Q&A – Starting an Applicant Tracking System Trial

Posted on March 17th, 2009 by Jake Stupak

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I was going to start a new Q&A section. This is the first related post for applicant tracking systems (ATS) I received from a reader, and I’ve posted the questions exactly how I’ve received them. The questions stem from the reader considering signing up for several ATS trials.

Question

When I fill out these forms and am contacted by one the ATS companies, how does the job posting functionality work in the trial period?

Will I actually be able to post jobs to my company career site during the trial period or is everything is a demo environment and not in real life?

Answer

It really depends how involved of a trial is it. Most trials are simple a “testing ground” to see how the application is going to work. An ATS trial, mainly the Career Center/Applicant Portal, typically will not be implemented on your site. However, depending on how you want to test the system (remember you are the boss), you may work with the vendor to implement it on your site. I would have a few bogus positions and candidates ready to go to start the trial. Please keep in mind your Career Center/Applicant Portal piece should also be created, however, it most like will have limited functionality or basic configuration options.

Question

Am I working with system default job titles or can I have my company job titles loaded in the trial period?

Answer

You should be able to use your company job titles in 99% of ATS trials.

Question

I guess all in all, I am trying to understand how much of this is evaluating a demo site instance of the ATS versus evaluating the ATS as applied to my company dynamics?

Answer
Good question. The first aspect is to address your current situation and then identify any challenges and business objectives you believe an ATS would help you solve and/or improve. Once you have these aspects identified, it should be easier to see if there is a fit for the ATS. Also, you should be willing to work with an ATS vendor as they will most likely have several good suggestions for improvement that you may not have considered. Second, the demo is really just trying to find a solution that works the way you need it to while balancing a good ROI.

If you have any questions in regards this post or ATSs in general, please feel free to contact me.

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2 Responses to “Q&A – Starting an Applicant Tracking System Trial”

  1. John Taylor, on April 23rd, 2009 at 6:25 pm Said:

    Interesting blog post. What would you say was the most important marketing factor?

  2. Jake Stupak, on April 24th, 2009 at 8:40 am Said:

    Hello John,

    Thanks for reading my blog. I’m not exactly sure which specific factor you are referring to, however, here is my first thought in regards to ATS vendors and trials. It is important for ATS vendors to have a clear path laid out for potential clients on what their trial will do for them. I always try to break a trial in to two basic components:
    1. Getting Started
    2. Getting Results
    Many times vendors are relying on clients to understand what they are looking and what to expect. It makes it much easier for clients to determine if they such test drive an ATS if they have a “plan-of-action” which will help them measure results.

    I hope that I came close to answering your question and didn’t totally miss it.

    Best regards,
    Jake