APPLICANT TRACKING SYSTEM: COMPARING 7 BEST ATS IN 2021

If you’re having trouble comparing and choosing which applicant tracking system (ATS) is best suitable, then you’ve come to the right place.

Why do I need an ATS? Because managing and tracking applicants is a daunting task, resumes will start flooding into your mail inbox when you hit “publish” on any job posting site. It can be overwhelming to track all of them, especially when you’re hiring for 5-10+ positions.

Some people rely on the good old Excel or Google spreadsheet to do the job, but that’s never an adequate method for narrowing down the talent pool to find the right fit.

If you still haven’t understood what an applicant tracking system can do, we highly recommend you read our previous post to know deeper.

Read here: What is an applicant tracking system?

In this post, we’ll review the Top 7 applicant tracking system in 2021 by highlighting their pros and cons and which company sizes will fit which. If this is what you’re interested in reading, let’s jump right in.

Comparing Top 7 Applicant Tracking Systems in 2021

Here’s a little sneak peek of recruiting software that can help streamline applicant management.

BambooHR

Initially release: 2008

Overview

First and foremost is BambooHR. This software has been around the market for quite sometimes and clearly, they know well what they are doing. BambooHR brings a new approach to hiring, with applicant tracking systems that improve every stage of hiring from applications to offer letters.

Pros:

• Easily look up information on your direct report
• Automatic reminders to notify employees when they have tasks to complete.
• Intuitive and easy-to-use interface.

Cons:

• Users sometimes experience poor internet connections that impede the stable working of the platform for enhanced growth
• Sending emails is relatively limited, as it does not allow sending simultaneously to all delegated workers
• Large organization performance needs to be more improvised
• Some essential features are limited on the mobile version

Who uses BambooHR?

BambooHR mainly targets medium-sized to larger companies. 54% of their focuses are on medium-sized enterprises having $10-50M revenue. Some good examples of their clients are KPMG UK, Foursquare, myfitnesspal, Soundcloud, Squarespace, Zendesk, Morningstar Air Express, Portland General Electric, etc.

Pricing

From $30/user/month (roughly $360/user/year)

SmartRecruiters

Initially released: 2010

Overview

SmartRecruiter is most suitable for enterprise-level recruitment needs. They offer a wide range of features like screening, scorecards, background checks. In addition, they also offer a suite of add-ons options like CRM, conversational AI, and contract management.

Pros:

• Simple rating system
• Can template email comms within the app

Cons:

• The Mobile version is not optimized
• Two-way integrations sometimes jumble data
• Too robust for smaller companies

Who uses SmartRecruiters?

SmartRecruiters target recruiters and hiring managers in larger enterprises with high hiring needs. 71% of their clients are in the United States, while 5% are in Canada.  28% of SmartRecruiters’ clients are large enterprises with annual revenue greater than $1,000M. So naturally, they are aiming to serve more high-end and prestige brands. Their clientele has big names like Jysk A/S, Visa, McDonald’s, Etsy, Sketchers, Ubisoft, Abercrombie & Fitch, LinkedIn, Avery Dennison, etc.

Pricing

Pricing: from $830/month (roughly $10,000/user/year)

SAP SuccessFactors

Publicly released: 2010

Overview

Developed by SAP, this software is a cloud-based Human Experience Management (HMX) tool that helps recruiters improve employee engagement. The HMX suite is divided into four categories:

• Employee Experience Management (SAP Qualtrics): helps employers track and manage the employee lifecycle and improve engagement
• Core HR and Payroll: manages aspects like time and attendance, benefits, compliance, and HR portal, knowledge base, visa and permits management for global employees, etc.
• Talent Management: streamlines recruitment flows by setting up a global career site with multiple brands and languages.
• HR Analytics & Workforce Planning: analyzes people data to control operational headcounts.

Pros:

• Supports global workforce with 46+ languages and currencies
• Allows dynamic goals

Cons:

• Challenging to learn and not always intuitive.
• The system is complex making it difficult for users to use all the functionalities
• The Customer Support Team doesn’t understand the product thoroughly

Who uses SAP SuccessFactors?

SAP SuccessFactors targets well-established firms in many industries like aerospace and defense, banking, insurance, healthcare, mining, retail, and sports entertainment. 49% of its customers are in the United States, 8% are in Canada. Among its client database, 67% of clients are large enterprises with annual revenue greater than >$1,000M. Similar to its counterpart SmartRecruiters, SAP shifts its focus to more prestigious brands. Here are some examples of their clientele: American Airlines, Aramco Europe, Coca Cola, Deloitte Africa, EBSCO Industries, Sephora, Whirlpool, Charles River Laboratories, Merck KGaA, etc.

Pricing

SAP doesn’t publicly display its price.

