ATS hiring software: A guide to choosing the right tool

As a recruiter, you spend hours every week digging through email threads and messy spreadsheets for candidate data and context. Not only are you wasting time, but you also risk letting the best candidates fall through the cracks due to a cumbersome workflow.

ATS hiring software offers a solution, but you’ll have to do your homework—assessing features and fit—before selecting a tool. Here, we’ll explain how this software works and how to spot-check functionality before integrating an ATS system into your HR tech stack. 

What ATS hiring software does

Applicant tracking software (ATS) houses candidate information in a centralized location and automates the busywork associated with hiring, from generating job postings to offer letters. With a Kanban-style dashboard, ATS software also enables you to quickly view where every candidate is in the process.

The Society for Human Resource Management reports that companies using an ATS can reduce hiring time by 30%-50%. Here are a few more tasks these tools automate to save this time: 

• Resume parsing and screening 
• Interview scheduling 
• Candidate communication (e.g., follow-ups) 

Common ATS workflows in practice

A shared applicant tracking system adds structure to data management and routing hiring tasks. The following typical ATS workflow shows how this software works in practice.

Step 1: Create a requisition and job posting 

Define the role and job description in a shared location.

Step 2: Publish to job boards and career page 

Distribute the approved role to multiple job boards with a single click. 

Step 3: Collect applications in a shared pipeline 

A Kanban pipeline view makes candidate progress visible in a centralized, easy-to-read location.

Step 4: Evaluate candidates with scorecards

A recruiter leaves a note. The hiring manager sees it before the interview, and everyone uses a shared rubric to assess candidates. Everyone is working from the same up-to-date information at all times. 

Step 5: Communicate with applicants  

Manually or automatically message applicants with updates on progress, like upcoming interviews or pending requests for information,

Step 6: Extend an offer and hand off to onboarding 

Once the team has landed on the right candidate, the ATS automatically generates an offer letter with an e-signature field.

Where ATS fits into your HR tech stack

Every HR tech stack looks a bit different. Some teams choose a standalone ATS and connect it to other systems, like an HRIS, CRM, or sourcing tool. Others prefer an all-in-one Human Capital Management (HCM) platform that houses end-to-end hiring and workforce management workflows in one place. 

The structure of an HR tech stack determines the flow of information. A team using a standalone ATS will need it to push data into other systems, like an HRIS, to populate payroll, benefits, and employee records. And a team whose tech stack is built upon contact-discovery software, like Juicebox, will need to transfer data into the ATS. Fortunately, Juicebox supports one-click export to dozens of ATS systems. Finally, a team using an HCM system will perform the majority of its workflows within the platform.

Core features to prioritize

Not every ATS platform handles basic tasks in the same way. The following features determine functionality.

• Structured evaluation: Pre-built questions and scoring rubrics help interviewers stay consistent as they assess candidates. 

• Guided workflows and onboarding: Clear and customizable prompts make the ATS intuitive to use, limiting the initial onboarding investment and ensuring that the tool drives value in everyday work.

• Career page builder and job description: Publish roles across job boards and your branded careers page without needing a developer. Several ATS tools offer drag-and-drop builders so anyone can build a custom page, regardless of their technical know-how.

• Mobile access: Review candidates and leave feedback on mobile, eliminating the need to always connect from a desktop, which speeds up time-to-hire. 

Non-negotiables for candidate tracking and collaboration

Recruiters are constantly searching for and ranking candidates, and weak filters slow that work down. ATS tools offer structured interview rubrics that help eliminate bias and allow users to tag candidates with descriptors like “Top In Sales,” so that they can later find them easily.

Usability, mobility, and setup fundamentals

Low adoption kills software adoptions, so trial your shortlist of tools to vet whether they’re intuitive and valuable enough for your team to willingly integrate into everyday work. When demo-ing tools, track metrics like the number of clicks it takes to get from a pipeline view to the candidate’s profile. Ideally, the tool should significantly cut down on the time you’re already spending on this work.

Candidate experience and engagement

It doesn’t take much friction for candidates to disappear. ATS tools keep candidate engagement high by automating first-touch contact and follow-ups, as well as interview scheduling, so that the applicant never feels “left on read.”

Reducing application friction

Research from Criteria found that one quarter of job seekers find applications too time-consuming and remove themselves from the process. Shorter forms and mobile-friendly applications simplify job applications and encourage candidates to see them through. An ATS platform can help reduce application friction with mobile-friendly apply flows and pre-filling fields from uploaded resumes or LinkedIn profiles.

