An Applicant Tracking System integration is a connection between your ATS and another software solution to simplify the recruitment process. The connection—integration—is usually done at the API level. With its roll-out, your HR team can speed up various stages of the recruitment cycle, from sourcing to the onboarding process. Different HR software platforms start acting as one comprehensive HR system.
Let’s be more precise on how applicant tracking systems and other HR software solutions can smoothly cooperate to simplify the hiring process. ATS’ primary function is to automate recruitment by organizing applications, tracking candidates’ progress through the hiring pipeline, and making it easier to search for qualified applicants.
When integrated with other HR software solutions, such as HRIS (which manages employee data), CRM systems, and background check services, the ATS becomes even more reliable.
ATS’ are so widespread that reports always put its adoption exceeding 95% when referring to Fortune 500 companies. So it’s expected that there are plenty of market-validated integrations.
This guide will discuss different types of ATS integrations and which are the most suitable for each industry, their challenges, implementation tips and best practices.
HRIS Integration
ATS handles the recruitment side of things, such as managing job applications, a candidate recommendations and tracking applicants. On the other side, a Human Resources Information System, or HRIS, manages employee data once they’re hired—including payroll and benefits.
When you integrate these two systems, onboarding turns much more simpler. For instance, once a candidate is hired, their information can automatically be transferred from the ATS to the HRIS. This data flow clearly helps HR teams get new hires set up faster and makes certain that all necessary information will be available from the new-hire’s first working day.
Another key benefit of integration is improved data analysis. By linking the ATS and HRIS, you can combine recruitment data with employee performance data. This helps you to see which hiring channels are the most effective and which interviewers are best at selecting top talent. Integrating these systems also helps to prevent data from being locked away and isolated in separate systems. Without integration, HR folks would have to manually enter data into each system, which would increase the chance of mishaps and, of course, waste time.
CRM (Candidate Relationship Management) Integration
Candidate Relationship Management complements ATS by building and maintaining a pool of potential candidates. This system is designed to engage with candidates before and after they apply for a job. It creates and manages a talent pipeline because it keeps track of both active and passive candidates. This way, a CRM allows recruiters to build relationships with potential hires, send customized communications, and keep candidates informed about job openings and company events.
When your ATS and CRM are integrated, the ATS handles the operational side while the CRM manages ongoing relationships with qualified candidates who might not be immediately hired but are valuable for future opportunities.
For example, if a jobseeker applies for a position, the ATS tracks their progress through the candidate application process. Once the process is complete, the CRM can follow up with the candidate to keep them engaged with your company, even if they weren’t selected for the current role. Considering the CRM software will build up a healthy, continuous communication channel with the candidate, it’s an example of how an integration can promote a positive candidate experience.
Single Sign-On (SSO) Integration
Single Sign-On (SSO) is a user authentication process that allows individuals to log into multiple systems using only one set of login credentials.
For companies using an ATS alongside other HR systems, SSO simplifies the login process for hiring managers and improves their general experience by reducing the number of passwords and login steps required.
Background Check Services Integration
Background check services verify certain aspects of a candidate profile and its history to make sure that they are suitable for a job. They typically include checks on criminal records, employment history, educational qualifications, and sometimes credit or driving records. It speeds up the process of verifying candidate information—critical for industries like education, security, and healthcare.
If you connect your ATS with a background check platform, you can reduce manual data entry and, this way, speed up the whole recruitment process, especially because you’ll be adding a new layer of sifting through profiles.
An ATS might pick up a resume that matches the job ad. But the background check could confirm if the candidate had, in fact, worked at that very impressive company. Considering it will highlight the resumes of the truthful candidates, this invisible integration will contribute to the candidate experience (and to HR’s mental well-being).
Integrating compliance tools with your ATS will guarantee that your hiring processes stick to relevant laws and regulations. Compliance tools help manage and automate legal requirements related to hiring, such as data privacy laws, Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) regulations, and industry-specific standards.
Compliance Tools are especially important for sectors like manufacturing and logistics, where legal regulations are extremely strict. Integrating compliance systems with your ATS makes it easier to track certifications and meet industry requirements.
