Hiring GlossaryWhat is an applicant tracking system (ATS)?
Key takeaways
- An ATS keeps your hiring workflow in one place, so you’re not chasing updates across inboxes and spreadsheets
- The best ATS options make it easier for hiring managers to participate, with structured steps and consistent feedback
- Reporting isn’t just a nice-to-have – it’s how you spot bottlenecks, improve the funnel and measure what’s working
- When you’re comparing tools, prioritize usability, integrations and governance so the system actually gets adopted
An application tracking system (ATS) is software that can help streamline your hiring process, without juggling a mess of spreadsheets, inboxes and disconnected tools.
It brings applications, candidate information and hiring workflows into one place so teams can move faster while staying aligned.
So, what is an ATS system actually doing behind the scenes? It collects applications and stores applicant data – including the source, the role applied for and the application status – so hiring teams don’t have to manage that information manually.
Many ATS platforms also include a built-in job board that shares open roles across multiple channels and collects applications from these listings.
It’s also common for an ATS to collect and store candidate feedback throughout the hiring process, including materials from their take-home assessments and notes from the hiring team’s interviews.
Why you should invest in an ATS
There are plenty of reasons to invest in an ATS. One major benefit is that it brings your hiring process into one place, so you can track every candidate without digging through inboxes or spreadsheets.
An ATS can reduce errors, duplication of effort and the risk of candidates getting lost in the shuffle. With a clear and structured workflow, recruiting teams can act quickly, make more accurate assessments and provide candidates with a better experience.
And for modern talent acquisition teams, metrics matter. An ATS can generate reports that track how many candidates move through the pipeline, which sources they come from, how long they spend at each stage and where there’s room to improve.
This visibility is essential for making smarter, fairer, more structured hiring decisions.
Key features to look for in an ATS
If you’re in the market for an ATS, Greenhouse President and Co-founder Jon Stross offers this helpful advice:
“My recommendation to ATS buyers would be to truly understand what you’re trying to accomplish and find a system that will enable it.”
Here are the areas that tend to matter most when you’re comparing ATS options, starting with the parts that affect day-to-day usability.
Usability and sourcing
Your ATS won’t just be used by recruiters. Candidates, hiring managers and interviewers will touch it too. So it has to be easy to use and easy to keep consistent.
You’ll need a platform with a variety of sourcing features and integrations that easily highlight your top-performing sourcing channels per job to increase your return on investment.
Reviewing and running the interview process
The interview flow should feel simple: review candidates quickly, keep notes in one place and move people forward without bouncing between tools. A few things to check:
- Can recruiters review, take notes and advance or reject candidates in the same place?
- Can hiring managers collaborate on interview kits that keep interviews consistent?
- Are scorecards structured and easy to complete, so feedback is comparable across interviewers?
With an ATS, hiring managers can collaborate with recruiting to create in-depth interview kits that guide every question an interviewer asks.
When interviewers provide feedback, the ATS should present a simple candidate scorecard to streamline the assessment process and make it easy to rate a candidate’s skills and alignment with company values.
Pipeline metrics
An ATS should offer built-in reports that give the hiring team a clear view of the pipeline. That reporting helps answer the questions you’re already asking in every sync: Who’s in process, what’s next and where are we stuck?
Look for reporting that shows stage conversion, time in stage, source performance and upcoming interview activity, without a lot of manual cleanup.
Integrations and support
Look for software that integrates with the applications you love, from scheduling apps to video-interviewing platforms and take-home testing systems.
And don’t underestimate support. The first few months are where teams either build good habits or work around the system, so responsive help and clear guidance make a difference.
Deployment, data and security
Plan for the rollout. Getting an ATS set up usually includes career site or job board connections, data migration and training across recruiting and hiring teams. Vendors vary a lot here, so it’s worth asking what’s included and what your team will own.
You’ll also want to understand how the vendor handles data: access controls, audit trails and how candidate information is stored and protected.
ATS users: Who uses an ATS and what they do
An applicant tracking system is a shared workspace. Recruiters may be the primary users of the ATS on a day-to-day basis. Still, the entire hiring team interacts with it at various points, from setting up a role to submitting interview scorecards to reviewing pipeline data.
