The response to the first couple of articles in this series is interesting. Significantly, a number of credible market leaders think that the game is locked. Companies (vendors) who enter the Recruiting Software market will end up having to deliver ATS functionality if they want to stay in the game. Companies (customers) know how to buy job ads, ATS products and screening and assessment tools. So, that’s what they buy.
The hundred or so ATS vendors are stuck within the limits of customer purchasing policies and protocols..
The rush to Talent Management Systems, aggressively championed by the analyst community, doesn’t seem to have caught fire just yet. Lots of buzz but few sales.
Another group suggests that buyers segregate along three lines: Value, Early Adopter and Functional. The Early Adopters and Functional buyers focus on performance while the Value buyer concentrates on cost savings. HR buyers are prototypically Value Buyers. Innovation and the political risk associated with embarrassment are not for them. For this group, innovation seems to enter the marketplace through its most entrepreneurial windows (the staffing industry)
Meanwhile, the candidates are changing their game. In the Western world, anyone looking for a job uses the internet as a part of their search. Companies get Googled and "background checked" as a matter of course. Word of mouth is more important in employment branding than any other factor. Branding, referral programs, social networks, avatar based VR, new sourcing and optimized utilization of the 50,000 job boards are simply not a part of the standard ATS configuration.
There are, therefore, two ways to think about the role of the Applicant Tracking System.
- It is the platform for all Human Capital Management systems because it is the first place that data about an employee hits the organization,
or - It is a buffer between the organization and the outside world where legal defensibility is established.
It is either a platform or a buffer.