Oracle Taleo

Founded: 1999, acquired by Oracle in 2012

Overview

Oracle Taleo Cloud Service has various features when it comes to talent management. Its cloud service has platforms tailor specifically for enterprises. We’ll briefly point out their outstanding features as below:

• Recruiting Cloud Service
• Onboarding Cloud Service
• Performance Management Cloud Service
• Learn Cloud Service

In addition, Taleo also has various features when it comes to talent management. However, to the extent of this blog, we’ll point out two main features:

• Compensation Management: for companies needing a way to manage their compensation cycles, Taelo offers a compensation management platform (aimed explicitly at enterprises). With this tool, the company can adjust raises, calculate bonuses, perform cost analysis, set pay-per-performance strategies, etc.
• Social media recruiting: social media is a valuable tool when it comes to attracting talents. Recruiters can post job openings on networks like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

Who uses Taleo by Oracle?

Taleo by Oracle is used by many different companies throughout the industries. However, they aim at more well-established firms in government, education, construction, finance, etc. Their high-end clients include City of Chicago, Dell, Hitachi Consulting, Intuit, Jackson Hewitt, JSR Micro, Kalparatu, McGraw Hill, Monsanto, Vegas PBS, etc.

Pricing

Pricing: starting at $85 per year/per employee.

Zoho Recruit

Publicly release: 2009

Overview

Zoho Recruit is an American-built applicant tracking system. This software helps businesses manage candidate data, screening and evaluating candidates, etc. However, Zoho Recruit has yet to integrate with Vietnam recruitment sites, with no online interview features. The ability to integrate with other business management software like HRM, CRM, WORK, etc., is still limited.

Who uses Zoho Recruit?

Medium-sized companies with annual revenue ranging from $10-50M are most likely to be their targeted clients, while a good 6% are large enterprises with more than $1,000M. In addition, 55% of Zoho Recruit customers are in the United States. Zoho Recruit serves clients like Genesis Consulting Partners, Eventful, iTalent Corporation, Yokohama, Airtel, SpiceJet, Career Up, etc.

Pricing

Pricing: $75/account/month

Workable

Publicly release: 2012

Overview

Similar to its counterparts, Workable helps businesses build employer branding, posting on various job listings sites, candidate data management, evaluate and report on the hiring process. Workable is also mobile-friendly with a dedicated app for iOS and Android. Workable provides the tools one needs to manage multiple hiring pipelines. Transparent communication, organized candidate profiles, structured interviews, and a full reporting suite to help the hiring teams make informed choices.

However, to use Workable, businesses need to have a LinkedIn account to connect the software. In Vietnam, Workable has not been integrated with local recruitment websites.

Pros:

• Great customer support team
• Good interface

Cons:

• No feature to see if the candidate has applied for other roles in the past in the organization
• Employees should have a way to track the status of their referred candidates
• Takes time to set search filters by skills, experience, location, etc.

Who uses Workable?

43% of Workable customers are in the United States and 19% are in the United Kingdom. Of all the customers that are using Workable, a large majority (84%) are medium-sized companies with annual revenue from $10-50M. Here are some outstanding examples of Workable’s clientele: Sephora, Forbes, Starling Bank, Eurobank, Soligent Distribution, TribalScale, K3 Business Technology Group PLC, etc.

Pricing

Pricing: $50/position/month.

InTalents – Your trusted applicant tracking system

Overview

With a vision to support small to medium-sized businesses and freelance recruiters to optimize their performance, InTalents is the one-stop shop you’ve been looking for. Meticulously developed by a Top 90 Global B2B Software Development Company, it focuses on giving you the best hiring experience. Bringing the gap between technology and recruitment, the company takes a modern approach to help recruiters optimize their performance.

They help automate the recruitment process with features like sending automatic emails, job offers, social media integrations, free-of-charge job postings, personalized careers page, and domain, centralize candidate database, communicate with candidates directly via WhatsApp or Zalo, and more.

Pros:

• User-friendly and clean interface for new users
• Tour guide to help you every step of the way
• Built-in blog creation to boost employer brands
• Easy-to-use system with various essential functionalities

Cons:

• Has yet to support additional languages like French, German, Chinese, Russian, etc.

Who uses InTalents?

While its counterparts like SmartRecruiters or SAP SuccessFactors can be pricey, InTalents dedicates to serve small to medium-sized companies as well as freelance headhunters. The company believes every company whether large or small, with a high or low volume of hiring needs, should be able to enjoy the benefits of an Applicant Tracking System and thrive to make its product as accessible as possible.

Pricing

Pricing: from $0/month, free job postings, unlimited access

Why go with InTalents for applicant tracking system?

Our clients enjoy working with us for a few reasons like these.

Robust technology

Understanding candidate resumes are your valuable assets, we build a secured app to keep you safe. Leveraging Blockchain technology into data storage, your home will now have an added protection it needs to prevent cyber attacks from within and without.

Inbound recruitment focus

70% of job seekers start their search using Google (Hubspot, 2020), therefore, companies must create and share relevant content that captures the attention of their potential candidates. The built-in blog feature is an amazing way to push your SEO efforts to a whole new level, but more importantly, it gives candidates an insight into your company culture, environment, and management style.

A reliable technology companion

InTalents is more than just a software vendor, rather, we are a trusted companion in helping firms transform digitally. We work hard so you can put your head at rest knowing your work are in good hands.