When an ATS is set up well, it supports structured hiring behind the scenes while keeping the candidate experience consistent and clear. Here’s how the most common ATS users typically work inside the system.
Tip: Many ATS platforms also help teams conduct more consistent interviews through features such as interview kits and scorecards. See interviewing and decision-making for an example of what that can look like in practice.
How an ATS works
Most applicant tracking systems follow the same basic flow. The details vary, but the goal is the same: keep the process and the context in one place, so teams can move candidates forward without losing track of what’s next.
- Create a requisition (req). A recruiter or hiring manager kicks off a new role, confirms approvals (if needed) and documents the basics like title, location and level.
- Post the job. The req becomes a job posting. Many ATS platforms publish it to a company’s career page and distribute it to external job boards and sourcing channels.
- Collect applications. Applications flow into the ATS automatically, from job boards, referrals, recruiting events and direct sourcing, so everything lands in a single candidate pipeline.
- Screen and prioritize. Recruiters review applicants, look for fit signals and take action: request more information, move candidates forward or close the loop. This is also where teams may handle duplicates, unqualified applicants or high-volume roles.
- Run interviews and gather scorecards. The ATS coordinates interview steps and captures structured feedback. Interviewers review the candidate context and then submit interview scorecards, enabling the team to compare feedback against consistent criteria.
- Extend and manage the offer. The hiring team finalizes the decision, prepares the offer details, routes approvals and tracks acceptance, all with a clear record of the decision and rationale.
- Report and improve. The ATS turns activity into insight: pipeline volume, stage conversion, time in stage, source performance and more. Reports help teams spot bottlenecks, improve structured hiring and strengthen the candidate experience over time.
Benefits of an ATS
An ATS helps teams replace scattered tools and inbox-driven coordination with a process people can follow and measure. It keeps the work moving, keeps the context in one place and makes it easier to improve over time because you can see what’s happening in the funnel.
Overall ATS benefits often include:
- Centralized hiring workflow so roles, candidates, feedback and decisions live in one system.
- More speed and efficiency through automation, templates and fewer manual handoffs.
- Better collaboration and consistency across the hiring team, especially during high-volume hiring.
- Stronger decisions with reporting that shows what’s working and where candidates drop off.
- Improved compliance and lower risk with clearer records, permissions and standardized steps.
ATS benefits for recruiters and talent acquisition teams
Recruiters tend to feel the impact first because so much of their day is coordination. A strong ATS helps reduce the busywork so they can stay focused on moving the right candidates forward. Recruiting and TA teams often get:
- Faster screening and triage with a clear view of who’s in the funnel and what’s next.
- Less manual coordination for scheduling, reminders and moving candidates through stages.
- Stronger sourcing return on investment (ROI) by seeing which channels deliver qualified candidates per role.
- Better collaboration with hiring teams through shared interview plans and centralized feedback.
- Pipeline visibility that makes it easier to prioritize roles, forecast progress and remove blockers.
- More consistent candidate communications that keep applicants informed without extra effort.
ATS benefits for hiring managers
Hiring managers typically interact with the ATS at key moments: kickoff, shortlist review, feedback and final decisions. The biggest value is usually clarity. Everyone can see what’s needed, what’s missing and what happens next.
Hiring managers often see:
- Less back-and-forth because expectations, status and feedback are in one place.
- More consistent evaluation with shared criteria and structured scorecards.
- Faster decision-making with clearer signals and fewer missing inputs.
- Better quality shortlists by focusing on the most relevant candidates sooner.
- More accountability and transparency around decisions, timing and next steps.
Bring structure (and speed) to your hiring workflow
An applicant tracking system helps your hiring team stay aligned and keeps the process moving, without losing the details that make decisions clearer.
When the right process is built into the tools you use every day, you spend less time chasing updates and more time focusing on the candidates who can move your business forward.
If you’re comparing options, check out a buyer’s guide to applicant tracking systems for a deeper look at what to evaluate and how to choose with confidence.
Or if you’re ready to see what structured hiring looks like in practice, get a demo and see the possibilities of a 589% hiring ROI.