When you connect compliance tools to your ATS, you can easily put together necessary reports, keep up-to-date with regulatory changes, and be sure that your candidate data is handled appropriately.
Email and Communication Platforms Integration
Linking your ATS with email and communication platforms allows you to send automate email notifications, track correspondence, and maintain a record of all communications with candidates within the ATS. It also helps to make sure that all team members are on the same page, as it centralizes communication history. Although, it wo0uld be more convenient to directly connect an ATS to an HRIS suite and manage communications from the HRIS suite rather than a communication platform.
Job Boards and Career Sites Integration
Job boards and career sites integration with ATS allows you to post job ads at the same time across multiple job boards, such as LinkedIn, Indeed, Glassdoor, and Monster, directly from your ATS. You no longer need to manually create and manage job postings on each platform. Instead, you can manage everything from a single dashboard. As candidates apply through different job boards, their applications are automatically collected and organized directly in your ATS.
Calendar Applications Integration
Connecting your calendar to your ATS makes it possible to automatically schedule interviews based on your availability and that of the candidates. This cuts down on the need for back-and-forth emails and manual scheduling. It surely makes it easier to manage appointments and avoid conflicts. It also allows for real-time updates, so any changes to the schedule are straight away reflected across all systems.
Analytics and reporting tools, as their name points out, collect and analyze data to uncover trends and performance metrics related to your company’s workforce and outcomes. They generate reports and visualizations that help to make informed decisions, track recruitment effectiveness, and refine strategies.
If you connect ATS with these tools, you’ll be able to track key figures like time-to-fill and cost-per-hire.
Linking social media platforms with your ATS connects your recruitment strategies with networks like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, which allows you to manage job postings and interact with candidates directly through your ATS. By doing so, you can reach a broader and more diverse candidate pool, raise engagement with potential hires, and centralize candidate data for better hiring decisions.
Video Interviewing Software Integration
A setup between Video Interviewing Software Integration and ATS allows your HR team to conduct interviews directly within your recruitment platform.
What’s more, there also are AI-powered video tools that go a step further by analyzing candidates’ responses, body language, and facial expressions. This may sound a bit ominous, but it can significantly help you identify top candidates quickly, reduce bias, and speed up the overall process. If you integrate it with your ATS, all candidate information and interview data obtained by the AI interviews can be easily centralized.
Onboarding Software Integration
Onboarding software integration helps close the gap between hiring and starting a new job. This integration eases the process by instantly passing on candidate details from your ATS to the onboarding system. It also makes it easier for new employees to get tools and resources.
Performance Management Systems Integration
Performance Management involves setting expectations, giving ongoing feedback, and evaluating employee performance to align the workforce’s efforts with organizational goals. There are specialized Performance Management tools which are particularly designed to automate all those tasks.
This type of integration can make sure that data flows fluidly between this system and your ATS platform. This way, performance metrics and feedback from the ATS can inform performance evaluations and create an in-depth view of each employee’s progress—from hiring to performance review. Managers can then easily track employee development, set appropriate goals, and make data-driven decisions about their team’s growth and potential much more easily.
Industry-Specific ATS Integrations
Each industry has its own needs and priorities. A hospital won’t have the same demands as a tech startup, and a small school won’t need to simplify the same process as a metal-working company. For that reason, let’s now focus on how ATS integrations can be used in healthcare, tech, retail, and manufacturing industries, and the benefits they bring to each.
Healthcare
In healthcare, the recruitment process is heavily focused on compliance and credentials. Compliance tools integration within an ATS helps guarantee that medical staff meet necessary certifications and regulations.
Pairing the ATS with background check services is also very useful in this industry, as it allows for quick verification of licenses and credentials. This is something not to take lightly in an industry that demands trust, accountability, and actual training. Additionally, integrating with onboarding software helps new hires complete the required training and certifications as quickly as possible.
Tech
The tech industry has to continually adapt to new technological advancements, and also has to deal with a high and competitive demand for skilled professionals. HRIS integration with an ATS helps to make sure that once candidates are hired, their data can be quickly transferred into employee records.
CRM integration can also be very helpful, as it allows companies to manage long-term relationships with potential hires—especially useful for keeping a pipeline of passive candidates in a highly competitive market.
