Buying Tips for Applicant Tracking Systems
With a so many options, it can be difficult for one to decide which applicant tracking software is right for their company. Although available features and usability are extremely important, if the program is out of one’s budget then no amount of bells and whistles will likely to justify the expense. Knowing what one should expect to pay for quality applicant tracking software can assist in making sure that one is able to the get best program for the available funds.
One thing will drastically change the price one can expect to pay for applicant tracking software is the number of users one plans allow to have access. Software that runs off of the vendor’s server (ASP recruitment software) usually can support anywhere from 10 to 20 users. This option can handle the processing of resumes from tens of thousands of individuals every year. One can expect to pay anywhere from $500 to $1,500 per registered user for an ASP software solution. In addition to this one will also have to pay set-up fees that range from $1,000 to $3,000 depending on the applicant tracking software in question. These fees cover such things as technical support, system upgrades and debugging. When one choses this type of applicant tracking software there is usually a set up time of no more than five business days.
Enterprise software runs off a company’s own server, as opposed to that of the vendor. Because of this there is no limit to the number of registered users that licenses can be purchased for. There is also no limit to the number of applicant’s resumes that can be processed in a year’s time. For this type of applicant tracking software one is looking at a steeper price. Enterprise software solutions can easily cost $15,000 to $30,000 more than vendor server supported options. In addition to the initial expense one will also have to pay $1,000 to $5,000 for each individual license. Set-up fees usually run anywhere from $3,000 to $4,000. There is also the expense of running a company server to support the software which must be considered. In-house software such as this usually takes 20 days to a month to get up and running properly, due to the more complicated nature of the program.
As one can see, applicant tracking software prices vary greatly depending on functionality and the number of users that will require access to the program. In-house recruitment software will require a much larger budget and is really only necessary for companies that process resumes in bulk, where as ASP software can be affordable enough for much smaller businesses.