CATS is a web-based recruiting software. Users can manage the entire recruiting process including custom job applications, posting jobs, resume parsing, custom recruitment workflows, and generating customized reports. Pricing is tiered per user, per month.
$69
per month
iApplicants
Score 5.0 out of 10
N/A
iApplicants is a cloud-based ATS that offers batch or mass communication with potential candidates via multiple channels, resume parsing, and data management. This particular platform is sought and used by small to midsize companies and is offered on a flexible payment schedule.
$800
per year
Pricing
CATS Applicant Tracking System
iApplicants
Editions & Modules
Annual Pro Plan
$69
per user, per month
Monthly Pro Plan
$99
per user, per month
ATS
$800.00
per year
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
CATS ATS
iApplicants
Free Trial
Yes
Yes
Free/Freemium Version
No
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
Additional Details
Please visit the CATS pricing page to compare plans and features
It has a great parsing feature and the extension is very helpful. Many ATS systems do not support parsing within LinkedIn...this one does. I was sad to see this option go when we finally transitioned. I would almost keep CATS just for the LinkedIn parsing if I knew I could easily get the information OUT of the system once it was there. A good API/webhook would be great, but sadly the API connections don't work well. Our firm also works with companies with multiple sites all across the US. There was never a way to "nest" a location with a parent company. Because of this, being able to research or report on a true client relationship was not possible. It was a very manual process.
In my opinion, they are well suited to any hiring scenario in which there are many applicants and you need to do an initial screening. The tests we use are effective in filtering out people who we have learned later or from experience would not work in our organization, those who have scored well have went on to be successful. It is an excellent tool.
Innovation - iApplicants partners with other related businesses and develops tools to streamline processes. Their integration makes sense - e.g. integrated background checks or HR software integration.
Responsiveness - I don't think I've ever had a response that was beyond 24 hours of my request.
Training and Updates - The dashboard offers tutorials at your fingertips. Updates/announcements are displayed upon logging in. I appreciate having it there as a constant reminder, but without getting a lot of email notices that clutter my inbox.
Customization - I love that we can brand the application for a professional recruiting "portal" and add additional details about our company. Additional customizations are accessible to me as an end user via the GUI, so I don't have to make a request for everything.
The application is long enough to deter job hunters who are "click-happy" and apply to every job they come across - applications that allow job hunters to store their resume in the system and click to apply generated hundreds of unqualified people who were desperate for anything and didn't even read the job description. On the reverse side of the spectrum (particularly government systems), I've seen (experienced) online submissions that were so long and tedious and could take hours to complete online. While some fields are mandatory in the application, iApplicants doesn't require a candidiate to essentially re-key every piece of their resume into sections of an online form.
I would like to see either an integration with a robust reporting tool that would allow me to design my own custom reports with a data export or more built-in reporting options.
Mobile app is currently mostly just a look-up tool. I would like it to have the ability to do more - add tasks, update pipelines, etc.
The version we used didn't have the look and feel of more sophisticated ATS systems, which often feel more user friendly. It would be nice if it had less of a database format.
The posting feature utilized a third party which was great but didn't post to real time and required some follow up administratively. The feature of posting from the system is fantastic and the number of options is great but for sites that require manual entry and approval just knowing you are waiting on a third party company to manually enter those postings, have them approved and then verify they have actually been posted live requires a bit more follow up than I prefer.
We had a posting delete and no technical explanation as to why or how. It took someone several days to realize it was gone which lost traction and was alarming when we realized that the technical support team had no idea how it happened or what could prevent it from happening again. Needless to say that led to having to verify all postings were active daily for several weeks after which was time consuming when you have 30 open requisitions at a time.
Our company has been using it and enjoying the benefits for a few years now. Its a perfect system for our end goal of finding the best candidate effectively and being able to track and write reports on our progress.
This is simply because as we expanded our business to include a staffing division, our technical needs of a tracking system greatly increased because now we needed to also track job orders, time sheets and billing. Had we simply stayed a software development company, we would have stayed with iApplicants as it fulfilled our needs at that time.
iApplicants is rare -- they offer both a great company (service, innovation, and ongoing development) with a product that really focuses on the needs of its users. It provides the basis for HR/legal reporting. It's easy to use, just logging in for the first time, so even my not-so-tech-savvy managers love it.
I've used this product consistently for 8 years now. In that time, I've seen ONE time that they had a technical glitch -- and THEY were all over it. The only reason I even knew about it was an email alert they sent out to all clients, explaining the issue. They also had it fixed the same day.
It works. It's easy for everyone I've shared it with -- even my not-so-tech-savvy staff. When I hired a coordinator to handle routine HR duties, this was a simple transition to hand off to someone else without a lot of training. Sometimes it's a little slow downloading documents (resumes) from the site, but that could be a combination of issues that may not be related to their product. At one time, it wasn't able to accommodate newer Word documents (.doc vs. .docx), but they fixed that, as well.
I've had mixed results with asking for support. Sometimes they gave a quick answer and sometimes my emails were never responded to. Some responses were a single word.
Responses are always within 24 hours. They don't nickel and dime for everything we request. I like that they understand the request and we're not caught in a flurry of emails or failed attempts. Customizations, when needed by the vendor, have been at no charge. Most modifications can be made from my administrative panel. Everyone I've dealt with at iApplicants has been positive -- there seems to be a great sense of ownership across all staff there.
I thought the training was well structured and the demos well-paced. Topics are set up sequentially so one can watch each one and build on previous tutorials. However, they are broken down into segments so a user can hone in on just a specific area where help is needed and not waste time on other topics s/he may already know. I also like the fact that the tutorials are available on the home page of the admin login, so we don't have to hunt for topics in a huge "knowledgebase." It's easy to get a quick refresher when needed (or when ready to try out something a little more advanced) and apply it immediately.
This is an incredibly easy system to implement. There is no hardware or software required, it's entirely SaaS based. Compared to other systems I've implemented, it's breathtaking. Customization can all be done directly in the tool, there is no need for any involvement of consultants and most of the information you cannot figure out intuitively is covered in the knowledge base
We used to use Sendouts (prior to it being acquired by Bullhorn) - and it wasn't browser based like CATS so instead of being able to access it from a home computer, laptop, mobile phone, etc. you could only use it on the computer with the software uploaded - which is a hindrance. It also wasn't as customizable as CATS. We picked CATS because it the price was right, it was browser-based, had email-integration, and integrates with social media and job posting services to share your jobs with the public.
I would say the overall capability with the iApplicant system is fairly similar to what other products can offer. Our recruitment goes in streaks where we can have several positions at once and then there are times when we have no recruitment at all. So we didn't want to spend a lot of money on an applicant tracking system. I would say the biggest selling point for us was that the iApplicants allowed for our applicants to apply online and would improve our processes. But also that it was reasonably priced compared to the other products.
At the very basic level, it provides a place to post jobs and cross-post to free job boards. It could just be used by HR staff. However, it's more than just another place to post if one opts to utilize the full functionality-- it's an applicant management system that allows a user to pre-screen, organize, and collaborate on candidates with other users. They've added built-in background checks, reporting tools, community boards, integrated with larger/broader paid marketing opportunities, and affirmative action programs.
We went from Excel spreadsheets to using CATS so honestly anything would be an improvement. But CATS has saved tremendous time on an on-going basis in terms of managing the career portal automatically.
Being able to log email conversations with the click of a button from Outlook right into CATS has been a time-saver and also has helped numerous times in providing better follow-through to candidates and providing better tracking of candidate interactions and what they have previously said (or not).
