Let us break down some of the most common costs associated with an applicant tracking system.
An applicant tracking system (ATS) is an important business tool for finding and hiring the right candidates. However, before you finalize and sign on the dotted line, you should consider the total cost associated with a new ATS, as well as some of the key benefits.
Our research found that the overall cost of most ATS’s falls within three main areas: the service/maintenance contract, the ATS solution, and the employee user training.
What is the cost of an ATS?
For the most part, the cost of an ATS is determined by the ATS solution chosen. Considering your organization selects a packaged ATS from an outside provider, most of the cost will be paid by your vendor. However, if you select an ATS from a local vendor or design and build your own ATS, most of the cost is likely to be covered by you.
For example, if you are purchasing a packaged ATS that does not include employee user training, you may have to pay for your users’ initial training, if any.
The cost of an ATS is affected by several factors, including:
- Number of users
- Implementation schedule
- Number of custom fields and fields types
- Number of reports
- Number of reports needed for your organization
- Reporting needs
- Total solution length and/or amount of effort
- Number of data sources and types
- Third-party and internal applications integration
- Implementation method
The cost will also be affected by several of the criteria outlined in the following sections, including:
- Number of user profiles to be stored (including custom profiles)
- Number of reports to be produced
- Number of third-party data sources
- Number of custom fields to be created and associated