How Small Remote Teams Can Simplify Hiring with an ATS
Running a small remote business often means wearing a lot of different hats.
One day you might be managing projects, speaking with clients and keeping an eye on finances. Next, you could find yourself trying to recruit a new team member while still keeping up with your usual workload. Hiring can become particularly challenging when your team is fully remote. Applications may arrive through different channels, interviews need to be coordinated across time zones, and several people may need to collaborate on the same candidate. For small remote teams, an applicant tracking system (ATS) can help bring all of this into one place. But does every small business need one? And what should you actually look for when choosing an ATS?
Let’s look into this.
Why Hiring Can Be Difficult for Small Remote Teams
Hiring remotely has plenty of advantages. Businesses can access talent from different locations, while candidates aren’t necessarily limited to jobs within commuting distance. However, remote recruitment can also introduce some challenges. When you’re a small company without a dedicated recruitment department, you may be managing applications through email, storing CVs in folders, using spreadsheets to track candidates and relying on calendars to arrange interviews. This might work when you’re only hiring occasionally. As your business grows, however, things can quickly become harder to manage. You might lose track of where a candidate is in the recruitment process, forget to follow up with someone, or spend more time searching for information than actually speaking to potential employees. Working across different time zones can add another layer of complexity. An applicant tracking system can help by giving your team a central place to manage the recruitment process.
What Is an Applicant Tracking System?
An applicant tracking system, commonly referred to as an ATS, is software designed to help businesses manage candidates during the hiring process. Instead of keeping candidate information across multiple emails, spreadsheets and documents, an ATS allows you to organise it in one central system.
Depending on the platform, you may be able to use an ATS to:
- Post job vacancies
- Collect applications
- Store CVs and candidate information
- Organise candidates by recruitment stage
- Schedule interviews
- Communicate with applicants
- Collaborate with other members of your team
- Automate certain recruitment tasks
- Track recruitment activity and results
The exact features vary between platforms, so it’s worth considering what your business actually needs before choosing one.
How an ATS Can Help a Small Remote Team
An applicant tracking system isn’t going to replace the human side of recruitment. You still need to speak with candidates, assess their experience and decide who is the right fit for your organisation. What an ATS can do is reduce some of the administrative work around those activities.
1.) Keep Candidate Applications Organised
One of the biggest benefits of using an ATS is having candidate information in one place. Instead of searching through your inbox for someone’s CV or trying to remember which spreadsheet contains your latest candidate notes, your team can access the information from the recruitment system. This becomes particularly useful when you’re dealing with multiple vacancies or a larger number of applications.
2.) Make Remote Collaboration Easier
Recruitment is often a team effort. A hiring manager may review applications, another team member may conduct the interview, and someone else may be responsible for making the final hiring decision. When everyone is working remotely, keeping everyone updated can be more difficult. An ATS can provide a shared view of candidates, making it easier for relevant team members to see where someone is in the hiring process and add feedback when required.
3.) Simplify Interview Scheduling
Scheduling interviews can be surprisingly time-consuming for distributed teams. You may have a candidate in one country, a hiring manager in another and other members of the team working somewhere else entirely. Some ATS platforms include interview scheduling features or integrate with popular calendar and scheduling tools. This can help reduce the back-and-forth involved in finding a suitable time.
4.) Reduce Repetitive Administrative Work
Recruitment involves plenty of repetitive tasks. Sending application confirmations, updating candidates, moving applications between stages and keeping records up to date can all take time. Depending on the ATS you choose, some of these tasks can be automated. For a small remote team, saving a little time across each recruitment process can add up.
5.) Create a More Consistent Hiring Process
Small businesses don’t always have a formal recruitment process. One vacancy might be handled one way while the next is managed completely differently. An ATS can help create a more structured process. For example, you could establish stages such as:
Application → Initial Review → Interview → Final Interview → Offer → Hired
Having a clear process can make it easier for everyone involved to understand what needs to happen next.
What Should You Look for in an ATS for a Small Remote Team?
There are plenty of applicant tracking systems available, but more features don’t necessarily mean a better solution for your business. A small remote team may not need an enterprise-level recruitment platform with dozens of complicated features. Instead, focus on the things that will actually make your hiring process easier.
Ease of Use
Your ATS should be straightforward for your team to use. If it takes hours of training to understand the platform, it may create more work rather than reducing it. Look for an interface that makes it easy to find candidates, update their status and access important information.
