Why your ATS must support Hiring Managers

For many Hiring Managers, time is of the essence. They’re combining recruitment responsibilities with their demanding day-to-day roles.

They might be professors of ancient history; they could be managing a busy restaurant branch. Balancing these conflicting priorities often means that recruitment is a lower priority than it could be if Hiring Managers were able to fulfil their obligations with minimal time and effort.

Time is a big factor. But why else do you need to ensure an Applicant Tracking System can support your Hiring Managers?

Training made easy

Anyone responsible for rolling out a new system will hope that the system is designed so that any user can navigate their way through unaided (for the most part). This is even more important when we talk about Hiring Managers using an ATS.

Often, Applicant Tracking Systems are full of complex functionality and tools. Many recruitment teams will be using these regularly; but it’s unlikely Hiring Managers will be too. Instead, they need access to simple features based on their key responsibilities, such as shortlisting or interview administration.

A simpler interface or dedicated Hiring Manager functionality can reduce the amount of training required. What’s more, once you’ve delivered that introductory training to Hiring Managers, there can be a big chunk of time between when the training occurs and when a user starts routinely using the system.

Having an ATS that supports Hiring Managers and is easy to use for a casual user is imperative in increasing adoption rates across your organisation.

Strengthen internal relationships

When an ATS is not designed with Hiring Managers in mind, the chances are they will disengage with the process. And, when they do log in, they may be reliant on your help to navigate the system.

Depending on you for assistance and support can be frustrating for busy Hiring Managers, who need to be able to manage their recruitment activities quickly and easily. Meanwhile, dealing with reams of queries and issues from users across your organisation can consume a significant amount of your time.

Increased frustration and workload are not conducive to positive working relationships!

Instead, empower your hiring managers by giving them the tools to help themselves by choosing a system that has been designed with them in mind.

Does your ATS support Hiring Managers? Are your Hiring Managers engaged with your recruitment process? If not, we’ve got just the thing for you. Download your Ultimate Hiring Manager Handbook today, for tips and advice on empowering and engaging these vital stakeholders.

Improve candidate experience

Hiring Managers that find an ATS straightforward and instinctive to use will be quicker to carry out the tasks that have been assigned to them.

As a result, the experience for candidates is likely to improve when recruitment activity is prompt. If Hiring Managers have to wade through complex workflows or recruitment is at the bottom of their to-do lists, candidates may be waiting longer for communication or feedback.

That star talent still waiting to hear about an interview could have forgotten all about the vacancy they applied for, or may now have a negative association with your brand. In competitive industries, such as the third sector, some may even have been snapped up by another organisation.

Value-add elsewhere

An ATS that supports Hiring Managers should not only cut out swathes of recruitment admin, but should also enable all parties to play their part efficiently and without assistance. Once this level of self sufficiency has been achieved, the recruitment team will find that they are able to move on to work which adds more value to the wider organisation – whether coming up with a strategy for a specific recruitment drive or supporting with ‘hard to hire’ vacancies.

In fact, one of our customer organisations (Lincolnshire County Council) now has their Hiring Managers full self-serving! Read the full case study to find out how they achieved cost savings of £25,000 and saw candidate satisfaction sky-rocket.

Find out more:

Empower your Hiring Managers with our Hiring Manager Portal

Download the Ultimate Hiring Manager Handbook

Read our 5 tips: How to gain Hiring Manager buy in for a new ATS

How an ATS can improve your productivity