Workflow automation and AI tools

ATS automations replace several types of manual recruiting workflows, such as: 

AI-generated job descriptions
AI eliminates writer’s block by helping recruiters draft job descriptions with wording from similar roles—suggesting skills, responsibilities, and qualifications to include. 

Candidate matching and ranking
ATS-native AI translates recruiter searches into vetted results, surfacing candidates from the database who align with role requirements. Juicebox takes this work a step further, enabling hiring teams to use natural language search queries to find net-new candidates or pull up data on existing contacts in an integrated ATS or CRM.

Recruiter walkthroughs
Recruiter walkthroughs keep hiring teams on track by surfacing the right next action at each stage of the process. Rather than leaving recruiters to piece together what comes next, the platform prompts them with context-aware suggestions, like flagging when a candidate has been waiting too long for a response or recommending when to move someone forward.

Governance and guardrails for recruiting automation and AI

AI can speed up busywork, but it doesn’t eradicate the need for human governance in the hiring process. Integrations can break, meaning humans should still be able to perform hiring workflows manually as needed. They should also know how to spot when an AI functionality is glitching, which can lead to incorrect data or step recommendations. 

Having “guardrails” (that is, ongoing maintenance checks) ensures that the AI tools you rely on are working properly, and that you can quickly implement functional workarounds when they aren’t.

Reporting and recruiting analytics

Strong ATS reporting provides the metrics your team needs for constant improvement. Some KPIs to consider when evaluating your hiring process include:

• Time-to-hire: Does it take 3 days or 3 months to hire? Where are the breakdowns?
• Pipeline conversion by stage: If good candidates keep dropping off, re-evaluate your criteria or the quality and consistency of your communication cadences.
• Candidate quality by source: Identify the best hires by channels. Chances are, those are good sources for other good hires.
• Source and lead performance: No one wants a high volume of applicants who don’t make it past the phone interview. 
• Pipeline history and aging: Find roles stuck in the same stage for weeks before they lapse.
• Offer acceptance rate: If candidates frequently decline offers, your compensation or working arrangements may be less attractive than the competition’s.

ATS pricing and plan options

ATS pricing plans usually start with a monthly fee that increases based on feature depth. Here are a few common pricing concepts you’ll encounter as you assess tools.

Integrations with HR, payroll, and sourcing tools

To get the most out of an ATS tool, it should ideally integrate with your existing software. Here’s more on the integration types you’ll come across in your search.

All-in-one HCM vs. best-of-breed ATS with integrations

All-in-one HR platforms combine recruiting with other human resource tasks like payroll, benefits, and onboarding. They work well for teams without the IT support to integrate various tools and ensure accurate data migration between them.

Standalone ATS tools offer flexibility but rely on integrations to connect systems. They tend to work well for recruiting-heavy teams or those with an HRIS in place to receive that handoff.

An advantage of all-in-one tools is their ease of setup. A drawback is that they can lack structured evaluation or advanced search features, which limits consistent candidate evaluation or pipeline functionality. 

How Juicebox connects to an ATS

An ATS manages candidates once they apply, but getting them to apply in the first place happens elsewhere. That’s where a tool like Juicebox comes in. Recruiters find applicants using natural-language search queries and build shortlists inside the software. Juicebox then automatically moves qualified candidates into an ATS without requiring manual data entry.

Your next step: Combine the power of Juicebox and an ATS

An ATS improves visibility of your hiring processes and keeps them moving along. But it won’t find you viable candidates unless they already exist in your database. For fresh leads, you need a candidate discovery tool. 

Juicebox searches over 800 million profiles from over 30 sources using plain language queries. No Boolean strings, no manual cross-referencing across platforms. Describe who you are looking for and get a qualified shortlist in seconds. Then, reach out directly with built-in contact discovery and AI-powered email sequences.

FAQs

What is the difference between an ATS and an HRIS?

An ATS manages the hiring sequences from job posting to offer, and an HRIS takes over after hiring, handling employee records, payroll, and benefits.

Do small businesses need an ATS?

Even if you only occasionally bring on new hires, you can benefit from basic ATS software. SMBs benefit from the shared evaluation frameworks and candidate engagement tools that an ATS provides.

What should I look for in an ATS demo?

Focus on user experience. Have your hiring team give the tool a try, running searches and automations to see first-hand how they’d support everyday work.