Remote Accessibility
For a remote working team, being able to access the system online is essential. Team members should be able to work from different locations without relying on a particular office computer or local files.
Collaboration Features
Consider how your team currently works together during recruitment. Can multiple people review candidates? Can they leave notes or feedback? Can hiring managers see the progress of applications? These features can be particularly useful when your recruitment team is distributed.
Interview Scheduling
If your team regularly interviews candidates remotely, scheduling features can save time. Look for an ATS that either includes scheduling functionality or works well with the calendar and video conferencing tools your team already uses.
Automation
Automation can be particularly valuable for small teams that don’t have dedicated HR staff. Look for features that can help with repetitive tasks such as candidate communication, application updates and interview reminders.
Integrations
Your ATS doesn’t necessarily need to do everything itself. It can be useful if it integrates with the tools your team already uses for calendars, communication, video meetings and other aspects of remote work. The goal should be to create a recruitment workflow that works together rather than adding another disconnected system.
Pricing
Budget is obviously an important consideration for a small business. Some recruitment platforms are designed for larger organisations and may include features that you simply don’t need. Before choosing a platform, think about how often you recruit, how many people will use the system and how many vacancies you typically manage. You may find that a simpler platform provides everything you need.
Which ATS Is Right for Your Growing Remote Team?
Here are options to choose when deciding on the ideal ATS for you.
Workable may be worth considering if you want a practical recruitment platform with job posting, candidate management and automation features.
Greenhouse suits teams looking to introduce a more structured hiring process with tools for interviews, evaluations and reporting.
Lever can appeal to growing teams that want applicant tracking alongside candidate relationship management and talent nurturing.
Rather than choosing an ATS simply because it is popular, consider how your team actually hires.
Ask yourself:
- How many people will use the system?
- How many positions do you normally recruit for?
- Do you need to manage candidates across different countries and time zones?
- Which recruitment tasks are currently taking the most time?
- Do you need interview scheduling and automation?
- Which tools does your team already use?
- Will the platform be able to grow alongside your business?
- Does the pricing make sense for your current hiring volume?
The best applicant tracking system for a growing team is ultimately the one that fits your recruitment process and makes it easier for your remote team to work together. And remember, you don’t necessarily need the most feature-packed ATS available. A smaller team may get more value from a straightforward platform that everyone actually uses than from a complex system with features that never get touched.
Does Every Small Remote Business Need an ATS?
Not necessarily. If you’re a freelancer or very small business that only hires someone occasionally, managing applications through email and a spreadsheet might be perfectly adequate. An ATS becomes more useful as your recruitment activity increases.
For example, it may be worth considering if:
- You’re hiring regularly
- You’re managing several vacancies
- You receive a large number of applications
- Multiple people are involved in hiring decisions
- Your team works across different time zones
- You’re spending too much time on recruitment administration
- You’re finding it difficult to keep track of candidates
The important thing is to choose technology based on your actual needs rather than assuming you need the most advanced system available.
ATS vs. Spreadsheets and Email
For many small businesses, the first recruitment system is simply a combination of email, spreadsheets and shared folders. There’s nothing wrong with starting this way. It can be inexpensive and relatively easy to set up.
The problem tends to appear when the hiring process becomes more complicated.
| Managing Recruitment Manually | Using an ATS |
| – Candidate information spread across emails and files | – Candidate information stored centrally |
| – Applications tracked manually | – Candidates organised by recruitment stage |
| – Interview coordination can involve lots of emails | – Scheduling can be integrated into the process |
| – Team feedback may be scattered | – Feedback can be kept with candidate information |
| – More repetitive administrative work | – Some tasks can be automated |
| – Recruitment reporting can take time | – Reporting may be built into the platform |
The right option depends on the size of your business and how frequently you recruit. For a small company making its first few hires, a spreadsheet may be enough. For a growing remote business hiring regularly, an ATS can provide more structure.
How an ATS Fits Into a Remote Hiring Process
One of the easiest ways to understand the value of an ATS is to look at how it fits into the overall recruitment journey.
1. Create the Job Vacancy
You start by defining the role, responsibilities and requirements. Once the vacancy is ready, you can publish it through your chosen recruitment channels.
2. Collect Applications
Candidates submit their applications and their information is stored within the ATS. Rather than manually moving information between different documents, your recruitment team can work from one central location.
