How to Develop Applicant Tracking Software?

In today’s competitive job market, organizations face the challenge of effectively managing their recruitment processes. Many businesses turn to applicant tracking software (ATS) to streamline the hiring process. ATS is a powerful tool that helps companies manage job applications, track candidates, and improve hiring efficiency.

If you’re looking to develop your applicant tracking software, this comprehensive blog will walk you through each step of the development process.

So, let’s get started!

Applicant Tracking Software: What & Why?

Applicant tracking software is a robust enterprise solution that aims to streamline and automate the hiring and recruitment processes in startups, SMEs, and Fortune 500 companies. It supports practical application evaluation, application tracking, and organization job posting management. Manual tracking and evaluation become time-consuming and prone to mistakes as more candidates compete for each job. To simplify the hiring process, increase communication, and improve decision-making, applicant tracking software provides a consolidated platform.

Why Invest in Applicant Tracking Software Development?

As evident, companies, whether big or small, are actively investing in applicant tracking software development. But what is compelling them to do so? In other words, why are companies leveraging digital transformation services to optimize their HR and recruitment operations? Let’s look at some excellent benefits that had lured them to do so!

Streamlining the Hiring Process

Traditional hiring processes entail human-dependent tasks and documentation prone to mistakes and delays. Through the centralization of candidate data, the automation of time-consuming procedures, and the provision of real-time cooperation between hiring managers and recruiters, applicant tracking system software streamlines the hiring process.

These systems facilitate the procedure by having user-friendly features and straightforward interfaces, allowing you to concentrate on selecting the finest applicants for your company.

Enhancing Candidate Experience

To draw top talent, providing a good applicant experience is essential. By creating a smooth and effective application process, applicant tracking software improves the candidate’s experience. Candidates feel involved and informed throughout the recruiting process thanks to automatic progress updates and mobile-optimized application forms.

Moreover, this robust enterprise solution also puts applicant experience first, which eventually helps you improve the perception of your company and raise the possibility of making high-caliber personnel.

Customizable Workflows

Every business has a different hiring process. That’s why companies use custom applicant tracking software that meets their unique hiring needs. By defining steps, setting up approval procedures, and configuring alerts, you can ensure your hiring procedure complies with the organizational structure. You can customize the program to your demands and increase team productivity with the help of customizable processes.

Advanced Reporting and Analytics

Making decisions based on data is crucial in today’s competitive environment. Advanced reporting and analytics feature of applicant tracking software give valuable insights into your recruitment data. These tools enable you to make well-informed decisions, improve your recruiting practices, and assess the performance of your recruitment initiatives.

Top Key Features to Consider During Applicant Tracking System Software Development

The key features to consider are: –

Resume Parsing

Manually examining each resume is a thing of the past. Your applicant tracking software will benefit from the addition of resume processing technology, which will free up recruiters’ meaningful time. Recruiters can concentrate on analyzing prospects rather than data input by using software to automatically extract pertinent information from resumes, such as contact information, job experience, and education.

Customizable Workflows

Every business has its hiring procedure. Therefore, your applicant tracking software must provide flexible workflow functionality. It should be possible for recruiters to customize the software to fit their hiring processes, resulting in a smooth and individualized experience.

Collaborative Hiring

Recruiting frequently requires a collaborative effort with several stakeholders and decision-makers. Your software’s integration of collaborative recruiting capabilities makes it simple for team members to communicate, exchange feedback, and assess candidates. The decision-making process is streamlined, and good communication is promoted.

Automated Job Board Posting

It might take a lot of time to post job vacancies on several job boards. Thanks to automated job board posting functionality, recruiters can easily publish job advertisements on several platforms, reaching a broader audience. The function does away with the necessity for manual posting and guarantees timely job posting.

AI-Powered Candidate Matching

It might take time to discover the ideal applicant for a position. But don’t worry! Matching candidates with AI can be helpful . Using artificial intelligence, your custom enterprise solutions will examine job criteria and compare them to applicants’ abilities and credentials. Thanks to this sophisticated function, finding the ideal candidate for any particular post is now more likely.

Also Read: How to Develop AI Recruitment Software?

Interview Scheduling

Coordinating interviews with candidates can be a logistical challenge. Integrating interview scheduling functionality within your applicant tracking software simplifies the process. Recruiters can send interview invitations, view candidate availability, and automatically schedule interviews, saving time and reducing the risk of scheduling conflicts.

Communication Templates

For a pleasant candidate experience, it’s essential to maintain regular, professional communication with applicants. Recruiters can send tailored communications, such as invitations to interviews, rejection emails, or offer letters, by making pre-defined communication templates available. The function ensures that your company’s brand and values are represented in every encounter.

Mobile-Friendly Accessibility

Flexibility is essential in the fast-paced world of today. Mobile access to your applicant tracking system software would enable recruiters to analyze applications and manage the recruiting process while on the road. Improved productivity and protection against missing out on top talent even while recruiters are away from their workstations are two benefits of mobile-friendly accessibility.

Integration with Background Check Services

An essential component of the recruiting process is confirming candidates’ backgrounds and qualifications. The procedure is streamlined by integrating your software with background check providers. By starting background checks straight from the candidate tracking system, recruiters can save time and guarantee complete assessments.

Analytics and Reporting

Making decisions based on data is becoming increasingly crucial in recruiting. Your software’s analytics and reporting capabilities offer valuable insights into hiring parameters, including hiring time, source efficacy, and applicant demographics. With this data’s help, recruiters can better plan their hiring processes and make wise judgments.

