What a difference a year makes. In September 2019, the U.S.
The survey, called “State of
Applicant Tracking Systems
unemployment rate stood at 3.7%, a mark that some economists 2020,” ran in September and
deem “full employment.” A year later, the U.S. September October of 2020. There were
unemployment rate was 7.9%.
usable responses from 285 HR
and recruitment professionals.
This means, of course, that the circumstances surrounding last year’s The study was conducted
survey on applicant tracking systems (ATS) were dramatically different by HR.com through its HR
Research Institute.
from this year’s. In light of the global pandemic and accompanying global recession, some recruitment professionals have been forced The participants are HR
professionals representing
to adopt modified recruitment approaches. These modifications often a broad cross-section of
result in changes in the way ATS are leveraged as well.
employers by number of
employees, ranging from small
HR.com’s HR Research Institute surveyed the human resources (HR) businesses with under 50
community during the autumn of 2020 to learn the details of those employees to enterprises with
20,000 or more employees.
changes.
We’ve summarized the key findings below.
Key
Most organizations have an ATS and more are Finding 1 considering one.
● A substantial majority of HR professionals (73%) say their organizations use an ATS. Thirty-five percent use at least one stand-alone solution and 44% use a recruitment module that is part of a larger human capital management system. Some organizations have both stand-alone solutions and modules that are part of larger systems.
● Large organizations (those with more than 1,000 employees) are most likely to have an ATS, with 88% reporting they have at least one. What’s more, large organizations are about as likely to use a point solution (49%) as a system that is part of a larger HR technology platform (47%).
● A majority (56%) of those without an ATS are either planning to acquire one or considering it.
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The State of Applicant Tracking Systems 2020
www.hr.com | 877-472-6648 | copyright © HR.com 2020
Key
The data suggests that firms that use an ATS have Finding 2 advantages in the area of talent acquisition.
● More than half (54%) of HR professionals say that talent acquisition in their organizations is good or excellent.
● Those organizations that say they’re good at talent acquisition (i.e., high-performing TA organizations) use an ATS at a higher than average rate: 81%. In contrast, only 65% of those with lower-performing TA functions use an ATS.
● A majority of respondents describe their ATS as being essential for adding/exporting candidate information (66%) and sending/organizing messages to candidates (59%). Nearly half say essential capabilities include scheduling/calendaring (49%) and providing access on mobile devices (48%).
● Managing the volume of applications is the most widely cited benefit of using an ATS (71%) and reducing time-to-hire is the second most widely cited benefit (60%).
Key
Despite the utility of ATS, many HR professionals still Finding 3 say that, for now, their systems suffer from a number of weaknesses.
● Just 46% of respondents say their ATS is good or very good at automatically matching candidates to the right job postings and only 47%
say they are good or very good at gathering and integrating employee referrals. What they are best at, of course, is tracking candidates as they move through the recruitment process (81%).
● Integration with other technology systems remains a challenge in some areas. Although there is fairly widespread integration with HRIS/HRMS, assessments and E-verify, there is considerably less integration with reference checking, candidate satisfaction data, and video interviewing platforms.
● Only a minority of participants agree that their ATS enables them to locate internal talent (41%) or helps identify candidates who are passively looking for jobs (40%).
● When asked to identify what they like least about their ATS, the most common response is that their system does not have enough of the features users need (40%), followed by the complaint that their system does not have good reporting/analytics functionality.
● More than two-fifths (44%) say their ATS offers no way of gauging job candidate experiences. Among those with systems that can gauge such experience, 53% describe that experience as good or excellent.
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The State of Applicant Tracking Systems 2020
www.hr.com | 877-472-6648 | copyright © HR.com 2020
In terms of their ATS usage, organizations with high-Key
performing TA functions are overall more satisfied with Finding 4 their ATS than lower-performing firms.
● High-performing TA organizations get higher levels of performance from their ATS across the board. One example is that 77% of high-performing TA firms say their ATS is good at customizing the application process, compared to just 34% of lower-performing TA firms. Another is that high-performing TA organizations say their ATS offers candidates a high-quality experience at a much higher rate than their lower-performing counterparts do—77% to just 36%.
● Why do high-performing TA firms provide a better overall candidate experience? One key factor may be that they are more likely to gauge the candidate experience. Among those that do measure employee experience as well as candidate satisfaction data, high-performing TA firms are considerably more likely to use candidate surveys and obtain written feedback from candidates.
● On a more basic level, only 51% of lower-performing TA organizations say their ATS is easy to use whereas 86% of high-performing TA firms say the same.
Participants are excited about some recent Key
developments and are expecting advancements over the Finding 5 next three to five years.
● When responding to a question about which recent improvements and innovations are most exciting, participants were most likely to select:
text messaging capability to improve candidate engagement integration with a new hire onboarding process improved capability to ‘autofill’ applications from candidates’
resumes and online social profiles
integration with online social media sites
● When responding to a question about the most beneficial ATS
enhancements over the next three to five years, respondents were most likely to select:
greater personalization
improved assessment and filtering tools ability to anonymize applicants and/or candidates to reduce the potential for hiring bias
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The State of Applicant Tracking Systems 2020
www.hr.com | 877-472-6648 | copyright © HR.com 2020
Most organizations have been adapting their technology Key
systems and recruitment processes to circumstances Finding 6 associated with the Covid-19 pandemic:
● Seventy-eight percent say they have taken talent acquisition actions in response to the pandemic. Among these organizations: 89% have adopted some form of video conferencing platform with 60% saying they have begun doing more interviews virtually
56% have adopted some electronic signature application 24% have implemented new technologies to handle remote hiring issues
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The State of Applicant Tracking Systems 2020
www.hr.com | 877-472-6648 | copyright © HR.com 2020