3. Review Candidates
Applications can then be reviewed and candidates moved through the appropriate stages. This gives your team a clearer picture of who is being considered and where each person is in the process.
4. Schedule Interviews
Once you’ve identified suitable candidates, interviews can be arranged. For remote teams, this is particularly useful because interviews may involve people working across different countries and time zones.
5. Share Feedback
Hiring managers and other members of the team can provide feedback and discuss candidates. This can help keep the decision-making process organised when everyone isn’t sitting in the same office.
6. Make an Offer
Once you’ve selected a candidate, the recruitment process can move towards an offer and onboarding. The exact workflow will vary from business to business, but an ATS can provide a central place to manage these stages.
Don’t Forget the Candidate Experience
It’s easy to focus on making recruitment easier for your own team and forget about the person applying for the job. The candidate experience matters too. Remote applicants and digital nomads may already be applying for jobs from different countries and dealing with companies they have never met in person. Clear communication can make a significant difference. Try to make your job descriptions clear, explain what candidates can expect from the recruitment process and avoid leaving applicants wondering whether their application has been received. An ATS can help with some of the communication and administrative side of this, but the technology should support a good candidate experience rather than replace genuine communication.
Other Tools That Can Help Remote Hiring
An ATS is only one part of a remote company’s technology stack. Once you’ve hired someone, you’ll need tools to communicate with them, manage projects, share files and collaborate effectively. If you’re building a remote business, it’s worth looking at the wider range of tools available to help your team work efficiently. For more ideas, take a look at our guide to the best tools to use when working remotely. You can use tools for everything from video meetings and project management to scheduling, file storage and asynchronous communication.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Choosing an ATS
Before signing up for an applicant tracking system, take some time to consider what your team actually needs. A few common mistakes include:
Choosing Too Many Features
It’s easy to be attracted to a platform because it has a long list of features. But if your team only uses a small percentage of them, you’re potentially paying for unnecessary complexity.
Ignoring the User Experience
The people using the ATS every day should find it easy to navigate. A system that looks impressive but is difficult to use can quickly become frustrating.
Forgetting About Integrations
Think about the tools your team already relies on. An ATS that works alongside your existing calendar, communication and video meeting platforms may make your overall workflow easier.
Focusing Only on Price
Price matters, particularly for small businesses, but it shouldn’t be the only consideration. A cheaper platform that creates additional administrative work may not provide much value in the long run.
Not Considering Future Growth
You don’t necessarily need an enterprise solution today. However, it’s worth considering whether the platform can grow with your business if your hiring needs increase.
Hiring remotely can give small businesses access to a much wider pool of talent, but it can also introduce additional administrative challenges. For a small remote team, an applicant tracking system can help bring the recruitment process together by organising candidate information, simplifying collaboration and reducing some of the repetitive work involved in hiring. That doesn’t mean every small business needs an ATS.
If you’re only making an occasional hire, a simple spreadsheet and email system may be all you need. But as your remote business grows and recruitment becomes more frequent, having a centralised hiring system can make the process much easier to manage. The key is to choose a solution that fits the way your team actually works.
After all, the purpose of technology isn’t to make your remote business more complicated. It’s to help you spend less time dealing with unnecessary administration and more time focusing on the people and work that help your business grow. This version keeps the ATS topic useful to remote workers and remote-business owners, rather than making it read like a software-company advert. It also gives you a natural opportunity to add an internal link to your existing remote-work tools article.
FAQs
1. What is an applicant tracking system?
An applicant tracking system (ATS) is software that helps businesses organise, manage and track candidates throughout the recruitment process.
2. What is the best applicant tracking system for growing teams?
The best ATS depends on your team’s hiring needs, budget, recruitment volume and existing software. Look for a platform that can scale with your business.
3. Do small businesses need an applicant tracking system?
Not always. Businesses that hire occasionally may be able to manage recruitment with spreadsheets and email, while companies hiring regularly may benefit from an ATS.
4. What features should growing teams look for in an ATS?
Important features can include candidate management, automation, interview scheduling, team collaboration, reporting, integrations and scalability.
5. Can an ATS help remote teams hire across different time zones?
Yes. Features such as online access, interview scheduling, automated communication and team collaboration can make remote recruitment easier to manage across different locations.
6. Can an applicant tracking system save small businesses time?
Yes. An ATS can reduce manual administration by centralising candidate information and automating some repetitive recruitment tasks.
