ATS vendors - UK versus US

Whilst there are so many software companies who offer some kind of online recruitment system in reality there are far fewer real ATS vendors than most realise.  And of those worthy of mention for the UK/EU market they can be split into UK/US as follows:

US

• Taleo
• Vurv
• Brassring (Kenexa)
• Peopleclick

UK

• Jobpartners
• Mr Ted
• iGRasp (Stepstone)

Now I know there are many, many more that could be included in the list but the above six are sufficient to make my point.

US vendors
Have fantastic functionality, excellent for self configuration, great online training support, can be expensive for set-up but generally competitive.  Vurv and Taleo can offer a solution for any size company regardless of size or industry.

But, if you try and get them to add something that is non-standard you tend to get 'Duh, can I come back to you?' and generally don't! Basically, they seem to think that if was worth developing they would have already added it so how could a Brit come up with anything of value!?  And, my biggest issue is that they use US job board aggregators like eQuest who don't in reality post to many if any UK job boards.

The other key issue is the US vendors propensity to integrate or buy 'niche' functionality such as Agency Management, Assessments, Talent Management etc.  Whilst this is good as it delivers deep functionality, as US companies are more anal about their brand than most of the largest UK companies (who can at least warrant being so) the user experience tends to be disjointed as each party tries to retain its own product branding.

So, if the core product does what you want then great, if not, watch out for a clunky user experience and multiple set-up costs every time you want to add a new module.  And you can pretty much forget about customisation which is actually a GOOD thing!

UK vendors
Functionality varies from very good to quite poor as does usability. And as most of the key vendors have been around for 5+ years there products are very clunky for users.  Whilst the products generally do not look as good or have the same level of functionality, for the typical first generation user they have enough as most of the advanced features offer by US vendors are not generally used/needed.

The UK customer does require a lot more hand holding and this is where the UK vendors are more market focused as 1) They have a decent UK infrastructure i.e. more than a Regus office and 3 people and 2) They have to do more of the 'donkey work' as they do not have the same level of customer managed configuration functionality.  And, whilst not good technically, they will generally agree to do some customisation/bespoke functionality.  This does of course cause a support overhead albeit denied as everyoone claims 'single source code, configuration not customisation'.

The UK companies don't tend to acquire niche functions as they prefer to build it themselves which in theory minimises cost but does result in less functionally rich modules which can be frustrating for users. It does however mean that they cannot blame a third party when something doesn't work.

Overall, if you don't have any project implementation experience and want the vendor to hold your hand, then a UK vendor may be a good choice particularly if it is your first system as it will take 18-24 months before you are actually using the entire system.

Whatever you choose, you won't use most of what you see and even if you do use it all, if you don't have a slick, efficient process and decent recruiters, you'll still lose most of your applicants!