Can the Government Develop an ATS?
There is no doubt that the government could in fact develop an applicant tracking system (ATS). I’m sure there dozens of developed ones out there lurking around today. However, what would be the cost associated with a big one? I mean really big one, such as one that could accommodate U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). You would have countless hours of meetings with multiple task committees to reinvent the wheel for a solution that has been around for decades. However, this is exactly what seems to be starting right now.
The recent article OPM Issues Guide to Overhauling Federal Hiring Process, posted on GovernmentExecutive.com, talks about how the OPM is looking at simplifying the federal hiring process and improving the applicant’s experience. The article itself is okay, but the interesting part is actually reading the hiring guide. It clearly states plans, recommendations, etc, on how an applicant tracking system needs to be developed. With the couple years I spent working for the government, I know they will most likely develop a solution from scratch…which will undoubtedly be too complex, over budget and consist of many missed milestones. If I could ask the director of this project a question, it would be “Why are no third party ATS consultants mentioned in the plan?”
Let’s hope there is a government ATS Vendor out there that considers this guide to be a free lead.
Filed under: Applicant Tracking, General
Tags: Government Applicant Tracking Systems, Government ATS
