Is Your ATS Forcing Candidates to Lie?
Simply Hired Staff
Applicant tracking systems (ATS) enable recruiters and hiring managers to receive, screen, categorize, and process hundreds or thousands of applications. In today’s competitive marketplace, your ATS is a valuable tool in the digital world of talent acquisition. Now that the dust has settled, the time has come to evaluate its flaws and improve its interface with candidates. Cumbersome application processes discourage talented candidates and ultimately, present barriers in screening applicants. There are many articles that coach job seekers on how to overcome the “black hole” of the applicant tracking system. Therefore, candidates’ frustration with these systems is widely known and addressed. There are also numerous articles that warn candidates not to lie on their job applications. However, in many cases, your application and the format for completing your ATS is at fault for false information. Read on to explore the ways that your ATS is working against your recruiting process and how you can weave desired changes into your current mode of operation.
Examples of Questions That Solicit False Information
Take inventory of your application and ATS. Check to see if your ATS does any of the following real-life examples.
- Ask about a candidate’s ethnicity, but does not provide every possible option.
- Force a candidate to choose a reason for leaving a previous job without allowing for any possible answer.
- Require a candidate to recall the exact day and month of early employment positions as well as high school and college graduation.
- Require that a candidate enter information for current employment, even if a candidate is currently unemployed.
- Only allow a candidate to enter previous job titles exactly, rather than “job identifiers,” which might cause them to be filtered out by your ATS (for example, a Graphic Designer may have to enter “Creative Specialist III” unless given the opportunity to customize their role for your ATS.).
- Require a candidate to recall exact starting and ending salaries for previous positions.
- Not provide options for candidates to express their level of education, including graduate courses that did not result in a completed degree.
- Suffer from other usage issues that add time and frustration to your process.
Revise Your ATS If the previous barriers ring true for your ATS, or remind you of other roadblocks that may exist in your system, it is important to assess your process and determine ways to make effective changes. Understandably, there are many challenges in making tweaks to your ATS, as many employees rely on the system. Submitting revisions and making changes can be a long process. See the suggested steps below for addressing changes and making improvements to your ATS:
- Create an evaluation schedule for your ATS.
- Consider an initial evaluation as well as thorough evaluations of the effectiveness of your ATS after one and six months of usage.
- Schedule group meetings at these intervals to collect all suggestions and launch a discussion.
- Avoid peppering the internal point of contact with specific individual requests. Instead, create a tracking document that all users can edit and that the team can consult at the evaluation meetings.
- Determine what information you truly need on your application and what information only adds confusion for job seekers and clutter for recruiters. Rank your needs according to their importance.
- Conduct “product tests” internally and have these selected employees supply feedback on their experience completing your application.
- Designate one internal point of contact for the ATS vendor who is responsible for communicating requested changes.
- Ensure that no one person has complete ownership over the ATS or its changes. A collaborative approach is the best way to create checks and balances in your revisions to your ATS.
- Solicit candidate feedback by surveying those who make it to a final interview or anyone who completes your application. This is the final step after saving their information in your ATS.
Applicant tracking systems are valuable tools in the recruiting process, as long as they do not weigh down your efforts or the top talent pursuing your company. Remember that applications are legal documents, and you do not want to present barriers for candidates seeking to accurately present you with their information. Your ATS is an extension of your brand, and you have an opportunity to partner with candidates through your recruiting tools in your overall efforts to advocate for great talent. Seize your chance to impress these candidates before they even enter your building. You will both benefit from this streamlined process. At Simply Hired we want to navigate the ever-changing landscape of successful recruiting with you. Stay with us over the next few months as we explore best practices in recruiting and look at examples of employers that do it well. You can sign up to receive future newsletters and feature articles in our preference center. Read more articles in this series:
- Be The First To Make The Shift: Attracting Top Talent in the Job Seeker’s Market
- Get Strategic! How to Use Data in Recruiting
- Evaluating Transferable Skills in the Job Seeker’s Market
- How to Avoid the Pitfalls of a Cumbersome Hiring Process
- Conduct a Self-Audit for a Candidate-Friendly Job Application Process
- 4 Surprising Truths About Mobile Recruiting
- 5 Quick Fixes for Mobile-Friendly Recruiting
- 4 Essential Steps for Comprehensive Mobile Recruiting
- Your Message or Theirs? Take Control of Your Employer Brand
- Balancing Act: Ethical Interviewing That Works
- How to Leave a Positive Impression With Rejected Candidates
- Charm Candidates With an Irresistible Company Culture
- Promote From Within or Hire From Without? Six Factors to Consider that Will Shape Your Culture
- How to Prevent Your ATS from Working Against You
