The basic purpose of job applicant tracking software is to do exactly what it says – to keep track of available jobs and the information about the people applying for those jobs.
This software, geared towards the tracking of jobs and applicants, is typically found in one of several forms:
- Custom Developed, as a standalone – affordable by large, unique corporations only
- As part of another enterprise or HR package. There are many of these, for instance www.edzapp.com has a built in applicant handling and tracking section to handle applicant information for teaching positions
- As a portion of a more complete r ERP package. These are actually numerous and common. For example, SAP has its own applicant information sub-system, as does Great Plains Enterprise software package
Software for tracking applicants and positions has developed from being an afterthought to HR systems, into both a primary element of all standard HR systems, and in fact, into their own sub-industry.
Because of their preponderance and the competitiveness in the market, Basic to moderate functions for tracking of applicants and jobs are now very affordable for medium or even small business.
Many on-line services now allow ‘system for rent' approaches, allowing companies to use their on-line applicant information and job tracking systems, for a cost. This seems to be the way for many organizations that have never had prior applicant handling systems. Entries in this market include such companies as Northwest Software at www.nwsi.com.
Major entries in the In-house system market include:
- OpenHire
- Mindscope
- Maxhire
- RecruitMax
- and thousands more
In selecting the proper software for tracking your applicants and jobs, several factors come into play.
These factors are similar to those for selecting other software packages:
- Availability of data: Can you extract data from a standard database for easy interaction with your other systems or for customized reporting needs
- Interfaces: Are there interfaces built into the software to allow for automated interfaces into other standard software such as other HR software or business management software
- Training: Especially with a small business, getting everyone up to speed quickly on a new software package is critical
- System resources: Not usually an issue, but sometimes small business environments are on over-taxed hardware already.