boards and social media websites.
Access reports on important hiring metrics like time-to-hire, offer-to-accept, etc.

Our Picks for 2020

1. BambooHR

BambooHR is an ideal ATS for small and midsize businesses that have outgrown their spreadsheets and want simpler HR functionality. Recruiters can use the system with their preferred language and currencies.

Features: BambooHR offers two packages for users: The Essentials package and the Advantage package. The Essentials package provides the following features for HR professionals to use:

User-friendly HR management such as email alerts, employee records, document storage, reporting, etc.
Company calendar, mobile app, time-off management, email support, etc.

The Advantage package provides the following:

Onboarding and offboarding of applicants, training tracking, advanced reporting.
Integrations via API, phone support, company branding, custom workflows, advanced analytics, etc.

Pricing: BambooHR has a pay-per-employee per-month pricing model and can customize it to a discounted annual plan method based on the needs of the business. The Essential package starts from $6.19 per-employee per-month and the Advanced package starts from $8.25 per-employee per-month for the Advantage package.

2. Breezy HR

Breezy HR is end-to-end ATS which is suitable for small and medium-sized businesses to attract and hire great employees with minimal efforts. The software focuses more on the user experience and includes features like Video Interviews, Document Signing, and a Chrome extension for a single-click sourcing of candidates from websites such as LinkedIn.

Features: Breezy HR provides the following features:

Drag and drop System to manage candidates, automated posting to job boards, interview guides, and articles.
Custom candidate scorecards, reporting and analytics suite, employee referral portal, etc.

Pricing: Breezy HR provides a free bootstrap package for the hiring of a single job role. Apart from this, the price for hiring for unlimited positions starts from $143.

3. Recooty HR

Recooty, self-titled as "the world's easiest ATS", is the perfect platform for high-tech startups who want to grow their teams with minimal cost and effort. The system also provides an easy-to-make branded career page to display the current openings easily.

Features: Recooty provides the following features:

Automated posting of roles to desired job boards, intelligent resume parsing, managing applicants, etc.
Efficient onboarding, branded career page.

Pricing: The basic version of the software is free with only 3 active job posts and the paid version starts from $29 per month.

4. Jazz HR

JazzHR is a customizable ATS and effortlessly streamlines the entire recruitment process. Apart from the usual ATS features, it also provides assessments for the screening of applicants.

Features: JazzHR provides the following features:

Automated job postings in platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn, background screening of applicants, resume parsing, offer management, and e-paperwork.
Customized solutions for tailored needs, HR reports, and pipeline reports.
Extra add-on features.

Pricing: The basic version of the software is priced at $39 with up to 3 job postings. Other features like a dedicated account manager can be added.

5. Zoho Recruit

Zoho Recruit is a cloud-based Applicant Tracking system and its suite of applications is dedicated to HR teams, recruiting professionals, and temporary staffing agencies.

Features: Zoho Recruit's ATS provides the following features:

Automated job board posting with resume parsing and customized company career pages.
The platform also provides resume storage and interview scheduling.
Integration with Google applications like the Google Calendar.

Pricing: The basic version of the platform is available at $25.00 per month per user.

Summary

Not every organization needs an ATS. When hiring for new jobs, small businesses and startups need to check if their organization has the following requirements:

A higher hiring projection for the next few quarters.
A higher number of people collaborating over hiring decisions.
The need to grow a talent database.
Presence of fiercely growing teams.

If either of the options satisfies, it is highly recommended to go ahead with an ATS that can be integrated with other HR tools such as pre-employment assessments. This allows recruiters to keep a track of all the interviews or tests such as the PHP online test and the excel test.

This article was originally posted here.

Remote Hiring 101: Tools to use

Keerthi Rangan — Thu, 28 May 2020 07:38:39 +0000

Hiring remote employees can benefit your business by bringing in a diverse range of skills that are scarce in your location. In turn, working remotely benefits employees by offering the option to pursue the career they want, without the need to relocate.

Build a strong online presence

Having a good brand and employer reputation will help to attract and retain qualified employees and is beneficial for a business in the long run. Irrespective of the mode of hiring, candidates heavily rely on the organization's digital presence to learn about the company.
Applicants measure the trustworthiness, culture fit, and employee engagement of a company by assessing their online presence. This can be achieved by creating good career pages, active and attractive social media accounts of the organization and their employees.

Killer job descriptions

Good, effective, and unbiased job descriptions help companies attract and retain the right talent as well as boost their reputation.
Tools: Job description generator, Gender Decoder for Job Ads.

Resource: 500+ Job Description Templates

Using remote hiring boards

Consider posting your vacancies on job boards dedicated to remote work.
Job Boards: AngelList, We Work Remotely, Working Nomads, RemoteOK.

Resource: 60 Best Remote Jobs Websites to Find a Great Remote Job (Fast) in 2020

Screening and interviewing applicants

It is recommended to use pre-employment assessments to evaluate the skills of the remote applicants. This can either include testing their aptitude skills or proficiency in programming languages such as Java, Python, PHP or proficiency in using tools such as Microsoft Excel.

It is also recommended to thoroughly research the job role before screening candidates. Websites such as this Java page contains everything about Java.

To screen applicants remotely, the following tools are recommended:

Adaface offers an AI-powered method to automate first-round tech interviews and evaluate candidates for tech roles.
HireVue lets candidates self-schedule interviews to accommodate the time zone differences.
Jobma lets candidates answer your interview questions via video in their own time.

Resource: 52 Pre-Employment Assessment Tools compared

To conduct technical interviews with audio/video capabilities, the following tools are recommended:

PairPro lets interviewers conduct pair-programming tests with developers remotely.
CodeInterview enables companies to conduct coding and phone screen interviews.

For assessing the cultural fit and the EQ of applicants, the following tool is recommended:

Human uses AI to remove unconscious bias in your hiring.

Let me know what other tools you are using for remote hiring in your organizations.

DEV Community: Keerthi Rangan