I contribute frequently to ASA's Central Network, and I regularly see posts asking for recommendations on a new ATS. In my opinion, offering a simple answer to this question is like a doctor providing a prescription before making a diagnosis.
I always respond to these posts with guidance rather than an actual recommendation, and I offer a process that I believe should be used to make the final decision. While it’s certainly educational to ask other staffing professionals about their ATS preferences, the final decision should be based entirely on your staffing firm's unique needs.
The rule: diagnosis first, treatment second.
Here's an outline that can be followed for selecting an ATS:
- Create an internal committee made up of ATS users from all areas and functions of your company.
- Determine the criteria that will be used to assess the ATS solution.
- Must-have criteria (the ATS must include this, or it's a deal-breaker)
- Should-have criteria (It should have this, but it's not a deal-breaker if it doesn't)
- Wish-to-have criteria (wouldn't it be great if it had this?)
- Establish your budget.
- Create a formal RFP that can be provided to ATS suppliers.
- Select a minimum of four ATS suppliers and schedule meetings with each one.
- Review the criteria with each supplier at a high level to determine if they align with the criteria.
- For those that do, provide a formal RFP (include a deadline for responses).
- Review the RFP responses and conduct any necessary follow-up.
- Rank the results and eliminate all but three suppliers.
- Conduct follow-ups with the remaining three suppliers.
- Eliminate one supplier.
- Conduct follow-ups with the remaining two suppliers.
- Make the final decision.
This is an outline that you can follow, but as the project unfolds, other steps will likely become necessary and will reveal themselves as you move forward. This process will take time and effort, but it's time well spent on a decision as critical as your next ATS.