The bad news? The job marketplace is crowded and recruiting is more competitive than ever. The good news? There is also more technology than ever before to help recruiters and acquisition teams find the right fit for their open job listings. But with all the new technology, it can sometimes be difficult to know where to start and what to get.

We’re here to help. Keep reading to learn about two popular options recruiters may want to add to their tech stack and the differences between the two of them: applicant tracking systems and recruitment software. 

The TL;DR on ATS

An applicant tracking system, or ATS, is a kind of software that helps recruiters manage applicants during the hiring process. Manage is a broad word—and that’s because depending on the specific ATS, it can help with a broad variety of things, from screening to scheduling interviews to checking references. But all applicant tracking systems do share one main goal: to simplify and speed up the hiring time for recruiters. 
Think about how many job applications you get for one open role—now imagine you have several open. Maybe you don’t even have to imagine and you’re already in that position. If that’s the case and you don’t already use an applicant tracking system, now is the time. An ATS is particularly instrumental in helping recruiters and acquisition specialists to manage hundreds and even thousands of resumes. In this way, recruiters don’t have to read each one individually, and instead can use the ATS to help view, search, and rank amongst applicants. 

Some applicant tracking systems also include questions that a recruiter can set; if an applicant answers incorrectly, they may be automatically rejected or flagged by the ATS. All this serves to help the recruiter make more informed decisions, more quickly. 

In addition to narrowing down the pool of applicants to the most qualified candidates, applicant tracking systems also help recruiters to more easily sort through those qualified candidates. An ATS can let you search through and filter candidates by the information on their resumes, including keywords and important terms. Throughout the interview and recruitment process, hiring managers can make notes and rank applicants within the applicant tracking system. 

Applicant Tracking Systems vs. Recruitment Software

At some point, you’ve probably heard the saying: every square is a rectangle but not every rectangle is a square. The relationship between ATS and recruitment AI software is like that. An ATS is a type of recruitment software.

While applicant tracking systems are instrumental in the hiring process, they are the most useful only after you’ve already received many applicants. So how do you get all those applicants in the first place? That’s where robust recruitment software comes into play. Such recruitment software offers tools and features that help alongside every step of the recruitment process, not just after someone has already applied. These areas include: 

• Automated job listings across the most popular online job boards
• Programmatic job advertising campaigns, so your listing gets in front of the right eyes at the right time
• Analysis of your recruitment process in real-time, so you can make real-time decisions—and apply those learnings to future recruitment needs

In the end, it’s not really a question of pitting applicant tracking systems against other recruitment software to see which is better. Instead, applicant tracking systems and robust recruiting solutions, like PandoLogic, work hand-in-hand so you can meet your hiring goals and needs quickly.