For any UK business, the recruitment and selection process is a critical HR function. Hiring managers are tasked not only with filling vacancies but with finding candidates who align perfectly with the team and company objectives. If your hiring process is struggling with high volumes of applications or difficulty in organising the talent pool, an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is an essential tool for identifying top talent more efficiently.
Table of Contents
- Key Facts
- What Does the Modern UK Recruitment Process Involve?
- What is an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and How Does It Work?
- What Are the Key Benefits of Using an Applicant Tracking System?
- ATS Pricing Models in the UK
- How Do You Choose the Right ATS for Your UK Business?
- How Can You Calculate the Return on Investment of an ATS?
- How Do You Select an ATS Platform?
- Final thoughts on HR ATS tools
- FAQs
Key Facts
- An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is HR software that automates and manages the recruitment process, from posting jobs to screening and tracking candidates in a central database.
- In the UK, the average time to hire a new employee is approximately 4.9 weeks, a process an ATS is designed to accelerate.
- 31% of UK employers reported hard-to-fill vacancies in mid-2026, which puts pressure on sourcing, screening, and selection processes.
- A bad hire costs UK businesses between 1.25 and 1.4 times the employee’s annual salary, highlighting the need for a structured and effective selection process.
What Does the Modern UK Recruitment Process Involve?
Recruitment is best framed as a process that starts with defining the role, then attracting applicants, selecting candidates and making an appointment. An ATS should support each stage without replacing clear role requirements or accountable human decisions.
Before beginning the selection process, a crucial preliminary phase involves a thorough analysis of the vacancy. Key questions to address include:
- What is the purpose and scope of the role?
- Which skills and qualifications are required?
- What is the timeline for hiring?
- Which stakeholders must be involved in the decision-making process?
Above all, one of the most important things a company must do before recruiting is to set a budget. A clear budget helps the business plan advertising, recruitment technology, assessment and interview costs before the vacancy goes live.
The Office for National Statistics publishes UK vacancy estimates, which can help employers benchmark recruitment demand before they plan their hiring activity.
If you’re an HR admin, we know that finding time for recruitment is difficult. For this reason, ATS technology was born. If you’re a company that plans to hire employees and/or post a variety of roles, it’s worth looking into an ATS. Thanks to applicant tracking software, companies are able to manage the hiring process better and automate the process as much as possible.
What is an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and How Does It Work?
An Applicant Tracking System is software that provides a centralised, digital platform for managing all recruitment and hiring tasks. It acts as a comprehensive database for all candidate information, automating workflows from initial application to final offer. Sometimes referred to as candidate management software, an ATS assists in structuring recruitment automation UK processes, reducing manual effort, and increasing efficiency.
A typical hiring workflow using an ATS involves:
- Job posting across multiple channels or job boards
- Automated collection and parsing of CVs
- Keyword matching and scoring of candidates
- Structured progression of candidates through hiring stages
- Centralised communication and progress tracking
- Long-term management of a talent pool database for future vacancies
An ATS improves recruitment by giving recruiters a visible candidate pipeline, consistent evaluation stages and a searchable record of past applicants. Candidates may also recognise ATS use when an employer redirects them from a vacancy page to a structured online application form.
Well, ATS systems like Factorial HR provide an end-to-end recruitment software that starts from the principal stages of the hiring process, all the way to incorporating the employee into your system.
Companies that use ATS software to optimize their hiring process, are more likely to succeed in capturing top talent. This is a fact!
What Are the Key Benefits of Using an Applicant Tracking System?
There are immediate benefits to implementing software to support the hiring process. Spoiler: stronger candidates and happier recruiters are part of the package.
- Simplified Recruitment Automation UK: An ATS automates repetitive tasks such as posting jobs, screening CVs, sending out communications, and scheduling interviews, saving significant time and reducing errors.
- Enhanced Candidate Experience: By ensuring quick follow-ups and clear updates, applicants receive better communication, reducing the so-called “CV black hole” effect.
- Higher Quality of Hire: 78% of recruiters say using an ATS has improved the quality of the candidates they hire.
- More Consistent Evaluation: Structured hiring stages, shared scorecards, and centralised interview feedback make it easier for hiring teams to compare candidates against the same role requirements.
- Centralised Data Management: All candidate information is stored in a secure, searchable talent pool database, making it easy to revisit strong past applicants for future roles and ensuring efficient long-term candidate management.
- Ensures UK Data Protection Compliance: In the UK, all recruitment activities must comply with the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR. An ATS helps ensure compliance by managing candidate data securely, handling consent, and automating data retention policies. This provides a clear audit trail and protects your organisation from potential data breaches and non-compliance penalties.
- Supports Diversity and Inclusion: Many modern systems include features such as inclusive job description analysis and anonymised screening to reduce unconscious bias.
- Effective Collaboration: Secure, real-time collaboration between recruiters, hiring managers, and stakeholders at every step of the process.
The Information Commissioner’s Office states that employers and recruiters must handle candidate information in line with data protection law, including potentially sensitive information such as health, diversity or criminal-conviction data.
ATS Pricing Models in the UK
In the UK, ATS pricing typically follows a few common models. Many all-in-one HR platforms charge on a per-employee-per-month (PEPM) basis, with costs often ranging from £3 to £10 PEPM depending on the features included. Other providers may charge based on the number of active job vacancies or the number of users (recruiters) on the platform. It is essential to evaluate which model best aligns with your company’s hiring volume and growth plans.
