How to choose an applicant tracking system

If you’re exploring recruitment software options, one of the most important decisions you’ll make is selecting the right applicant tracking system (ATS) for your organisation. With so many platforms on the market, it pays to go in with a clear strategy.

Key points

Before evaluating any platform, get clear on why you need an ATS, whether that’s reducing time-to-hire, improving retention or cutting administrative overhead
Evaluate each platform’s feature set against your broader organisational goals, including automation capabilities and onboarding support
Prioritise systems that connect seamlessly with your existing HR and payroll tools for a smooth implementation
Look for vendors who offer a dedicated account manager and a free demo so you can assess the platform before committing

What is an ATS?
Who uses an ATS?
What size company is an ATS for?
Why do you need an ATS?
How to choose an ATS
What features to look for
Questions to ask when evaluating vendors
How to spot a high-quality ATS provider
How to guarantee a successful implementation

What is an ATS?

An applicant tracking system is recruitment software used by HR professionals and talent acquisition teams to attract, review, manage, hire and onboard new employees. For most HR departments, it has become an essential tool. Without one, the recruitment process can be unnecessarily complex and time-consuming for both recruiters and candidates alike.

A well-chosen ATS allows organisations to publish job vacancies, review applications and manage candidates consistently throughout the hiring pipeline, supporting a positive candidate experience and a higher quality of hire.

Who uses an ATS?

Applicant tracking systems are used by in-house recruitment teams, hiring managers and HR professionals who want to improve their end-to-end recruitment process, reduce dependency on agencies and bring hiring operations in-house.

More than 97% of Fortune 500 companies currently rely on an ATS to manage high volumes of applicants and streamline their hiring operations.

What size company is an ATS for?

ATS platforms are particularly well-suited to organisations making multiple hires each year and handling large volumes of applications, making them a natural fit for medium, large and enterprise-level businesses.

That said, smaller organisations can benefit just as much. Many platforms are purpose-built for SMEs and choosing one that scales with your growth ambitions means you won’t find yourself outgrowing your system at a critical moment. Flexibility and scalability should be high on your checklist regardless of your current size.

Why do you need an ATS?

Understanding your own motivations is a crucial first step. Are you looking to reduce time spent on administrative tasks? Improve the candidate experience to lower dropout rates? Ensure compliance with GDPR or background check requirements?

Whatever your recruitment challenges, an ATS is likely to offer a solution. Identifying your specific needs upfront also helps you build a compelling business case for senior stakeholders, and ensures you’re evaluating the right features rather than getting distracted by functionality you’ll never use.

How to choose an ATS

Before committing to any platform, make sure the investment is genuinely warranted. Ask yourself: are you struggling to attract suitable candidates? Are you over-relying on external agencies to fill roles? Do you lack visibility into your hiring data?

If any of these resonate, the case for an ATS is strong. From there, the following guide will help you navigate the selection process with confidence.

What features to look for when choosing an ATS

Modern applicant tracking systems are feature-rich platforms and it can be easy to get overwhelmed. To cut through the noise, here are seven of the most valuable capabilities to prioritise.

1. Integrated Multi-Poster

A strong ATS will distribute your job adverts across hundreds of job boards simultaneously, dramatically increasing your reach without adding to your workload. Manually posting roles across individual platforms is a significant drain on recruiter time, an integrated multi-poster eliminates that entirely, letting you publish to multiple channels, social media accounts and career sites in a single click.

2. Generative AI Capabilities

AI is now firmly embedded in the recruitment landscape and the best ATS platforms are incorporating it meaningfully. When evaluating options, look carefully at how AI is being used, some vendors blur the line between genuine AI functionality and standard automation, which are distinct and offer different value.

Generative AI tools within an ATS can help you draft job descriptions and adverts quickly, freeing recruiters to focus on screening and engaging candidates rather than writing copy.

3. Video Interviewing Functionality

Remote hiring has become a permanent fixture in most organisations and video interviewing capability is now an expectation rather than a bonus. An ATS with built-in video interviewing tools makes first-stage interviews more flexible for both candidates and hiring teams, reducing the time spent coordinating in-person meetings while still enabling meaningful early-stage assessment.

4. Integrated Career Site Builder

Your careers site is often a candidate’s first real impression of your organisation. A well-designed, informative careers page, showcasing your culture, benefits and open roles, attracts higher-quality applicants who are genuinely engaged before they even apply.

Look for an ATS that includes a drag-and-drop careers site builder, allowing your team to create a professional, on-brand destination without needing developer support.

5. Scorecards

Structured, criteria-based scoring helps ensure every candidate is assessed consistently and fairly. Research suggests that unconscious bias affects around 78% of recruitment processes, leading to strong candidates being overlooked. Scorecard functionality within an ATS introduces objectivity into the shortlisting stage, resulting in a better-qualified interview pool and more defensible hiring decisions.

6. Candidate Assessments

Manual CV screening can take HR professionals up to 23 hours per vacancy and studies suggest the ideal candidate goes unidentified in nearly nine out of ten hiring processes. Pre-application assessments, covering skills, aptitude and personality, allow you to filter applicants more efficiently and surface the best-fit candidates earlier in the process.

Questions to ask when choosing an ATS

Your recruitment needs are unique and no single platform suits every organisation equally. Make sure to ask prospective vendors the following:

How does the system support hiring compliance?
How does it handle the onboarding process for new starters?
What is the vendor’s approach to data security and GDPR?
What training and ongoing support is provided?

These are a starting point, depending on your organisation’s specific context, you may have additional requirements around integration, reporting or volume capacity.

How to spot a high-quality ATS provider

Independent reviews are among the most reliable indicators of a vendor’s true performance. While any company can curate favourable testimonials on their own website, third-party review platforms provide a more honest picture.

Look for vendors with a strong volume of reviews (not just a handful) and an average rating above 4 stars, this is generally a reliable signal of a trustworthy, well-supported product. Take time to read through the feedback in detail, paying particular attention to comments about customer support, ease of implementation and how the platform handles issues when they arise.

How to guarantee a successful ATS implementation

Once you’ve selected your platform, a thoughtful rollout makes all the difference. Five principles tend to underpin successful implementations:

Access best-practice guidance from your vendor from day one
Get internal buy-in across HR, hiring managers and relevant stakeholders
Set clear, realistic expectations for how the system will be used
Maintain regular communication throughout the transition period
Invest in thorough training so every user is confident from the outset

A well-implemented ATS delivers returns quickly, but only if the people using it are fully equipped to get the most from it.