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How To Choose The Right Applicant Tracking System: A Checklist
Choosing an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) isn’t just a box to check on your tech to-do list. It’s a decision that can make or break your hiring success. A well-matched ATS software will save you hours every week, keep candidates engaged, and scale effortlessly as your company grows. Pick the wrong one, and you’ll face clunky workflows, frustrated hiring teams, and a pile of unfilled roles.
But how to choose an applicant tracking system that’s right? We have created a practical checklist that will help you cut through the noise, ask the right questions, and choose an applicant tracking system that actually works for your recruitment goals.
Why Choosing the Right Applicant Tracking System (ATS) Matters
An applicant tracking system (ATS software) is the backbone of modern hiring. It automates repetitive tasks, keeps your candidate pipeline organized, and helps you collaborate better with managers and interviewers.
However, not all ATS systems are built in the same way. A poor fit can lead to:
- Low adoption because recruiters find it hard to use the applicant tracking system
- Messy data and compliance risks
- Delayed hiring decisions due to clunky interfaces
- Poor candidate experience, which damages your employer brand
Making the right choice when it comes to an applicant tracking system (ATS) means you future-proof your recruitment process—saving time, improving the quality of hire, and giving your team tools they’ll actually enjoy using because it simplifies even the most tedious of tasks.
Key Factors to Consider Before You Start
Before you even look at vendor websites or request demos, it pays to get clear on your own recruitment workflow and hiring landscape. Here’s what to nail down first:
1. Company Size and Growth Plans
Are you a fast-scaling startup, a mid-sized business, or a large enterprise? Some ATS systems shine for lean teams, while others handle complex, multi-division workflows. Think ahead: Will this tool still fit if you double your headcount in two years? Is this the best applicant tracking system for your company's needs?
2. Volume and Complexity of Roles
How many positions do you hire for in a year? Are they mostly similar roles, or do you handle everything from interns to execs to bulk seasonal hires? High-volume hiring needs strong recruitment automation; niche, senior roles may need robust pipeline, community building, and engagement tools.
3. Budget and ROI Expectations
Costs vary widely: some applicant tracking systems are free (but with limitations), some pay-per-user, and others charge by job postings or features. Be realistic about what you can spend, but also weigh it against what slow hiring is costing you today in lost productivity and agency fees. This will help you pick out the top applicant tracking systems for your organisation.
4. Current Tech Stack and Integrations
What other tools do you use—job boards, HRIS, onboarding, payroll? A good ATS software should plug into them smoothly, avoiding data silos and double data entry. Make a list of must-have integrations upfront. Some top applicant tracking systems integrate not only with HR software but also come equipped with AI screening, online proctoring, online assessments, and other essential features that automate your entire recruitment workflow.
5. Hiring Team Readiness and Stakeholder Buy-In
Who will use the ATS software daily? Recruiters, HR partners, hiring managers? The best applicant tracking system in the world will flop if your team hates using it. Get input early, note any must-haves (such as unified specific dashboards, AI-insights and analytics, etc.), and plan to demo options with end-users.
6. Candidate Experience Goals
Map out what you want the best candidate journey to look like—your ATS software should support it, not limit it. Think about the features that are needed to materialise this, for example:
- Do you want branded company profiles & review pages? This gives candidates a transparent view of your brand and builds on your employer brand.
- Do you want all the opportunities by your company, be it job posts, engagements like hackathons, business simulations, etc., in one place? This reduces friction in the candidate journey and helps keep them informed.
- Want AI automation features that send automated updates to candidates to reduce drop-off? This eliminates the biggest frustration candidates have—being ghosted at any stage in the recruitment process.
7. Data Security and Compliance Needs
The best applicant tracking systems (ATS software) adhere to data privacy and compliance laws in handling candidate data. You cannot ignore this (especially if you hire in multiple countries). Check what data is stored, where it’s hosted, and how secure it is. This protects both you and your applicants.
Pro Tip: Answering these upfront clarifies which features matter most and prevents buying an applicant tracking system (ATS) packed with bells and whistles your team won’t actually use.
Check this out: Unstop’s Applicant Tracking System: The Beginning Of Smarter Hiring
The Buyer’s Checklist: Must-Have Features in a Great ATS
A modern applicant tracking system (ATS) should do more than store resumes. Use this checklist to separate marketing fluff from real recruiting value.
1. Truly User-Friendly Interface
It doesn’t matter how many bells and whistles an ATS software has. If it’s confusing, you and your team will not be able to make the most of it. So, ensure the applicant tracking system you choose has a clean interface and modern dashboards where you can see your pipeline, candidate stages, and tasks at a glance.
What to check:
- How many clicks does it take to post a job?
- Can you drag-and-drop candidates through stages?
- Is there a mobile app for quick updates on the go?
A good interface means faster training, fewer mistakes, and higher adoption.
