Applicant Tracking System Problems: Why Your ATS Isn’t Working

An applicant tracking system (ATS) is a software application that enables staffing and recruiting firms to track candidates throughout the recruiting and hiring process and beyond.

The primary purpose of an ATS is to streamline the hiring process, which should improve recruiter productivity and workflow efficiency. However, many of the ATS solutions on the market today don’t provide staffing and recruiting firms with the flexibility, agility, and scalability they need to stay competitive.

Let’s dispel some common misconceptions about ATS technology, address the limitations of mainstream ATS solutions, and explore how next-generation ATS applications are shaping the future of staffing and recruiting technology.

ATS Expectations vs. Reality

Many staffing and recruiting firms try to use their ATS to fulfill both the customer relationship management (CRM) and the applicant-tracking components of the recruiting process.

However, most of the top-of-funnel sales and marketing activities required to get candidates into your database are driven by a CRM, such as Salesforce. ATS applications do not have the same capabilities, so if you send an ATS to do a CRM’s job, the quality and consistency of your candidate pool data will suffer.  

In fact, despite their firms having invested time and money in creating a database of candidates, many recruiters turn to LinkedIn to source candidates because the information on LinkedIn has often been updated more recently than the information in their ATS.

A dedicated CRM that feeds data into your ATS lets you deploy outbound messaging and an inbound strategy that draws qualified candidates into the pipeline so you can nurture and maintain engagement and keep your database up to date.

Common Limitations of Traditional ATS Solutions

For many years, ATS providers have taken an all-in-one approach to building staffing and recruiting software. However, this method decreases efficiency and productivity by creating significant roadblocks.

Rigid Processes‍

Traditional ATS solutions enforce rigid processes in which the candidate progresses through a defined set of steps, regardless of whether those steps apply to the type of hiring being done.

For example, direct hire, temporary staffing, managed services, and recruitment outsourcing all require different processes with unique stages and sequences, but some ATS solutions do not allow for this flexibility.

Your ATS needs to be able to adapt to the different stages inherent in each type of hiring, different sequencing of those stages, and different actions involved in the sequences of those stages.

Lack of Data Sharing Between CRM and ATS Systems

If your sales team uses the Salesforce CRM to find customers, they are likely adding qualified candidates to the database. However, if your CRM isn’t sharing that data with your ATS, the recruiters can’t see it. This may lead them to work outside the system, using Excel spreadsheets and email to manage their recruiting workflows manually.

When you create a tech stack in which your ATS, CRM, and other business process-specific applications connect seamlessly, your firm can take advantage of Salesforce’s industry-best automation, visualization, analytics, and AI in an ecosystem that enables recruiters to make better, faster placements and increase revenue.

Decentralized Candidate Database‍

The candidate database is one of a staffing and recruiting firm's most valuable assets. And yet, many ATS solutions have implementation challenges that often cause recruiters to silo candidate data, making it almost worthless to the business.

Without a single source of truth for candidate data, recruiters risk duplicating efforts by independently sourcing the same candidates or missing out on placements because they didn’t know another recruiter was working with the perfect candidate.

Implementing an ATS that compiles all candidate data into a centralized repository ensures every recruiter has access to accurate, consistent candidate information and full visibility into prospecting efforts.
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How the New Generation of ATS is Solving These Pain Points

The days of the all-in-one ATS solution are over. Today’s staffing and recruiting firms don’t want to be locked into someone else’s idea of a recruiting workflow. They want their ATS to help them streamline processes, make data-backed decisions, and scale to meet their needs today and in the future.

The new generation of ATS does all of that and more.

Automation

‍Implementing an ATS that automates traditionally manual processes—posting jobs, screening candidates, sending follow-up emails, and scheduling interviews—frees up recruiters to focus their time and energy on the strategic activities they do best, such as building relationships with candidates and clients.

Insight

‍Artificial intelligence connects the data between your ATS and business systems to create full visibility into relationships with clients and candidates and provide valuable analytics that enhance efficiency and improve outcomes for sales and recruiting teams.

Flexibility

Unlike all-in-one ATS solutions that dictate workflows for you, next-generation ATS applications let you “bolt on” a tech stack, so you can choose your workflows, define your business processes, and implement best-in-class technology for sourcing candidates, pipelining clients, and accelerating time to hire.

Put Next-Gen ATS Technology to Work for You

An all-in-one approach to staffing and recruiting software simply doesn’t work. Next-generation applicant tracking systems are purpose-built to overcome the limitations of traditional ATS software by empowering staffing and recruiting firms to assemble the tech stacks they need to create efficient, automated workflows that simplify and streamline processes.

Asymbl Recruiter Suite is a next-gen solution that enhances your recruitment strategies by making it easy to configure hiring journeys and workflows that optimize candidate engagement and rapidly fill roles with exceptional talent.

FAQs

Q1: What are the most common applicant tracking system problems? 

A: The most common applicant tracking system problems include rigid workflows that cannot adapt to different hiring types, poor data sharing between the ATS and CRM, a fragmented candidate database, and lack of integration with other business tools. These issues slow hiring, reduce recruiter efficiency, and lead teams to work outside the system entirely.

Q2: Why do recruiters avoid using their ATS? 

A: Recruiters bypass their ATS when the data inside it is outdated or incomplete. When the CRM is not feeding data into the ATS, candidate records fall behind and recruiters turn to LinkedIn or manual spreadsheets instead. A disconnected tech stack is the root cause in most cases.

Q3: How do applicant tracking system problems affect the candidate experience? 

A: When an ATS has rigid processes or poor communication features, candidates receive little to no status updates on their applications. This leads to application abandonment, negative word of mouth, and loss of top talent to competitors with faster, more responsive hiring processes.

Q4: When should a staffing firm replace its ATS? 

A: A staffing firm should consider replacing its ATS when recruiters are consistently working outside the system, candidate data is siloed or duplicated, the system cannot support multiple hiring types like direct hire and temporary staffing, or when it cannot connect to the CRM and other core business tools.