Retail
Retail businesses often deal with a high volume of applications, which makes job boards and career sites integration especially suitable—since it automates job postings across multiple platforms. It’s a quick way to reach a very broad pool of candidates.
Managing interview schedules can also be a tricky task in retail environments, where staff may need to be hired right away. Calendar applications integration offers easy scheduling for interviews, training sessions, and onboarding activities.
Manufacturing
In a somewhat comparable but still different way than the healthcare industry, in manufacturing, safety and compliance are among the primary concerns during the hiring process. Compliance tools and background check services integration within an ATS guarantee that new hires meet industry standards, particularly in terms of safety certifications.
The sector is not reputed for offering a seamless candidate experience, but they can start learning from their ample workforce to be able to offer one. Using analytics and reporting tools together helps managers look at how many people they hire, keep track of what they need, and improve the hiring plans. It’s all fed from the ATS.
Challenges of ATS Integration
As all things in life, any ATS integration also comes with a few particular challenges. Below are some common issues companies face during the process.
Data Privacy and Security Concerns
With sensitive candidate data passing through multiple systems, security becomes logically a top concern. If the ATS and tools don’t follow the same security rules, there could be fines and lawsuits down the line, especially in heavily regulated markets. In the UK, for example, a watchdog organization, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) fines companies that can’t handle privacy.
Technical Compatibility Issues
Technical bottlenecks are very common and often result in incomplete records or hiring delays. If the workflows, reporting features and data formats between systems don’t match up, it makes recruitment processes even more difficult and slows down the overall integration. The downside is that vendors very rarely admit to these hiccups.
Cost and Placing the Right Resources
If your company’s systems are legacy and lack well-documented APIs, integrating them with an ATS can be expensive, both in terms of money spent and the amount of time needed. Companies—and vendors—typically underestimate the time and budget required for implementation, especially when customization or a third-party integration is involved. Licensing fees, subscription costs, and ongoing maintenance can build up.
User Adoption and Training
When you run an integration, you’re usually opting for a single interface. If your team was used to handling many of them and were used to manually entering data, it could be tough getting people to make the switch. So it’s expected that a company using an ATS system for the first time, or running an integration with an ATS, should offer training so the people handling the tool can wrap their heads around it.
How To Prepare For A Successful ATS Integration
If you want to get the most out of your Applicant Tracking System, you need to think strategically about how to overcome the common pitfalls. That’s why, in this final section, we’ll present some best practices for a robust integration.
Check for Compatibility with Existing HR Systems
List the features of your HRIS and compare them with the ATS’s integration capabilities. Use a free trial to test data synchronization and verify that the ATS works with your current system for seamless integration.
Implement Robust Data Security Measures
Review the ATS’s data security protocols to stay in compliance with regulations like GDPR and CCPA. It’s a good idea to check if the ATS shares data with third parties and assess any potential security risks. Get your IT team to double-check that data is encrypted and that access is controlled by role. Furthermore, consider having regular security audits.
Provide Comprehensive Training for All Users
Train your recruitment team on the ATS’s features and benefits. Offer hands-on practice through onboarding sessions, provide user manuals, and also consider creating internal resources for ongoing support.
Set Up Effective Data Migration Strategies
It’s a smart move to audit your data before you pass it over to make sure it’s all correct. Put together a detailed plan for the migration and do a test run to flag up any potential issues. Keep an eye on the new system after the upgrade, too.
Why ATS Integrations Can Level Up Your Hiring Process
Integrating your ATS with various HR systems can be a game-changer for your recruiting process because it can make it much more efficient and simpler.
Each integration—whether it’s linking with HRIS for simple data transfer, CRM for caring for candidate relationships, or background check services for quicker verifications—addresses specific needs related to your hiring cycle. And, as we’ve come to realize, they also contribute to the candidate experience, directly or indirectly. Integrations are a good way to build up a strong employer brand.
If you want to maximize benefits, focus on integrations that align with your company’s priorities, such as compliance tools for regulated industries or calendar apps for a talent pool that expects quick appointments. Ideally, evaluate compatibility, double-check data security, and provide thorough training to make your ATS work properly.
