What is Zoho ATS? How Does it Work?

When a recruiter is looking for the best talent, he/she would most probably do everything right, but what happens when there are more than a thousand applications that one receives for an entry to mid-level position, and they do not have an ATS? Without software like Zoho ATS, how does one scan all these resumes, assign a score to them, and even design screening assessments that decide whether the candidate must proceed to the next stage?

What is Zoho ATS?

Zoho ATS, a part of Zoho Recruit, is an applicant tracking system that enables the management of candidates in the talent pipeline, right from sourcing to onboarding. It includes sourcing summaries for the hiring process, supports automated workflows, generates templates for screening assessments and supports calendaring for interviews etc.

What are the Benefits of Zoho ATS to Recruiters?

Many of Zoho ATS’ features are very beneficial to recruiters at every stage of the recruitment process. Some of the benefits are:

1. Increased Efficiency

Zoho ATS saves recruiters a lot of time by automating resume screening, managing candidate and recruiter responses, and even calendaring interviews, automatically sending invites to everyone on the panel whenever an interview is scheduled.

2. Higher Quality of Hire

The quality of hire also improves a lot when an ATS is used, particularly a full-fledged one as Zoho ATS. This is because the candidates who are not eligible are filtered out at the resume screening and subsequent screening stages.

3. Avoid Hiring Biases

Hiring biases is a big problem when it comes to hiring, especially in poorly managed recruitment teams or at agencies you just can’t trust. And most great recruitment agencies know that an ATS will help remove any hint of human bias in the initial stages.

4. Cost-effectiveness

By automating tedious tasks, an ATS helps save a lot of time and time saved is money. So, an ATS becomes a very cost-effective option. It also reduces the risk of a bad hire and need to rehire, which also could raise the costs.

5. Improves Recruiter Experience

An ATS also enables collaboration among the members of the HR team. It does so by allowing members of the team, even those working remotely, to collaborate and manage the candidate experience. They can co-create job description drafts, customize the ATS itself and so much more. An ATS also helps simplify compliance management.

6. Improved Candidate Experience

An ATS provides a personal and favorable candidate experience by managing candidate responses and even auto-replying to them, sending customized mail for screening and interviews and so much more. Zoho Recruit, Zoho’s ATS offering, also comes with a candidate CRM.

What are the best practices for Zoho ATS Implementation?

1. Document why you are implementing the ATS

Define your business needs and specifically the need for an ATS. Why do you want to implement Zoho ATS, what would the scope be, and what are the goals that you hope to achieve with it?

2. Get everyone on board

Get the support of the stakeholders in the company, specifically senior leaders. Use data to communicate the benefits of Zoho ATS and use case studies, if need be, to convince your management.

3. Clarify goals

Go back to the end goals of Zoho ATS and clarify these with all stakeholders. Decide on what the success metrics would be, and make sure that you have both short-term and long-term goals. Make sure you rework your goals in the long run and keep modifying them over time.

4. Identify and use vendor help

There are some instances when vendors can be of great help, especially in the initial setup and continued support too when the team is unclear of the features of Zoho ATS. Work closely with your vendors, to ensure that the entire team benefits from the ATS.

5. Plan risk mitigation and go-live options

Before the ATS goes live, recount the problems that you may encounter. How will you manage the integrations that you want to proceed with and what risks exist currently if you decide to proceed with the ATS and modify the way your recruitment works? These are some of the things you must consider.

Are You Looking for an ATS Implementation Partner?

Did you just get the Zoho Recruit software and are you looking to benefit from the ATS? If you do not have prior experience with the ATS solution, then you would need to avail yourself of the services of an Zoho ATS implementation partner. No matter what stage of the recruitment process you are in, an ATS can prove incredibly beneficial.

Talk to Alp Consulting, a company with almost a decade of experience in Zoho implementation and consulting services, to help you take the next conducive step for your business, when it comes to recruitment. Let us get you some quality hires, with an ATS full of several smart features and do it in the least time possible.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do you need an ATS?

An Applicant Tracking System can help you track the candidate journey from sourcing to screening and to interviewing stages, automating several repetitive HR tasks along the way, reducing the time to hire significantly.

How Does an ATS Work?

ATS works by integrating with pre-existing tools and software in the business. It is generally set up and supported by the vendor as a cloud application and is accessible on any device. It automates several processes in the recruitment workflow.

What are the benefits of an ATS?

An ATS can improve the efficiency of the recruitment process and keep recruiters engaged, allowing them to concentrate on the more strategic aspects of recruitment while the repetitive processes are automated. It also helps remove bias from the recruitment process.