Applicant Tracking System

The vendor required to provide applicant tracking system (ATS) that may be deployed either as a stand-alone platform or as an ATS that encompasses candidate relationship management (CRM) capabilities.
1. Solution overview
•    Cloud-based SaaS solution hosted by the vendor, offering 24/7 availability excluding scheduled maintenance; mobile-responsive and compatible with modern browsers. 
•    Available as a stand-alone ATS or as an ATS with built-in CRM capabilities. 
•    If the CRM is a separate module, it must be natively integrated including a single sign-on and a unified candidate record. 
•    Integration with skyward HR and finance for seamless transfer of requisition, candidate, and employee data. 
•    Scalability to support seasonal peaks without performance degradation.
2. Sourcing, search and applicant database
•    Advanced candidate search functionality, including full-text and city search, as well as filters for skills and certifications and licenses, location, experience; support saved searches. 
•    Unified candidate database consolidating applicants from all job postings and submission sources to enable full talent pool visibility. 
•    Ability to configure resume or application alerts for candidates whose qualifications match the requirements of specific positions.
3. Talent pools and CRM engagement 
•    Segmented talent pools to support pipeline development. 
•    Branded email and SMS campaigns with reusable templates, and ability to obtain performance analytics on these campaigns (e.g., delivery, open, click, reply, and conversion metrics). 
•    Talent community job alerts and automated candidate-nurturing sequences.
4. Job advertising and distribution
•    One-click posting to district career site and external job boards.
•    Centralized dashboard displaying applicants from all posting sources.
•    Source tracking with associated spend and performance reporting.
•    Option to keep job postings open until the posted is filled.
5. Candidate review and tracking 
•    Provide end-to-end tracking of candidate progress across all recruitment stages, from initial application through final hiring decision; automated notifications when an application is completed; ability to see whether required forms or messages have been opened. 
•    Ability to categorize and filter applicants based on predefined criteria. 
•    A confidential notes section or interaction log for talent acquisition team use only.
6. Workflows, collaboration, and automation
•    Configurable workflows by job family and applicable union or contract requirements (e.g., internal posting windows). 
•    Automated email-based reference checks with required email address fields. 
•    Interview management tools with calendar integration, multi-panel scheduling capabilities, and automated reminders. 
•    Embedded, compliant two-way SMS messaging with opt-in/opt-out functionality and full audit trail with message retention. 
•    Streamlined internal transfer workflows supported by progress checklists.
7. Offers, pre-boarding, and onboarding 
•    Comprehensive onboarding management tools that allow assignment, tracking, and verification of all required onboarding tasks, forms, and documentation for new hires. 
•    Offer letter generation with multi-level routing and approvals, including e-signature and candidate acceptance or counter-offer functionality. 
•    Pre-boarding and onboarding checklists, along with an online form’s library (e.g., tax withholding, direct deposit). 
•    Automated reminders to candidates about outstanding steps in the hiring process (e.g., reference information needed, hiring forms to complete, offer letter to sign, etc.)
8. Reporting and analytics 
•    Role-based dashboards and ad-hoc reporting capabilities that do not require vendor involvement, with export options to csv, XLS, and pdf formats. 
•    Ability to build customizable reports using applicant data (including self-reported certification and demographic fields) as well as job posting history.
9. Integrations 
•    Integrations with external job boards and social media platforms with automated distribution and return feeds, and ability to provide source analytics.
•    Skyward HR and finance: seamless transfer of requisitions, applicant, hire, employee, position, and job data, without requiring any customization of sky-ward’s core data structures. 
•    Outlook: calendar integration to support interview scheduling.
10. Collective bargaining and policy configuration 
•    Support for internal-first posting windows and internal-only postings, seniority and application date fields, and transfer rules (such as application restrictions during probationary periods). 
•    Configurable approval workflows and hold and review statuses, including those related to applicant-initiated requests such as veteran’s preference (VP) and contractual rights such as early return from leave (ERFL) or right to recall (RTR).
•    Flags to clearly indicate applicants who are guaranteed interviews under the collective bargaining agreement (e.g., internal applicants) or applicants requesting veteran’s preference.
11. Administration 
•    Group-, role-, and location-based permissions.
•    Comprehensive audit trails capturing all user activity. 
•    Duplicate-applicant prevention with administrator-defined merge controls when duplicates are detected. 
•    Administrator-managed manual override for exceptional cases (e.g., approval for an employee to apply for a transfer while in their probationary period.)