ATS Saves Schools Millions

Most private businesses know that using an applicant tracking system, or ATS, during the hiring process can be extremely beneficial, especially in terms of saving time and money. Lately, however, that trend seems to be working its way into public sector businesses, such as governments and schools.

Most recently, officials in the United Kingdom announced that the use of an ATS or other recruiting software could reduce the country’s national cost of advertising for school teacher and support staff positions by almost two-thirds.

In response, a new Schools Recruitment Service was created, which offers schools a faster and more efficient and standardized application system. About 52 local authorities representing more than 8,000 schools and 32 academies have already signed up to use the new software.

If every school in the United Kingdom agreed to use the software, it could save about £30 million – or almost $50 million – per year, as well as significant savings in time, administration and the cost of re-advertising job ads in national and local media.

According to an article by PublicTechnology.net, schools in the United Kingdom currently spend about $46.7 million per year on advertising and filling 100,000 teaching vacancies and 50,000 non-teaching positions, such as administrative staff and school catering staff.

Because there are no set rules as to how schools should fill vacancies, different schools and local authorities use different application forms and processes, which ultimately slows down the recruitment process and increases costs.

“This is a watershed in how schools recruit staff,” Vernon Coaker, minister of state for schools and learners, said in the article. “Too often recruiting staff takes up far too much time and is a costly, long-winded process. This harnesses innovative online technology to make it a painless, speedy and more cost efficient exercise. Recruitment is not rocket science – it is about matching job seekers, with the right skills, to the right jobs. This will give schools everything they need to do the job.”