Applicant Tracking System: Streamline Your Recruitment Process

An applicant tracking system (ATS) can help HR teams manage recruitment more efficiently by bringing vacancies, applications, candidate information and hiring activities into one central platform. As organisations grow, managing CVs through emails, spreadsheets and separate folders can quickly become difficult.

For organisations that recruit regularly, these manual processes can consume significant administrative time and make it harder to maintain visibility over candidates at different stages of the recruitment process.

Recruitment technology can help solve this problem, but implementing software should not simply be about replacing spreadsheets. The objective should be to create a recruitment process that is structured, efficient and easier for HR teams and hiring managers to manage.

Table of Contents

1. What Is an Applicant Tracking System?
2. Why Spreadsheet-Based Recruitment Becomes Difficult
3. What Should You Look for in Recruitment Software?
4. Using AI in Recruitment
5. Spreadsheet Recruitment vs Applicant Tracking System
6. An ATS Option Worth Considering: Manatal
7. How Much Does Manatal Cost?
8. Do Small Businesses Need an ATS?
9. Recruitment Technology Should Support the Process
10. Final Thoughts

What Is an Applicant Tracking System?

An applicant tracking system is recruitment software used to manage candidates and vacancies throughout the hiring process.

Instead of managing recruitment through separate spreadsheets, emails and folders, an ATS provides a central environment where recruiters and hiring managers can track vacancies, applications and candidate progress.

Depending on the system, an ATS may assist organisations with:

• Creating and advertising vacancies
• Collecting and storing candidate applications
• Screening CVs
• Tracking candidates through recruitment stages
• Recording recruitment activities
• Collaborating with hiring managers
• Maintaining candidate databases
• Managing career pages
• Monitoring recruitment performance
• Reporting on recruitment metrics

The purpose of an ATS is not to replace the judgement of recruiters or hiring managers. Instead, it can reduce the administrative burden associated with recruitment and make information easier to manage.

Why Spreadsheet-Based Recruitment Becomes Difficult

Spreadsheets can work well when an organisation recruits only occasionally.

Problems often emerge when recruitment volumes increase.

Consider an organisation advertising five positions and receiving 100 applications for each vacancy. HR may suddenly have 500 applications to process while simultaneously coordinating interviews, communicating with candidates, obtaining feedback from managers and maintaining recruitment records.

If this information is distributed across individual email inboxes, spreadsheets and folders, maintaining an accurate picture of the recruitment process becomes increasingly difficult.

Common challenges may include:

• Duplicate candidate records
• Outdated recruitment spreadsheets
• Missed candidate follow-ups
• Inconsistent screening records
• Difficulty retrieving previous applicants
• Limited visibility for hiring managers
• Manual recruitment reporting
• Difficulty determining the status of vacancies

This is where an applicant tracking system can become valuable. Instead of relying on multiple disconnected records, recruiters can manage candidate activity through a central recruitment pipeline.

What Should You Look for in Recruitment Software?

There are many recruitment platforms available, so organisations should evaluate systems according to their actual recruitment requirements rather than simply selecting the platform with the longest feature list.

Choosing the right applicant tracking system should take into account recruitment volumes, the number of recruiters and hiring managers involved, reporting requirements, budget and the complexity of the organisation’s hiring process.

1. Candidate Tracking

A good ATS should make it easy to see where each candidate is in the recruitment process.

For example:

Application Received → Screening → Shortlisted → Interview → Assessment → Offer → Hired

Recruitment teams should ideally be able to configure these stages according to their own recruitment procedures.

2. Candidate Sourcing

Advertising vacancies individually across multiple platforms can consume significant administrative time.

Recruitment software that integrates with job boards and sourcing channels can simplify this process by allowing recruiters to manage candidate sourcing from a more centralised environment.

3. CV and Candidate Management

Recruiters should be able to search, filter and retrieve candidate information without manually opening hundreds of documents.

Searchable candidate databases and CV parsing can be particularly valuable for organisations that recruit regularly or maintain large talent pools.

4. Hiring Manager Collaboration

Recruitment should not operate as an isolated HR activity.

Hiring managers need appropriate visibility into shortlisted candidates, interview outcomes and recruitment progress.

An ATS can provide a shared environment where recruiters and managers collaborate without depending entirely on lengthy email chains and separate spreadsheets.

5. Recruitment Reporting

Organisations should also understand how effectively their recruitment processes are performing.

Useful recruitment measures may include:

• Time to hire
• Candidate source
• Recruitment pipeline conversion
• Vacancy status
• Reasons for candidate rejection
• Recruiter activity
• Hiring trends

Recruitment data can help HR teams identify bottlenecks and make better-informed decisions about their hiring processes.

Using AI in Recruitment

Artificial intelligence is increasingly being incorporated into recruitment technology.

Depending on the platform, AI may assist recruiters with candidate matching, profile enrichment, candidate searches, screening and other administrative recruitment activities.

However, organisations should use AI as a decision-support tool rather than allowing technology to make important employment decisions without appropriate human oversight.

Recruiters and hiring managers remain responsible for ensuring that recruitment decisions are fair, job-related and consistent with applicable employment and data-protection requirements.

Technology should support professional judgement, not replace it.

Spreadsheet Recruitment vs Applicant Tracking System

For smaller recruitment volumes, spreadsheets may provide enough functionality. However, the differences become more noticeable as the number of vacancies, candidates and hiring managers increases.