Pro tip: Have a non-tech-savvy team member test it. If they can navigate it confidently, you are good to go.
2. Flexible, Customisable Hiring Workflows
No two companies (or even two departments) have the exact same recruitment needs/ hiring requirements. The process can differ across roles, and you need an ATS software that bends to you, not the other way around.
What to look for:
- Can you create multiple pipelines for different role types? (e.g., interns vs senior executives)
- Can you scale the AI screening, assessment, and hiring process from 10 to thousands of profiles with ease, if that is what you need?
- Is it easy to add or remove stages like online assessments or reference checks?
- Can you adjust approval flows for niche roles that need more sign-offs?
Why this matters: When your recruitment workflows are flexible, all your processes compliant—candidates move smoothly, and you avoid any process gaps that can lead to talent loss or frustrate both recruiters and applicants.
3. Accurate Resume Parsing & Intelligent Screening
Good, automated resume parsing is the foundation of quality candidate screening. An ideal ATS software and AI screening tool pulls key info from CVs without garbling names or missing skills, but next-level screening should go further.
What to look for:
- An AI-based resume screening, scoring, and candidate mapping system that can rank candidates by how well they fit your must-have criteria.
- Contains knockout questions to automatically weed out clear mismatches (e.g., wrong location, lack of a required certification).
- Smart filters help recruiters zero in on qualified applicants fast.
Why it matters: The best applicant tracking system is the one that lets you spend your time engaging with the strongest fits, not wading through piles of irrelevant resumes.
4. Robust Job Posting & Candidate Sourcing Tools
The top ATS systems aren't supposed to be just a storage unit; they should be a magnet for top talent. Choose an applicant tracking system that does quality sourcing and screening all on its own.
What to check:
- Let you publish openings to multiple free and paid job boards in one click.
- Auto-pull applications back into your pipeline, tagged by source.
- Offer tools to source passive candidates from social networks or talent databases.
Why it matters: The broader your reach, the better your chance of attracting diverse, high-quality candidates, without spending hours manually posting and tracking links.
5. Automated, Personalised Candidate Communication
Irrespective of what generation you are from, nobody likes to be ghosted. It is only fair for candidates to expect timely updates. The best ATS systems come with AI bots and other automation features to eliminate manual efforts by handling all communications automatically and preventing ghosting from killing your employer brand.
What to look for:
- Custom templates for “application received”, “interview invite”, or “unfortunately not selected”.
- Personalised merge tags (e.g., candidate name, job title) to make messages feel human.
- Automatic reminders for virtual interviews to cut no-shows, and all other updates in the recruitment process flow.
Why it matters: When ATS software helps in automating recruitment process and ensure all your bases are covered, candidates feel respected, stay engaged, and are more likely to reapply or refer friends, even if they don’t get the job this time.
6. Smooth Interview Scheduling & Calendar Sync
One of the biggest time sinks in the hiring world is the endless back-and-forth to find the right virtual interview slots that suit everyone. A robust ATS software should:
- Integrate and sync directly with Google or Outlook calendars.
- Let candidates pick an available slot from a recruiter’s or manager’s calendar—self-serve style.
- Send automatic confirmation emails and reminders to all parties.
- Come with AI interview bots to carry out updates and even AI interviews to ensure a smooth flow.
Why this matters: You or your team of recruiters spend less time chasing people for slots, managers stay happy, and candidates feel more in control, reducing drop-offs and no-shows.
7. Centralised Collaboration & Feedback Collection
Hiring decisions often derail because feedback lives in emails, Slack threads, or people’s heads. The best ATS for you should allow you to bring all reviewers onto the same page and make the process smooth.
What to check:
- Can everyone leave ratings and notes inside the candidate profile?
- Does it allow for standardised scorecards to structure how interviewers evaluate?
- Does it provide AI-generated scoring and insight for human interviewers to build on?
- Are there security features like online proctoring, identity verification, etc., to minimise bias and fraudulent activities?
- All comments stay attached to each candidate, creating a clear trail of who said what and when.
Why it matters: This speeds up decision-making, prevents contradictory opinions, and ensures your hiring committee can revisit notes if needed.
8. Actionable Reporting & Custom Analytics
Data shouldn’t be just for show; it should drive better hiring outcomes. An AI-powered ATS should help you make the most of the data and improve the efficiency of your hiring processes.
What to look for:
- Is there a unified dashboard that compiles all of the candidate information in one place, from basics to AI-generated feedback and deep insight?
- Are there real-time dashboards that give you a clear picture of how many candidates are at each stage in your recruitment process?
- Does it auto-generate deep insight reports on time-to-hire, source quality (where your best hires come from), and drop-off rates?
- Are there custom report builders so you can pull insights for leadership or hiring managers on demand?
Pro tip: If you can’t answer “Which job boards are giving us the best ROI?” in one click, your ATS is underperforming.
