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ATS vs. CRM: What's the Difference and Do You Need Both.

Sep 13, 2022

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The recruiting and hiring landscape is changing, and you shouldn't lose great talent to your competition because of bad recruiting. Today, 36% of the US workforce are freelancers, and reports project this to grow to over 50% by the end of the decade. There are also conversations about the rise of machine learning and artificial intelligence replacing human jobs. This is making recruiting increasingly difficult as traditional sourcing channels no longer yield quality candidates, and exceptional talent aren't seeking employment.

Talent and Recruiting Software


Due to technology and few talents seeking active employment, recruiting is actively shifting from a reactive process to a proactive function. There's now a greater focus on the talent and candidates. Attracting passive candidates requires companies and brands to stand out from others. This means highly competitive job offers and using active, engaging, and fast-moving recruiting practices.

The best way to undertake this proactive recruiting process is through a quality talent search and recruiting software. Companies can choose talent acquisition suites depending on their enterprise, SMB, or startup level. However, with so many recruiting software and talent acquisition suites available — ATS, CRM software, HCRM — it can be challenging to settle on one.

Among the many suites, candidate relationship management (CRM) systems and applicant tracking systems (ATS) are the top choices for recruiters. However, recruiters often believe that they don't need ATS if they already have a CRM system. These tools may appear the same but differ in provision and function. Top recruiting companies use both CRM and ATS in their hiring process.

CRM vs. ATS: What's the Difference?


What Is Candidate Relationship Management (CRM)?


CRM software is a tool designed to enhance and strengthen relationships between recruiters and potential candidates. The goal is to position the candidates and build rapport so recruiters can use them for current or future job openings.

In many cases, CRMs are an integral part of businesses' recruitment marketing strategy. They allow talent acquisition professionals to create talent pools or communities and deliver targeted messaging to build and nurture insightful relationships with candidates and with passive talent.

With CRM, when the time comes to fill a position, the recruiter will already have a community and pool of vetted candidates to choose from and fill the vacancy.

What Is Applicant Tracking System (ATS)?


ATS software is a recruiting tool that optimizes and facilitates hiring. ATS acts as a talent repository where hiring managers and recruiters can create and post job openings, collect applications, and organize them. This also allows the recruiters to screen, evaluate, and select candidates, and then move them through all the platform's hiring process steps.

The Difference between CRM and ATS


CRM systems generally attract passive candidates ahead of demand to scale recruiters' sourcing efforts. On the other hand, ATS systems help make the candidate selection and hiring process more streamlined by eliminating unnecessary administrative tasks in the recruiting process. This further helps improve the three significant hiring metrics: hiring budget, hiring velocity,  and the net hiring score.

ATS is a hiring workflow and compliance software for identifying and managing applicants, while CRM software creates a pool of all candidates (passive and active). A CRM may store and include information from previous applicants in your system because it's more of a candidate repository.

Should you Use Both ATS and CRM?


Answer: Yes.

ATS does just little more than execute repetitive functions. Often, recruiting teams using ATS only waste time on less important tasks than focusing on the whole hiring strategic initiatives. As a result, optimizing ATS with CRM Software is important for an effective hiring process. Some signs that an ATS is not fully optimized are:

  • Multiple entry fields require manual input

  • Candidates' categories are based on their current jobs instead of desired work

  • Lack of models to evaluate or measure the recruiter-candidate relationship (such as measuring the applicant's level of engagement)

  • Hard-to-fill company positions or profiles remain open for many months

  • No recruiting ROI (such as cost per hire, time to hire, quality of hire)


From these signs, integrating  CRM software in ATS makes sense and optimizes the recruiting and hiring process to achieve the company's hiring goals. While CRM is an excellent recruitment marketing tool, it becomes more efficient when integrated with an ATS. For instance, a CRM nurtures the candidate while the ATS helps select the candidate and make an offer. The two sides can work as both ends of a jigsaw.

Benefits of Using Both ATS and CRM


Today's hiring process is candidate-centric. Companies must first show concern and be aware of applicants'/candidates' experiences before approaching them. Technology solutions like CRM work well with ATS systems to evaluate candidates' fitness and match for talent acquisition success.

In the competitive talent market, between 70% and 80% of all recruiting screening happens in the pre-applicant stage. In most cases, recruiters know about candidates before they approach them or post a job opening. This ensures that recruiters and hiring managers deliver the right job posting messaging to the right people so that companies gain an advantage in attracting top talent.

Recruiting top talent becomes easy when hiring teams and company managers leverage a comprehensive talent acquisition software that seamlessly integrates ATS and CRM in one platform. Recruiters can maintain talent pools with CRM software and use data-driven hiring methods to find the right candidates.

CRM tools also help nurture strong recruiter-candidate relationships, building speed and efficiency during the hiring time. This results in a better experience of the applicant's journey through the company's ATS system.

Endnote


Recruiting and talent acquisition have become advanced to help reach top talent. The error of manual recruiting is over, and now recruiters use hiring software. With the right recruiting and hiring tools, recruiters can get meaningful insights to get great hires that help drive company growth. As more futuristic industry trends emerge, technology solutions are developed to meet these demands. Recruiters who can identify, engage, and nurture candidates will form great talent pools and recruit exceptional talent for company growth.