Recruitment Activity	Manual / Spreadsheet Process	Applicant Tracking System
Candidate applications	Stored across emails, folders and spreadsheets	Stored in a central candidate database
Recruitment stages	Manually updated	Candidates tracked through a recruitment pipeline
CV management	CVs opened and reviewed individually	Searchable candidate profiles and CV records
Hiring manager collaboration	Email chains and separate documents	Recruitment information can be shared centrally
Candidate follow-ups	Manually tracked through reminders	Recruitment activities can be tracked within the system
Recruitment reporting	Reports compiled manually	Recruitment data can be analysed more efficiently
Talent database	Previous applicants may be difficult to retrieve	Candidate records can remain searchable for future vacancies
Scalability	Becomes harder as recruitment volume increases	Better suited to managing multiple vacancies and candidates

The biggest advantage of an applicant tracking system is therefore not simply automation. It provides HR teams with a more structured way to manage recruitment information as hiring volumes increase.

For organisations still relying heavily on spreadsheets and email, moving to an ATS can reduce administrative complexity and provide better visibility across the recruitment process.

An ATS Option Worth Considering: Manatal

One recruitment platform organisations can consider is Manatal.

Manatal combines applicant tracking functionality with recruitment CRM, candidate sourcing, recruitment analytics and AI-supported recruitment features.

The platform allows recruitment teams to create customised recruitment pipelines and manage candidates through different stages of the hiring process.

Its functionality includes areas such as candidate sourcing, candidate profile management, recruitment reporting, career pages, hiring-team collaboration and candidate onboarding.

Manatal also provides job distribution functionality for organisations that want to advertise vacancies through multiple recruitment channels.

Its AI functionality can assist with candidate recommendations and matching candidate profiles against job requirements.

These capabilities make the platform potentially useful for both internal HR departments and recruitment agencies managing multiple vacancies and candidate databases.

Why Consider Manatal?

Organisations evaluating an applicant tracking system should consider whether the software addresses the administrative challenges they are actually experiencing.

Manatal may be worth exploring if your organisation wants to:

• Centralise candidate records
• Create structured recruitment pipelines
• Reduce reliance on recruitment spreadsheets
• Improve collaboration between recruiters and hiring managers
• Maintain a searchable candidate database
• Access recruitment reporting
• Manage multiple vacancies from one platform
• Explore AI-supported recruitment functionality

Software should still be evaluated against the organisation’s specific requirements before making a purchasing decision.

How Much Does Manatal Cost?

Manatal offers different subscription plans based on the functionality and capacity required by an organisation.

Rather than choosing recruitment software based only on the advertised monthly price, organisations should consider the total value of the platform relative to the amount of recruitment administration it could potentially reduce.

Software pricing and available features can also change over time, so organisations should confirm current packages directly with the provider.

Try Manatal Before Committing

One advantage of evaluating software through a trial is that HR teams can determine whether the platform fits their actual recruitment process before committing to a paid subscription.

Manatal currently provides a 14-day free trial with no credit card required.

Try Manatal Free for 14 Days

Use the trial period to create a vacancy, configure a recruitment pipeline, add candidate profiles and involve relevant hiring managers. This provides a more meaningful evaluation than making a decision based only on a software feature list.

Do Small Businesses Need an ATS?

Not every organisation needs recruitment software immediately.

A company hiring one or two employees per year may be perfectly capable of managing recruitment manually.

An ATS becomes more valuable when an organisation:

• Recruits regularly
• Receives large numbers of applications
• Has several hiring managers
• Operates across multiple departments or locations
• Needs better recruitment reporting
• Wants to maintain a searchable talent database
• Struggles to track candidates consistently
• Manages several vacancies simultaneously

The decision should therefore be based on recruitment complexity rather than simply company size.

A growing small business recruiting frequently could benefit from an ATS earlier than a much larger organisation that hires only occasionally.

Recruitment Technology Should Support the Process

Implementing an applicant tracking system will not automatically fix an ineffective recruitment process.

Before introducing recruitment technology, organisations should define important recruitment fundamentals such as:

• Recruitment approval procedures
• Job descriptions
• Minimum job requirements
• Screening criteria
• Interview processes
• Assessment methods
• Recruitment responsibilities
• Candidate communication standards
• Record-keeping requirements

For example, having clear and properly structured job descriptions can improve recruitment by helping HR teams and hiring managers establish appropriate screening and selection criteria.

[INTERNAL LINK: Insert your relevant Job Description or Recruitment article here]

HR teams should therefore review their existing recruitment process before implementing an applicant tracking system and identify the specific administrative bottlenecks they want the technology to address.

Technology works best when it supports a clearly defined HR process.

Final Thoughts

Managing recruitment through spreadsheets and email can become increasingly difficult as hiring volumes grow.

An applicant tracking system can give HR teams greater visibility over vacancies, candidates and recruitment activities while reducing unnecessary administration.

The right system should make recruitment easier to manage without removing the human judgement required to make good hiring decisions.

Platforms such as Manatal provide organisations with an opportunity to centralise recruitment, manage candidate pipelines, collaborate with hiring managers and use recruitment information more effectively.

However, organisations should evaluate recruitment technology against their own hiring volumes, processes, budget and operational requirements before selecting a platform.

For organisations interested in exploring an ATS before making that decision, a free trial provides an opportunity to evaluate how the technology performs in a real recruitment environment.

Explore Manatal and Start Your 14-Day Free Trial

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