How Startups Can Keep Track of Candidates

Having a good system to track your candidates is essential.

You’ve got a lot on your plate, and to make sure that you don’t waste your time, or lose data, an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is a useful hiring tool.

In this article, we’re going to compare two completely different hiring solutions you can use to get started: Homerun and Trello.

What is an Application Tracking System?

An ATS is a software tool used to store all the candidates’ information.

Think of it as the central storage of your open jobs, candidate’s resumes, and your communication with them.

An ATS will prevent you from getting lost and is a faster way to help you find the best candidates for the positions you are trying to fill.

Homerun

Homerun is a great ATS for early stage companies.

It has a free plan and it’s pretty simple to set up and use.

With this ATS we can get rid of all the spreadsheets and lost emails, keep everything in one place and have a killer hiring process!

With this said, you should learn about its pros and cons, so let’s get into it.

Pros of using Homerun:

• All your job openings in a single location. All your open jobs are at plain sight and you get to see an overview of which candidates are in which phase of the hiring process.

Create application forms. You customize your forms with the questions you need an answer for at the moment of the application.

Create application forms. You customize your forms with the questions you need an answer for at the moment of the application.

Simple candidate communication. You can send bulk emails, create email templates, schedule interviews, either with you or with someone else from the team, and have a shared inbox within the team.

Team collaboration tools. You are able to share notes with your team, create to-dos and reminders for anyone on your team.

Careers page. Create careers page and job posts that you customize as it suits you better.

Cons of using Homerun:

• Your options while editing a page are limited: When adding a new job opening you must choose a theme and you have to stick with most of it. You are able to change the font, its weight, size and so on, you can change images, add or remove fields, but no more than that.

It is not free forever, unless you only need one job slot: If you need more job slots and improve other available features on Homerun, you need to upgrade your plan, and, unfortunately, it does not come cheap.

It takes some clicks for you to get to the published career page: First you have to open the editor, then click on Publish, and after that, click on the button that is highlighted.

Trello

Trello is a collaboration and project management tool based on the web. Its visuals are highly adaptable to your needs, you can create boards, cards and lists on a very straightforward UI, keeping all the useful information in one place.

Is it good to use as an ATS? Let’s check its pros and cons.

Pros of using Trello:

• Customize your board according to your needs: You can create as many boards as you need (still, only 10 per workspace on the free plan) and customize them as you need. Create and archive lists, do the same with the cards, move them around. Explore as you go.

Cards are easily customized: You can add and take information and fields from the cards, and if you only need some basic info, this is a very good way to keep things stored.

• Its notification system is pretty good: This feature keeps you from having too much information in your brain. If there's any changes in your board, you’ll get a notification on your email. Also, if you open the board and something happened on a card while you were away, you’ll have a red icon with a bell indicating that there’s an update.
• Real-time updates are possible: You don’t have to wait until your colleague finishes their work, you can do your tasks at the same time. Awesome.
• Clear different plans: There are, of course, different plans. These plans are not near as pricey as Homerun plans are, and everything is explained clearly.

Cons of using Trello:

• Create a career page and a job description page: Trello is not an ATS, it can be used as one, but many of the features of an ATS are not available here.
• File sizes: You may have unlimited storage, but if you have the free plan, the files you upload cannot exceed 10MB.
• Rate profiles: You don’t have the option to rate profiles like you have on Homerun. If you want to do it, you have to do it through comments.
• There’s no way to hide sensitive info: If you don’t want someone to see some info, then that person can’t be on the board.

Conclusion

Both Homerun and Trello can be good partners for you and your startup.

They give you different options and features and when it is time to decide, you must have your needs clear and access every point, all the pros and cons so you can make the best decision.

So, what works best? It is up to you and to your business.