Social Media Integration

Social media has become a potent tool for finding and connecting with candidates. When social media platforms are integrated into your applicant tracking system, recruiters can swiftly identify prospects through professional networks and interact with them on social media. Thanks to this functionality, your recruitment efforts will reach a wider audience, which also improves employer branding.

Skill and Behavioral Assessments

It is essential to evaluate both their abilities and behaviors to decide if an applicant is qualified for a position. Including skill and behavioral evaluation capabilities in your program makes it possible for recruiters to make unbiased judgments about prospects. These evaluations offer insightful information and aid in locating the best candidates for future consideration.

We looked at the most advanced features to consider while developing applicant tracking software. You can improve the effectiveness of the hiring process, enhance the applicant experience, and ultimately make better hiring decisions by implementing these elements into your software.

Keep in mind that an application tracking system with plenty of features may alter the game for both businesses and recruiters. So go ahead, embrace innovation, and create a great applicant tracking system that satisfies the demands of modern hiring by partnering with a reliable custom software development company!

How to Develop Applicant Tracking Software?

To develop a robust applicant tracking software, you need to follow the following steps: –

Know the Requirements

Understanding your applicant tracking software specifications is crucial before beginning the application-tracking system software development process. This entails performing market research, examining user requirements, and determining the essential features distinguishing your ATS from the competitors. You could devise a solution that successfully solves the unique demands of HR and recruiting professionals by identifying their pain spots.

Design and User Experience

The next stage is to design the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) of your ATS after the requirements have been established. A smooth and understandable user experience depends on a well-designed UI/UX. During the design stage, take into account the following factors:

User Interface Design

Create a simple, aesthetically pleasing, and navigable UI. Keep your application’s layout, typography, and color palette uniform. Ensure that critical features are easily accessible and that the material is organized.

User Experience Design

Emphasize making the experience simple and easy to use. Consider the end users, such as hiring managers and recruiters, and design the interface with them in mind. Reduce the number of clicks necessary to do typical operations by using clear, succinct language, providing helpful tooltips, and doing so.

Database and Data Management

Data management plays a significant role in applicant tracking software. Choosing the appropriate database management system is so essential. When selecting a database system, keep things like scalability, performance, and data security in mind. Applicant tracking software development frequently uses MySQL, PostgreSQL, and MongoDB as databases.

Ensure your database structure is constructed correctly so data can be stored and retrieved quickly. Create tables to house applicant data, job listings, application statuses, and other pertinent information. Put strong data validation and security standards in place to safeguard private candidate data.

Also Read: How Can AI and Data Management Transform Businesses?

Choose the Right Tech Stack

Choosing the right tech stack is essential because it directly impacts your applicant tracking software’s performance, scalability, security, and maintainability. Let’s explore the critical components in a robust tech stack for building applicant tracking software: –

Apart from the basic tech stack, if you aim to add AI-based functionalities in your solution, then here’s the tech stack that can be benefcial:

AI Tools and Tech Stack for ATS Development:

1. Natural Language Processing (NLP):

• Tools: NLTK (Natural Language Toolkit), spaCy, Stanford NLP, Gensim
• Use cases: Resume parsing, sentiment analysis, job description matching, keyword extraction

2. Machine Learning (ML):

• Libraries: TensorFlow, Keras, Scikit-learn, PyTorch
• Use cases: Candidate ranking, predictive analytics, automated resume screening, skill matching

3. Chatbots:

• Frameworks: IBM Watson Assistant, Dialogflow, Botpress
• Use cases: Candidate engagement, automated interview scheduling, answering FAQs

4. Computer Vision:

• Libraries: OpenCV, TensorFlow, PyTorch
• Use cases: Face recognition, video interviews analysis, resume/CV screening using image extraction

5. Data Analytics and Visualization:

• Libraries: Pandas, Matplotlib, Tableau, Power BI
• Use cases: Reporting and analytics, data-driven decision making, visualizing recruitment metrics

6. Cloud Services:

• Infrastructure: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
• Storage: Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, Azure Blob Storage
• Deployment: Docker, Kubernetes

Start the Development

The design and prototypes are turned into a fully working applicant-tracking program throughout development. Programming language, framework, and database management system knowledge are needed for this stage. You can build the software in-house or collaborate with a custom software development company like Matellio. Adherence to industry standards and high-quality development is ensured when working with seasoned specialists.

Testing and Quality Assurance

Testing and quality assurance are essential to ensure that your enterprise solutions operate at their peak performance. Create a thorough testing plan that includes functional, performance, and security testing. Conduct user acceptance tests to ensure the program lives up to the expectations of the end users, unit tests for specific modules, and integration tests to confirm the interaction between various components.

Implement reliable error handling and logging methods to record and monitor potential problems. Monitor and examine system logs regularly to spot and fix any potential performance issues or security holes.

Choosing the best custom software development company is essential when developing applicant tracking software. You require a partner with experience creating trustworthy, scalable solutions that meet your needs. Leading custom software development company, Matellio, specializes in developing applicant tracking software. Matellio promises to implement high-quality solutions that revolutionize your hiring process thanks to a track record of success and a team of talented engineers.

Conclusion

Planning, designing, and implementing applicant tracking software carefully is necessary. These techniques help you build a solid and effective applicant tracking system (ATS) that facilitates streamlining your hiring procedures. Always keep the user experience in mind and make continual software improvements based on user input. With a well-designed and user-friendly ATS, you can enhance your hiring productivity and maintain an advantage in the cutthroat job market. 

By partnering with Matellio, you can be guaranteed a reliable and cutting-edge solution that addresses your unique requirements.