How Do You Choose the Right ATS for Your UK Business?
Recruitment software can do your hiring process a world of good. But the wrong recruiting software can become more of a hindrance than a help. Here’s how to sift the bad programs from the good.
1. Look for the right applicant tracking system features
The first step is determining exactly what your company needs. Collaborate with your team to decide on essential features. Consider your organisation’s priorities and how recruitment software can help you reach your goals. Key features to look for include:
- Customisable hiring workflows
- CV parsing and intelligent screening
- Collaborative evaluation tools
- Branded candidate experience
- Detailed analytics and reporting
- Integration with the rest of your HR software ecosystem
- UK Compliance and Sourcing: Ensure the system is fully compliant with UK data protection laws and integrates with popular UK job boards. This avoids manual work and ensures you reach the most relevant candidate pools.
2. Take a recruitment software free trial or demo
By now, you have found a few programs that your team could benefit from. If some of them are paid, you can take advantage of free trials or demos to try the recruitment software online. For example, a free demo of Factorial is an opportunity not only to try their ATS, but also the rest of their HR services. Here are our tips for how to get the most out of a trial or demo:
- Have as many members of your team as possible test the software, or sit in on the demo.
- Explain to the person leading the demo exactly what your company needs.
- Make sure the features meet the essential and non-essential requirements previously decided on.
- Find software that integrates well with your current tools.
- Test all offered features to make sure they are as advertised and not too clunky.
3. Choose recruitment software based on total cost and adoption
With an idea in mind of how the different software functions, it is finally time to choose the program that works best for you. Before you take the plunge, do your best to determine if the recruitment software pricing is honest or if there are hidden costs. Fees per job posting or new hire can quickly add up.
For teams that need recruitment alongside core HR administration, Factorial HR can keep applicant stages, candidate communication and employee records in one system. Test whether the workflow matches your approval process before committing.
Factorial’s recruitment software comes free with a subscription to its HR management services; therefore it has no hidden fees. This may be an opportunity not just to improve your recruitment process, but improve the employee experience for the entire employee life cycle.
How Can You Calculate the Return on Investment of an ATS?
Calculate ATS return on investment using your own recruitment data rather than generic market assumptions:
- Measure recruiter and hiring-manager hours spent on each vacancy.
- Calculate advertising, agency and interview administration costs.
- Track time from approval to accepted offer.
- Compare these figures before and after implementation.
- Include software, implementation and training costs in the final calculation.
How Do You Select an ATS Platform?
When choosing your ATS platform, consider:
- UK recruitment compliance, software usability, and integration with local job boards.
- The balance between standalone candidate management software tools and fully integrated HR suites.
- Feedback from UK employers and real user reviews.
- Adoption by hiring managers due to simple, intuitive interfaces.
- Support for creating and maintaining a robust talent pool database.
Are you crystal clear on finding the right candidate? Don’t wait any longer! Trial out Factorial HR and its candidate tracking system. Still not sure? Find out how to select the best free recruitment software.
What about AI in Applicant Tracking Systems?
Artificial intelligence is becoming a standard feature in modern ATS platforms, offering powerful tools to enhance recruitment. AI can help by intelligently screening CVs to identify the most qualified candidates, automating interview scheduling, and even analysing job descriptions for inclusive language. Factorial One can even conduct the first round of phone interviews, to save the HR department significant time. According to a 2025 report, the share of UK job postings requiring AI‑related skills has increased every year from 2012 to 2024, even as overall job postings declined.
Employers should still assess whether automated decisions meaningfully involve people, and whether candidates receive the safeguards required by data protection law. The Information Commissioner’s Office’s 2026 review of recruitment practices, which drew on evidence from more than 30 employers using automated recruitment processes, found that automation was commonly used at the early hiring stages. In health and social care, job postings requiring AI skills rose from 0.5% in 2023 to 1.1% in 2024.
Final thoughts on HR ATS tools
Simply put, a Recruitment platform or Human Resources management software (ATS) can improve productivity in your life and work. Factorial’s intuitive and easy-to-use applicant tracking system allows you to collect and track applicants through the hiring process. Also, you can easily create your own customised hiring page, showcasing your company, team, available positions, and more. Best of all, the Factorial ATS lets you effortlessly integrate new employees into Factorial’s HR recruitment software once hired.
FAQ
What is an applicant tracking system (ATS)?
An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is software that automates and manages the recruitment process. It serves as a central database for all candidate information, helping businesses simplify tasks from posting jobs and screening CVs to tracking applicants through the hiring pipeline.
What is the role of an ATS system in HR?
An ATS helps HR teams automate repetitive hiring tasks, centralise candidate data, and improve collaboration with hiring managers. This simplifies the recruitment process, reduces time-to-hire, ensures data compliance, and ultimately helps in selecting higher-quality candidates more efficiently.
How do I pass my CV through ATS?
To improve your CV’s chances of passing an ATS, tailor it with keywords from the job description and use a clean, simple format. Avoid using tables, columns, or complex graphics, as the software may not be able to parse them correctly. Stick to standard fonts and clear headings.
