What is an applicant tracking system (ATS)? CV database and the hiring process

A department manager asks HR: “What did we decide about that candidate we interviewed last month? Did the offer go out?” To answer, someone searches the inbox, asks the second interviewer for notes and checks the application list on the job board. Five minutes later there is still nothing clear. The hiring team is not idle; the information simply sits in five places, in five different forms: one person has a CV, another a note, another just something said in passing. This article explains the software that brings those pieces into one record, the applicant tracking system, and what breaks without it.

An applicant tracking system (ATS) is software that publishes job ads, collects incoming applications and CVs in a single pool and tracks candidates through evaluation and interviews. The applicant is recorded in the system once; the job ad, documents, notes and decision are linked to that person’s record.

What does an applicant tracking system do?

• Publishes the job ad: the open position goes live as an ad; the only way to apply is a single form.
• Collects applications: the candidate submits their CV and consents through the form; the application does not land in an inbox but goes straight into the pool.
• Builds the pool: each candidate is one record; application history and documents are shown together.
• Tracks evaluation and interviews: who evaluated, when the interview took place and what the result was all stay on the record.
• Reports: with reporting on the process, you can measure which sources bring candidates who progress.

Hiring process stages: the ATS chain from job ad to decision

1. Job ad: the position is published. If you have a careers page, the ad and the application can stay on the same platform.
2. Application: the candidate fills in the form and submits their CV and their consent under KVKK, Turkey’s personal data protection law; the consent is stored together with the application record.
3. Pool: HR and the hiring manager reach the application from a single record; the same person’s earlier applications also appear there.
4. Evaluation and interview: the candidate is evaluated, the interview is scheduled, and notes and details are added to the candidate’s record.
5. Decision: the decision is recorded; the process closes and shows up in reports.

What information should a candidate record contain?

• Name, contact details, the position applied for and the application date.
• The source of the application: careers page, job board, referral or direct application.
• The CV and attachments; a record of the consent the candidate gave.
• The person who carried out the evaluation and the evaluation note.
• Interview date, participants and interview notes.
• The decision made, who made it and a short reason.

What is a CV database?

A CV database, or talent pool, is where all the applications and CVs a company receives are collected in one searchable place. A folder or e-mail attachments may look like a CV database, but the difference is the record: in the pool a candidate is not just a file but a person, together with the position applied for, past applications, evaluation status and consent record. So a candidate who was still interesting when a position closed is not overlooked when a new one opens; for every new job ad, HR can look at the pool first instead of searching for CVs from scratch. The value of the pool depends on the records being current and tidy: a pool full of candidates with unclear status is not much different from a messy folder. Keeping personal data in a pool also requires a policy on why and for how long that data is kept; you need to think about this separately.

How do you organise CVs received by e-mail?

If you do not have a system yet, even putting your inbox in order reduces lost applications. The steps below are a stopgap and do not replace an ATS:

1. Route applications to a single shared address so they do not scatter across personal inboxes.
2. Set one rule for the subject line, for example “Application - Position name”.
3. Enter every incoming CV in a single table on the same day: name, position, application date, source, status.
4. Name files as “position - first and last name” and keep them in a single folder.
5. Keep the status column fixed: new, in review, interviewing, offer, closed.
6. Do not leave interview notes in e-mail; link them to the candidate’s row.
7. Decide when you will delete or archive CVs for closed positions.

Excel and e-mail compared with an applicant tracking system

Where do Excel and e-mail work, and where do they break?

In a small team that opens a few positions a year and where one person manages applications, a well-kept table can be enough. The breaking points are familiar: more than one person starts looking at applications, several positions open at the same time, and the interviewer and the decision-maker are no longer the same person. From then on the table is no longer the single “latest version”; it is copied, circulated by e-mail, and every copy is slightly different. Candidates’ personal data also sits in shared folders anyone can reach, and nobody knows who opened what.

To see where you stand, try a simple test: pick a random candidate name and try to answer these questions from the records. Which position did they apply for, when and through which source? Who interviewed them and what did they write? What is their status today? Where is the candidate’s consent? If you cannot answer these four questions quickly and from one place, the problem is not your staff’s effort but the structure of the record. A new HR specialist asking the same questions a year from now should still get answers; the record should belong to the organisation, not to a person.

How does KurumsalPortal Recruitment Management work?

In the Recruitment Management module, positions are published as job ads and candidates submit their CVs and their KVKK consent through an online application form. All applications are collected in a central talent pool; HR and hiring managers reach a candidate’s application history and documents from a single record. Candidates are evaluated, interviews are scheduled and the decision is recorded; evaluation notes, interview details and the decision are kept on the candidate’s record. Reporting on the process shows which sources bring candidates who progress. Because career ads can also be managed from the portal’s Corporate Website module, the job ad and the application stay on the same platform.

KurumsalPortal runs on the customer’s own server; employees and managers use it from their phone browser, with no app to install. The content of the privacy notice on the application form, however, must be prepared by the organisation according to its own assessment under Turkey’s KVKK.

Software is not enough: three decisions to make before setting up an ATS

An applicant tracking system speeds up a process, but it does not design the process for you. Answering the three questions below before moving to software keeps you from saying later that “nobody uses the system”.

• Who opens a job ad, and who closes it? Does HR decide, the department manager, or both together; whose approval is needed before an ad goes live?
• Which status names will we use? A short list everyone understands the same way, such as new, in review, interviewing, offer, closed, produces far more readable reports than free-text notes.
• Where is the decision made final, and by whom? If several people interviewed the candidate, it must be clear from the start who makes the final decision and where the reason is written down.

Questions to ask when choosing an applicant tracking system

• Can the job ad and application form be published on our own domain and our own careers page?
• Is the candidate’s consent kept on the record, together with the application, as evidence?
• Where is candidate data stored, who can access it, and is access logged?
• Are interview notes and the decision linked to the candidate record, or on a separate screen?
• Is there a report showing which sources bring candidates who progress?
• Can the fields visible to the department manager and to HR be defined separately?

If you want to collect applications, CVs and the interview process in a single pool, take a look at the Recruitment Management module and the overall structure of KurumsalPortal; we can go through your current hiring flow together in a needs analysis.