Best applicant tracking systems that will scale with your startup

Growing a startup requires a heavy focus on talent attraction and recruitment, so when hiring starts to ramp up, it’s time to add an applicant tracking system, or ATS, to your tech stack. The right ATS will improve your ability to hire quickly—with everything from user-friendly job applications and integrated interview scheduling to automated status update emails and offer letters, applicant tracking systems help you stay organized throughout the hiring process while creating a seamless, memorable experience for your candidates.

With so many options to choose from, selecting the right applicant tracking system for your startup can be tricky. We’ve compiled a list of startup-ready, scalable systems and their key features to help you choose the product that will meet your current needs and scale as you grow.

BambooHR

BambooHR offers small and growing companies a human resources management system, or HRIS, that includes an applicant tracking system, payroll processing, benefits administration, employee engagement and satisfaction tools, automated reminders and workforce data analytics to manage all aspects of the employee lifecycle.

What startups are saying:

“Simple, easy to use/navigate—hiring managers say the UI/UX is very straightforward, and it’s easy to review candidates with bulk email and templating, and an easy rating system. I think this is a great tool for 100 or fewer people with moderate hiring needs/goals. If you want a lot of analytics/reporting, keep looking.” –Amanda Smalls, Head of People & Culture, Nest Wealth

“The best feature of  the BambooHR ATS is its integration with the broader BambooHRIS. The ATS feature is relatively limited and could be improved with a more robust candidate search, integrations with external tools, as well as talent pipeline/CRM capability. BambooHR is a good starter ATS for startups from zero to 100, especially if you are looking for an HRIS with a built-in ATS.” – Shane Barnfield, talent acquisition specialist, Spartan Bioscience Inc.

BreezyHR

BreezyHR is an end-to-end recruiting software to help companies attract and hire great employees with less effort.

What startups are saying:

“Integrates directly with the company website, LinkedIn and all other free posting sites, and collects all application submissions. Easy-to-use mobile phone app. Low monthly fee. It’s robust enough to handle growth/scale-up (for example, 25 hires per year or for a company size of 200 and possibly more),” – Joy Hwang, director of people + culture, eSight

“The best features of BreezyHR are the candidate experience, recruitment workflows and ease of use. Really good UX/UI, super easy to use, and hiring managers also love it. It has a video interview platform built in to make interviews easy. The reporting capabilities could be more robust. BreezyHR is a great ATS for small to mid-sized startups of up to 500 employees.” – Krishna Kambhampati, HR coordinator, MaRS

Greenhouse

Greenhouse is a recruiting platform that improves entire recruiting processes. For everything from finding, tracking and vetting to hiring the best candidates, Greenhouse makes recruiting the strategic advantage that moves companies forward.

What startups are saying:

“The best feature of the ATS is the ability to customize almost all the fields in any form, such as the candidate application and job approval. The dashboard cannot be customized to the user’s preferences. Best fit for a startup of 200-plus with solid growth plans that values reporting and analytics. Greenhouse has great functionality and is mostly user-friendly and easy to navigate, but the tool itself looks outdated.” – Anum Khan, manager of talent acquisition and programs, MaRS

JazzHR

JazzHR is an affordable, user-friendly recruiting solution to help small and medium-size growing businesses find and hire the right talent—fast. Many early-stage startups have began with JazzHR as their first ATS.

What startups are saying:

“JazzHR does such a great job of automating hiring tasks that save so much time, especially for smaller teams. For external recruiters, there is a lack of visibility into where their candidates are in the pipeline. Best for a startup of one to 100 people or for larger startups that aren’t looking for in-depth reporting and surveys.” – Mary Papagiannis, head of people, Tread; founder and consultant, Campfire

Jobvite

The Jobvite Applicant Tracking System is an easy-to-use solution that employs automation and intelligence to engage candidates while increasing recruiting speed and quality.

Lever

Lever is a cloud-based solution that offers ATS and CRM functionality in a single platform to manage the hiring process. It helps teams of all sizes source, nurture and manage their candidates, all in one place.

Workable

Workable provides hiring teams with lots of ways to find more qualified candidates and helps them work together to identify and hire the best. They get from requisition to offer letter faster, with automated and AI-powered tools that source and suggest candidates, simplify decision making and streamline the hiring process.

What startups are saying:

“Simple and easy to use for both recruiters and hiring managers, and the people search function is great for sourcing. It’s lacking some features that would be useful, such as automatic job application replies and scorecard reminders, and the reporting function isn’t very robust. Best fit for a smaller startup of less than 100.” – Emma Hunt, head of people, Bonsai

Zoho

Zoho Recruit is a cloud-based applicant tracking system that’s built to provide diverse, end-to-end hiring solutions. With its intuitive recruiting software, hiring can be effortless.

Compare Applicant Tracking Systems

See also:

• Enforceable Employment Agreements (MaRS video)
• Employment agreement (sample template): Using employment agreements and job offer letters (MaRS template)

• Developing HR policies and procedures for your startup (MaRS article)

• Sticky Situations: Navigating difficult HR conversations (MaRS video)