Applicant Tracking and Requisition Management

The starting point for an applicant tracking system is the creation of theactual job.

For most established companies, this is done through a job requisition, ormore simply, a request for a person to do a job. In its most basic form, thehiring manager for a department will create the requisition that will list thejob requirements and the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to completethe job. This ultimately is massaged into a job posting that is communicated toboth internal and external job seekers.

Today’s applicant tracking systems put a lot of emphasis on makingrequisition management a paperless process. Although every vendor has a slightlydifferent method for posting a job, they generally focus on establishing templates,or predefined job descriptions and requisitions that can be easily modified tocreate a job. Then, it is simply a matter of clicking on a few drop-down boxeshere and filling in a few free-form boxes there, and you have a job posting.

Once this information has been created, it may go through a human resourcesreview, or may simply get automatically posted to the appropriate sources (e.g.,job boards, internal/external website, etc.). Some systems even provide separateinternal and external posting language for certain often-filled jobs, allowing amore “marketing” style description for the external and more nuts andbolts for the internal.

Throughout the life of the requisition, job applicants, resumes, notes oninterviews and other data can be attached in database fashion to the requisitionnumber. This is especially helpful for companies who have many locations and acentral HR office to keep current on their job postings.