"This costs more than our current ATS."
Is that compared to the ATS alone, or to the ATS plus the other tools and agency spend around it?
Do not discount before you understand scope. Do not invent savings on agency spend.
The objections, discovery questions and competitor answers that come up when you sell applicant tracking. Read them free. Or load them into Ghost and have the right one on your screen the moment the buyer says it.
What Ghost shows on your screen during a applicant tracking call. The buyer never sees it.
The objections applicant tracking buyers raise most, what to say in the next ten seconds, and what not to promise.
"This costs more than our current ATS."
Is that compared to the ATS alone, or to the ATS plus the other tools and agency spend around it?
Do not discount before you understand scope. Do not invent savings on agency spend.
"Migrating all our candidate data sounds painful."
What data do you need to bring over: open reqs, active candidates, or full history?
Do not promise a complete history migration until you have seen their data. Do not call it easy.
"We built our own tracking in spreadsheets and forms."
How is it holding up as hiring grows, and who keeps it running?
Do not mock a homegrown setup. It may have served them well so far.
"We are not hiring much right now."
When do you expect hiring to pick back up, and what do you want in place before it does?
Do not push a purchase while their company is laying people off.
"How do you protect candidate data?"
What does your security and privacy team ask for first when reviewing HR vendors?
Do not give legal advice. Do not claim certifications or compliance you cannot show.
"We will just use the recruiting module in our HR system."
Have you seen it run your hardest hiring workflow, and how do recruiters feel about it?
Do not run down the HR suite. HRIS and IT likely chose it and will be in the decision.
Every one of these is a deal that slips a quarter if you fumble it. Ghost puts the answer on your screen while the buyer is still talking.
Give them credit, then ask whether that vendor's strength matters to this buyer.
Workday Recruiting keeps hiring in the same system as your HR data. How much does a single suite matter compared to recruiter experience?
Greenhouse is known for structured hiring and a large integration ecosystem. How closely does your team follow structured interviewing today?
Lever is known for combining the ATS and candidate CRM in one place. How much of your hiring is outbound sourcing versus inbound applicants?
iCIMS is a long-standing ATS for large and high-volume employers. How much of your hiring is high-volume or hourly?
SuccessFactors Recruiting keeps hiring inside your SAP HR suite. How important is that tie to the rest of SAP?
Oracle Recruiting runs inside Oracle Cloud HCM. Are you already on Oracle for HR?
SmartRecruiters is known for a modern enterprise ATS with a strong candidate experience. How global is your hiring?
Ashby is known for combining ATS, CRM, scheduling and analytics in one product. How much does built-in reporting matter to your team?
Workable is known for fast setup and simple hiring for small and mid-size companies. Are you outgrowing anything yet?
Bullhorn is the system many staffing firms run on. Is your business internal hiring or placing candidates with clients?
Jobvite is known for recruiting marketing and high-volume hiring tools. What part of your process needs the most help?
Ask these on the first call. Then dig into the pain when they say it out loud.
An applicant tracking system (ATS) is where a company manages hiring: job requisitions, postings, applications, interviews, feedback, offers and reporting. Around it sit sourcing tools, CRMs for candidate pipelines, scheduling, assessments, background checks and the HR system that takes over once someone is hired. Staffing firms use a related category built around clients, placements and recruiters.
The most common are: "This costs more than our current ATS", "Migrating all our candidate data sounds painful", "We built our own tracking in spreadsheets and forms", "We are not hiring much right now", "How do you protect candidate data?" and "We will just use the recruiting module in our HR system". Each one above has a line to say back and what to avoid.
Start with: What ATS do you use, what tools sit around it, and where does a new hire end up once they accept? When a role takes too long to fill, where does it usually stall? When a key role stays open, what happens to the team and to the work? Is there a renewal, a hiring plan or an HRIS project that sets the date?
Buyers most often compare Workday Recruiting, Greenhouse, Lever, iCIMS, SAP SuccessFactors, Oracle Recruiting, SmartRecruiters, Ashby, Workable, Bullhorn and Jobvite.
Economic buyer: the CHRO or VP of Talent Acquisition. In smaller companies, the head of people or a founder. Finance often weighs in on multi-year deals.
Pick the applicant tracking market pack in Ghost's setup and every card on this page loads into Ghost. When a buyer raises one of these objections or names one of these competitors on a live call, Ghost shows you what to say on your screen, hidden from screen shares and recordings.
Free to start. Pick applicant tracking in setup and Ghost loads every card on this page.