Applicant Tracking Systems Don't Add Value

I thought that title would get your attention. Michael Homula over at Fistful of Talent throws out the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch and says that ATS software was built for compliance and bureaucracy and not relationship recruiting.

Let's face it.  The ATS was built to manage process and track information for the purpose of compliance, EEOC, OFCCP, the corporate legal counsel and HR weenies in the house.  Sure, occasionally they kick out some tired, worn out and meaningless metric about time to fill, or number of positions filled in a quarter, but all the ATS really does is take the recruiting process on paper and put it on a server.  No value add whatsoever to actual recruiting.

What's astounding is that no one in the comments got angry - maybe it's because the story hasn't filtered out to the larger industry yet, but there's a real question of what works best in recruiting.  Internal systems by their nature have old information.  A resume is obsolete shortly after we enter it, which is why TalentFilter is focused on external sources.

Job boards are important because they work.  They've transformed the staffing industry and corporate human resources and made it easier for candidates and hiring companies to find each other.  There may be other problems in the employment process that include filtering, interviews, and offers, but from a supply/demand standpoint, job boards hold up their end of the bargain. 

Granted, top notch recruiters don't need job boards.  Fantastic, social media savvy candidates who read Seth Godin can go out and find their own jobs.  What about those of us who aren't best-selling authors?  We go to job boards, and we put in our resume, and we wait to be contacted by companies looking for the most recent information and availability.

And it works.