Applicant Tracking Systems have been playing a huge role in talent acquisition for quite some time. It saves time for the recruiters by clearing out the resumes that do not fit the required role. The main function an ATS plays is to automate the end-to-end recruiting process by ranking candidates in a single database. But ATS also comes with a number of disadvantages. The standard applicant systems cannot review resumes the way humans do.

The HR industry has been implementing AI based technologies to solve different hiring issues and improve their process. The next development in talks is the combination of artificial intelligence and Applicant Tracking Systems. Different speculations are buzzing around the use of ATS and whether the blend of both will help HR managers get the best of both quality talent and seamless process in the long run? Can AI-integrated ATS surpass its previous limitations and help companies in better hiring? Let’s find out.

01- Smarter Evaluation of Resumes:
A very common and one of the biggest limitations of an ATS system is that it often rejects qualified candidates and shows resumes that are completely irrelevant to the job, simply because the selected resumes contained the ‘ideal keywords’ or are formatted in a way easily comprehended by an ATS. This can cause problems for talent acquisition specialists, since ATS ends up doubling their work, instead of solving their problems. This further stretches the length of the hiring process, impacting the overall candidate experience and hampering the employer brand. Introducing artificial intelligence and machine learning into recruitment will increase the efficiency of the process. AI will improve these pain points of an ATS. AI will help the system understand what recruiters are looking for by teaching the ATS to not reject the resumes which have used a different set of keywords or formatting.

02- Stacking Ranking Prospective Candidate Profiles:
Artificial intelligence can help in a lot more ways than keyword matching and efficient screening. An AI-powered ATS can not only help to find best profiles, it can even stack them rank-wise to provide recruiters a clear list of top candidates most suitable for the job. Criteria can be decided on the basis of the job profile, skillset, work experience, salary expectations etc. AI will accommodate ATS to study every piece of vital information on a resume and decide how well it matches the job description. On the basis of this, ATS will be able to narrow down better candidate applications. This makes it easier for recruiters to make better hiring decisions.
 
03- Generating Talent Pool by re-targeting candidates for future jobs
 With the help of Artificial Intelligence, companies can make the most of the current and past resumes in the system. AI-powered ATS can segregate similar nature of rejected applications and create a new talent pool.Conversion rate of a past applicant is higher since they had shown interest in the company and employer brand. Thus, in case of filling new vacancies, these talent pools can be considered first. The employers can engage with the candidates directly through one platform instead of cold calling or using other networking platforms. This also helps team members collaborate easily, as they can track the progress of the recruitment process. Hence an AI integrated ATS also ensures better collaboration, saves time and cost per hire.

04- Efficient Agency Performance

An AI- integrated ATS will give recruitment agencies a sharper eye to find candidate profiles faster for their clients. This can be easily done by accepting new candidates or scanning the agency talent pipeline.

Also, recruitment agencies will be able to create better candidate pools so that no talent goes into waste. These passive candidates can save a lot of time for agencies and strengthen their network. AI can also help agencies create and automate better job descriptions and source profiles from other niche job boards as well. These factors will improve the overall quality of candidates the recruitment agency can source and will improve its performance.

05-Crafting a Better Recruitment Process
An AI-powered ATS can help talent acquisition specialists improve their overall hiring process. The analytics will provide companies insights related to the hiring process and quality of the candidate pool. On the basis of this data, recruiters can spot any inefficiency in the process and take adequate measures. After the changes are made, managers can measure the effectiveness of the same through analytics and further optimise the process. With the time saved with an AI integrated ATS, talent acquisition specialists will be able to focus more on the elements that require human interaction, such as maintaining relationships and employer branding. This will make the overall recruiting efforts more fruitful for the business.

The ATS systems most companies use today are going to transition very soon. Will ATS systems ever become a thing of the past? The answer is hard to find. Companies will always need tools to make their hiring process smooth and efficient. As the future ATS will continue to learn and evolve, the recruiters will rely on it completely to perform the repetitive tasks and optimise their operations.

Also Read - Revenue-based Funding : Taking Alternate Financing Mainstream!