9. Talent Pooling & Candidate Relationship Management (CRM)
Top candidates who weren’t a match today could be perfect six months from now. A good ATS software must:
- Save and organise all candidate information by skill, location, or seniority, ready to be accessed when needed.
- Whenever a new opening arises, the applicant tracking system must automatically screen passive candidates, conduct mapping, and tag them according to the relevant fitness criteria.
- Have AI bots and features that automate periodic “Keep in touch” or “New role for you?” emails, to keep your talent community engaged.
Result: You build a private database of pre-qualified talent, reduce time-to-fill for future roles, and rely less on costly external ads or agencies.
10. Compliance, Security & Privacy Controls
In an era of strict data laws (GDPR, CCPA), compliance is not optional. The best ATS systems are trustworthy, and should:
- Let you set role-based access, so only the right people see candidate data.
- Log all user actions for audit trails.
- Handle candidate consent and offer easy data deletion or anonymisation if requested.
- Use secure, encrypted storage and reputable data centres.
Result: It protects you from fines, keeps candidate trust intact, and reassures your legal team that you’re covered.
11. Employer Branding & Career Page Control
The talent market is extremely crowded, with recruiters fighting to reach top talent faster than their competitors. You hence need an applicant tracking system/ ATS software that also helps you stand out in a crowded talent market. How? By ensuring your employer brand is positioned right and is getting ample light.
What to look for:
- Tools to build a branded, mobile-friendly company profile and review page without needing a developer.
- Options to showcase employee testimonials, videos, and culture highlights.
- Job descriptions that look polished and consistent with your brand voice.
- Compile all engagement activities like ideathons, hiring challenges, hackathons, business simulations, case studies, etc., in one place.
Why it matters: A strong careers page can increase applications by up to 34% (Glassdoor) and attract candidates who feel aligned with your culture, cutting down on poor-fit applicants.
12. Mobile Access for Recruiters & Candidates
Hiring moves fast and often without consideration of where you are. Your applicant tracking system (ATS) must work wherever and whenever you do:
- Recruiters can review applications, move candidates through stages, or approve offers from a phone or tablet.
- Candidates can apply, check status updates, and respond to interview invites without needing a desktop.
Why it matters: Mobile access removes friction, keeps processes flowing on the go, and prevents hiring delays when decision-makers travel.
13. Integration with Other HR Tools
The top applicant tracking systems (ATS) do not create silos. They seamlessly connect with:
- Job boards and sourcing extensions
- Background check and online assessment vendors
- HRIS, payroll, and onboarding systems
Why it matters: Smooth integrations mean no duplicate data entry, faster handoffs from offer to onboarding, and a unified source of truth for candidate info. (Also keeps your IT team happy!)
14. Clear Pricing & Predictable Implementation
A shiny demo means nothing if you’re blindsided by hidden fees later. Get clarity upfront:
- Is pricing per recruiter, per job, or flat-rate?
- Are upgrades, extra integrations, or support tiers charged separately?
- What’s the average timeline to go live—weeks or months?
Why it matters: Transparent costs and realistic timelines help you build a business case, avoid budget overruns, and plan training without surprises.
15. Strong Support & Onboarding Resources
Even the best of tools might glitch sometimes. Ensure that the ATS system you choose comes with a smooth rollout and strong support to succeed.
What to check for:
- Dedicated onboarding support to help configure workflows and train your team.
- Quick, knowledgeable customer support (ideally 24/7 or local timezone).
- A searchable help centre or tutorial library for self-serve troubleshooting.
Why it matters: Fast answers and expert guidance mean you and your team spend more time hiring, not wrestling with tech issues.
Questions to Ask When Buying an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)
When shortlisting providers, don’t stop at the feature list. Here are a few questions to reveal if an ATS (and ATS provider) really fits your needs:
- How long does a typical implementation take for a company of our size?
- What does your support look like—do we get a dedicated account manager?
- Can you show examples of how other companies customised workflows?
- How does your system handle data privacy and compliance for global hires?
- What integrations come built-in, and which need extra setup?
- How often do you release feature updates, and are they included in the price?
Pro Tip: Ask each vendor to share real customer stories or connect you with a current client reference. This gives you honest insights on daily usage, support quality, and whether the shiny features actually deliver ROI.
Also read: Top 15 Benefits Of Applicant Tracking System (ATS): Speed, Quality, & Scale
Getting Leadership Buy-In: Your Case for the Best ATS Software
Does your HR team often get pushback on software spend? You need to arm yourself with simple ROI evidence, such as:
- Average % faster time-to-hire
- Cost savings from less agency spend
- Better candidate quality leading to lower turnover
- Brand lift from a consistent candidate experience
Turn your request from a “nice-to-have” to a clear business case.
Ready to see how a modern ATS can do all this, and more? Explore how Unstop’s applicant tracking system (ATS) helps teams like yours hire faster, smarter, and at scale.
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