The ATS market is crowded with platforms promising hundreds of features, AI-powered everything, and enterprise-grade capabilities. But when we asked recruiters what they actually use day-to-day, the list was surprisingly short.

Most recruiters don't need a Swiss Army knife. They need a few sharp tools that work reliably.

What Recruiters Actually Use

We surveyed recruiters about which ATS features they consider essential. The top five were:

1. CV parsing – Automatically extracting candidate data from uploaded CVs

2. Searching candidates – Finding the right people in their database quickly

3. Tracking applicant status – Knowing where each candidate stands in the process

4. Posting jobs on their own website – Publishing roles to their careers page

5. Multiposting to job boards – Distributing jobs to multiple platforms at once

Notice what's not on this list: complex workflow automation, built-in video interviewing, AI-generated job descriptions, candidate scoring algorithms, or integrations with fifteen different HR systems.

The features recruiters actually need are fundamentally about three things: getting candidate data into the system efficiently, finding candidates when you need them, and tracking where everyone is in the process. Everything else is secondary.

CV Parsing: The Foundation

CV parsing ranked first for good reason. Without it, every candidate means manual data entry. Name, email, phone, work history, skills – typing it all out takes five to ten minutes per CV. Multiply that by dozens of applications and you've lost hours to pure admin work.

Good parsing handles different file formats (PDF, Word, even images), extracts data accurately, and structures it so you can actually search later. Bad parsing creates more work than it saves because you're constantly correcting errors.

The difference between a usable ATS and a frustrating one often comes down to parsing quality. If you're evaluating platforms, upload a few real CVs and see what comes out.

Search: Your Database Is Only As Good As Your Ability to Find Candidates

A talent pool with thousands of candidates is worthless if you can't find the right ones when a role opens. Search was the second most important feature for a reason.

Basic keyword search is table stakes, but it's also limited. Searching for "developer" won't find candidates who listed "software engineer" or "programmer." You end up running multiple searches and still missing people.

AI-powered search solves this by understanding context and synonyms. You can describe what you're looking for in plain language – "marketing manager with B2B SaaS experience in Belgium" – and get relevant results without constructing complex boolean queries. This turns your talent pool from a static archive into something you actually use.

Tracking Status: Nothing Falls Through the Cracks

The third essential feature is knowing where every candidate stands. This is what your job funnel provides: a clear view of who's at which stage, who needs follow-up, and where bottlenecks are forming.

Without proper tracking, candidates get forgotten. That promising person you spoke to last week? You meant to schedule an interview but got busy. Now they've accepted another offer. Proper status tracking prevents these losses by making your entire pipeline visible at a glance.

Job Posting: Getting Roles Out There

The final two features – posting to your own website and multiposting to job boards – are about efficiency in getting roles live. Writing a job description once and publishing it everywhere saves time and ensures consistency.

These features matter, but they're less critical than the first three. You can manually post to job boards if you have to. You can't manually parse hundreds of CVs or search a database without proper tools.

What Most Recruiters Don't Need

Enterprise ATS platforms love to advertise extensive feature lists. But more features often means more complexity, higher prices, and interfaces cluttered with options you'll never touch.

Features that sound impressive but rarely get used:

Complex workflow automation. Most small and mid-sized agencies don't need automated multi-stage approval processes. They need to move candidates through stages quickly.

Built-in video interviewing. Nice in theory, but most recruiters already use Zoom or Teams. Another video tool adds complexity without clear benefit.

Advanced analytics dashboards. Useful for large organisations optimising at scale. Overkill for agencies placing dozens of candidates monthly.

Extensive integrations. Connecting to your HRIS, payroll system, and background check provider matters for corporate HR teams. Recruitment agencies typically need email, calendar, and job boards – that's it.

AI features for the sake of AI. AI-generated job descriptions, automated candidate ranking, chatbot screening – these sound modern but often create more problems than they solve. The AI features that actually help are the invisible ones: better parsing, smarter search.

Choosing the Right ATS

When evaluating an ATS, focus on the essentials. Does the CV parsing actually work well? Can you find candidates quickly? Is the pipeline view clear and easy to use? Can you post jobs without friction?

Try the platform with real data before committing. Upload actual CVs and see if the parsing is accurate. Search for candidates the way you would in your daily work. Move a few candidates through the funnel stages.

An ATS that does the core things well beats one that does a hundred things poorly. Complexity you don't need is just clutter that slows you down.

The Bottom Line

Recruiters don't need more features. They need the right features, executed well. CV parsing, candidate search, status tracking, and job posting cover the vast majority of what actually matters day-to-day.

Before paying for an enterprise platform with capabilities you'll never touch, ask whether a simpler tool might serve you better. Often, it will.

Looking for an ATS that focuses on what matters? Try Adeptiq free – AI-powered CV parsing, natural language search, and clean pipeline management without the bloat.