Advances in digital technology have transformed the recruitment industry as radically as every other sector, enabling new efficiencies, faster responses, more agile management and a better experience for clients, candidates and recruiters. Chameleon-i has developed one of the most effective solutions on the market, which we offer as a cloud-based service incorporating a SaaS applicant tracking system (ATS) as well as a candidate relationship management system (CRM). Let’s look at how they compare.

What Is A SaaS Applicant Tracking System?

An ATS is software that automates, simplifies and optimises the collection of candidate resumes. It minimises human involvement in the process of posting job advertisements and maintaining careers pages, making it much easier to upload them and make them searchable. It also sorts and stores CVs as well as communicating automatically with candidates. A single vacancy can be submitted simultaneously to multiple sites. SaaS stands for Software as a Service which means, the software is cloud-based and accessed via the internet rather than involving downloads and management of the system software on your computers.

What Makes A CRM Different from A SaaS Applicant Tracing System?

While an ATS is a single-platform solution designed to facilitate the hiring process, by acting as a repository for recruiters and hiring managers to post vacancies, gather and process applications and conduct an efficient selection procedure, a CRM focuses on the longer term. It too can be cloud-based but, its functions are more concerned with creating and maintaining strong relationships between recruiters and candidates. This ongoing relationship means that a pool of talent remains available to recruiters. In this sense, a CRM is part of a wider recruitment marketing strategy that is not necessarily centred on immediate recruitment needs but is geared towards the future.

A CRM provides a means of scaling a recruiter’s candidate sourcing by attracting applicants in advance, while an ATS gets to work straight away on the selection and hiring process by automating and simplifying administrative tasks.

Away to talk of the pros and cons of the two systems is a false proposition because, in practice, the best results are achieved by integrating the two. If they are working together, they will classify candidates not simply by what they have done in the past but by what they aim to achieve in the future, and they will provide a useful indication of the candidate’s level of engagement.

Today’s economy prioritises the candidate experience and since most recruiting work occurs before the application stage, companies need to communicate their messages and their identities as early as possible. Connections built through the effective use of CRMs can then be leveraged in the hiring process by the ATS to make the applicant’s experience fast, smooth and professional.

In summary, a CRM concentrates on people and relationships while a SaaS applicant tracking system provides the administrative power to ensure the optimum conclusion to all the works begun by the CRM.

SaaS applicant tracking system

ATS Vs CRM-Pros & Cons