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Technology is great. Efficiency, availability and infallible memory are just a few benefits that new technology can bring. For HR professionals and job seekers, Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) promise a better experience for all – but do they deliver?
In her article “When Applicant Tracking Systems Attack” (ERE.net, July 26, 2012), Janine Truitt describes the utopia that is the ATS. And then she lays out the reality:
The truth is recruiters spend more time troubleshooting and working around the things that don’t work in the ATS than they do enjoying the inherent benefits of the system. The other truth is jobseekers spend more time concerned about whether their resume has been received and/or the status of their application to truly have what we call a “positive” end user experience. Now that we know the truth we realize that both sides are far too involved in managing the system and its outputs to experience it in all its glory.
Truitt then suggests five ways the ATS environment and approach can be improved to everyone’s benefit. While I mostly agree, I am less confident that HR professionals and vendors will heed the advice; the promise of efficiency can result in embracing shortcuts. Truitt’s final point to those who develop and implement ATS is the most important:
While you are focused on user experience don’t forget the reason why you exist in the first place: the jobseekers. If jobseekers are so overwhelmed by the obstacles of the system that they fail to apply at all, we all lose.
We work with job seekers. We’ve been job seekers. There is nothing more frustrating than a process that makes it impossible to apply or to feel lost (misplaced?) in the process. We know that too many qualified candidates never hear back from hiring organizations, and are left to wonder if they are even “in the system.”
We certainly use technology here at DMTalentNow – but we also talk to candidates and hiring managers. What is interesting to us is to learn how apparently unusual that is.
