So you finally landed that new head of TA/RecOps job! Congratulations!

  

You were probably told in the interview that the ATS really needs some love and attention. You may have heard some version of this story… 

“We invested in ABC ATS system, and we implemented it but we're not really sure we're using it to its fullest potential.” 

OR

“we have XZY ATS and it stinks, it doesn't get us what we want so we track everything in Excel or JIRA or whatever”. “We track all our openings on a spreadsheet because we can't trust the ATS data. “

If you are like me, you’ve heard this one a bunch. What I’ve learned though is that chances are, it's not the ATS – it's the team, it's the behavior, it's the lack of education, understanding, enablement and adoption. 

Hard truths I know. 

 

So what do you do then? How can you help rebuild not only the system, but build the right mindsets, behaviors, and really drive the team to embrace and utilize this system you are likely paying tens of thousands of dollars for?

Below is a blueprint or a framework I've used in previous roles that have helped me drive positive change, engagement and adoption of the ATS.

5 Steps to Evaluate and Performance Tune your ATS (and your team):  

1. Learn From the Provider - what the tool is really capable of?

2. Learn by doing - How does your org currently have it configured?

3. Learn from the Team - understand why the team hates it 

4. Learn why no one trusts the data 

5. (re)Build Together - How to get your team using it again 

 

Step 1: Learn from the Provider 

While you are still new to the role, and probably have some 'free' time on your hands in your first few weeks, take time to deep-dive into the ATS's library of recorded training material. Do all of them! 

Also reach out to your CSM and schedule time for hands-on training. 

This is a great first place to start because the knowledge comes directly from the source. Spending time learning what the tool is fully capable of gives you a baseline to understand the functionality, integrations, limitations, etc. You can use this information as you start to dig in with the team to see how your org is currently using it.

Start a list of notes and questions - you’ll want to refer back to this later.

 

Step 2: Learn by watching, doing.

What in-house documentation do you have? If the team were to train you on the ATS and workflows, what would they use?

Consider asking the team to demo their process to you. Offer to shadow your recruiters when they are doing things like creating a new req, scheduling interviews, doing an offer, hiring a candidate. This gives you a first hand view into what the current practices are. As you ask them for their opinions, watch them do stuff, you will no doubt get lots of 'I wish it did X' or "when I worked at so and so company we used X and I loved it because..." 

Experiment in your environment on your own– build a test req with a test candidate to actually see it in action.  

By now you will start to see some gaps between the ‘off the shelf’ functionality, the system capabilities and the realities of day-to-day use by your team.

Document it. These are your addressable gaps - you’re comparing what the system does vs what people actually do every day. You are now armed for the next step.  

 

Step 3: Learn from your Team

Schedule discussions with your team to specifically talk about their experience. Allow them to vent, allow them to share where it’s falling short. 

You can now introduce your list of gaps and add to it based on the team’s feedback. Bonus points - you are showing you care by diving deep into the tool that controls 90% of your teams daily activities and outputs. Being invested in building solutions to their biggest pain points is never a bad thing.

Some things you are likely to encounter:

• Missing fields in job data that people spend time hunting for, or can be used in automation to make life easier (like a Position Number, or a Job Code, dept codes, etc.) 

• Automations like LinkedIn RSC, self-scheduling capabilities/Calendar integrations 

• Templates!!! For jobs, emails, offers, etc. RecOps friends know that templates are your friend – they standardize the process and experience and make life easier for your team. That's your #1 goal as their leader btw. 

• Variance in workflow statuses 

• Disposition reasons that may or may not exists 

 

Once you can get a fairly comprehensive, well-informed view of the situation, you should finalize this list and put it into some easily digestible format – PPT/Slides, Project Plan in Excel, Notes, whatever. 

(Time for a quick call out on Step 3a – audit your user groups!! Depending on the system this could be super easy or very complicated, but take time to see who has access to your system and what they are able to see or do. You may find lots of folks have the keys to the castle and probably have contributed to the messy state you inherited.  Pare down access, give people the info and access they truly need and minimize who has the ability to tweak settings.) 

Step 4: Learn why no one trusts the data

This is pretty self explanatory, it's because no one was using the system correctly. garbage in, garbage out as the old adage goes.

However, here’s an opportunity for you to demonstrate some strategic thinking. Poll your peers, your users, and stakeholders. Gather an understanding of what data is being reported, to whom, and when.

Data frameworks and standard reports are a topic for another series of articles entirely.

But at this point you’ve diagnosed system gaps, built credibility with your team, polled your stakeholder for their input.

Step 5: (re)Build Together

This is my favorite part - work together with your team to build/rebuild. Be a leader, empower your team to be part of the solution. Give them access to the materials they need to learn, let them tinker, and build/break things. 

Through ongoing work and progress, you should be able to come up with: 

• a new, standardized workflow – complete with all the steps/statuses you would like 80% of your requisitions to follow 

• Standardized disposition reasons – and definitions for each one 

• A refreshed voice and enhanced brand via new templates that all look, taste, feel the same 

• Enhanced, and repeatable reporting/metrics

• Automation - self-schedule, background integrations, etc.

 

Inheriting a new team and an ATS can be a daunting task. Focusing on these items is really the core of what your team does, and where they spend 75% of their time – managing candidates through the recruiting lifecycle. 

 

By showing curiosity, educating yourself and involving the team in the path forward you've demonstrated a willingness to walk in their shoes, to enable them to be part of rebuilding something that was broken, and probably built some credibility with your team. 

Great job and good luck!