Why Being an ATS Champion Matters

Before diving into the "how," let's understand the "why." Championing your ATS isn't just about promoting software; it's about:

• Elevating your strategic position within the organization
• Creating measurable efficiency gains across departments
• Improving candidate experience and quality of hire
• Building credibility with executives through data-driven insights
• Positioning yourself as a forward-thinking, solutions-oriented leader

Six Key Actions to Build Your Influence as an ATS Champion

1. Speak the Language of Business Value, Not Features

• What to avoid: "Our new ATS has 27 different reporting templates and customizable workflows!"
• What to do instead: Translate technical capabilities into business outcomes that resonate with different stakeholders.
  For hiring managers, emphasize time savings: "This system will reduce your administrative work by 5 hours per week while giving you visibility into your candidate pipeline at any time."
  For executives, focus on strategic impact: "Our implementation will reduce time-to-hire by 30%, allowing us to secure top talent before competitors and directly supporting our Q3 growth targets."

Action step: Create a simple one-page document that maps specific ATS capabilities to business outcomes relevant to different departments.

2. Create Early Wins Through Strategic Pilots

Rather than attempting a full-scale rollout immediately, identify departments with:

• High hiring volume
• Receptive leadership
• Visible impact on the organization
  Work closely with these departments to ensure flawless implementation, then document successes meticulously. These early wins become powerful stories that drive adoption elsewhere.
  Sarah Jensen, TA Director at Meridian Health, shares: "We started with our nursing recruitment team, which had the most painful manual processes. Within 30 days, we reduced their time-to-offer by 47%. That success story spread across the organization, and suddenly other department heads were asking when they could get access to the system."

Action step: Identify 1-2 departments for your pilot, establish clear success metrics, and create a communication plan to share wins.

3. Transform Resistance Through Personalized Solutions

Every organization has ATS skeptics. Rather than avoiding them, identify the most influential resisters and:

• Schedule one-on-one meetings to understand their specific pain points
• Co-create customized solutions that address their unique challenges
• Provide extra support during their transition
• Publicly recognize their feedback when it leads to improvements

Action step: Map out the top three skeptics in your organization and develop a personalized engagement plan for each.

4. Become a Data Storyteller

Raw ATS data rarely inspires action. Effective champions transform metrics into compelling narratives that drive decisions:

• Use visualization to highlight trends and patterns
• Create department-specific dashboards that show relevant metrics
• Connect hiring data to broader business outcomes
• Include both successes and improvement opportunities in your reporting

Action step: Create monthly "hiring intelligence" reports that share insights (not just metrics) derived from your ATS data.

5. Build a Cross-Functional Champion Network

Sustainable influence requires more than one champion. Identify and nurture allies across:

• HR Business Partners
• Hiring managers with significant influence
• IT team members
• Executive sponsors

Provide these champions with special training, early access to new features, and recognition for their support. Together, you'll create a powerful network that amplifies your message.

Action step: Host a monthly "champion roundtable" where your allies can share successes, address challenges, and learn about upcoming features.

6. Connect ATS Success to Career Advancement

For both yourself and your team, explicitly connect ATS championship to professional development:

• Include ATS adoption metrics in performance reviews
• Document efficiency gains and cost savings for promotion discussions
• Create opportunities for team members to showcase their ATS expertise
• Encourage team members to build their personal brand around recruitment technology expertise

Michael Rodriguez, VP of Talent at Techstar Solutions, notes: "My promotion from Director to VP was largely built on the documented ROI of our ATS implementation. By quantifying the 62% reduction in time-to-hire and $1.2M in recruiting cost savings, I transformed a technical project into a strategic business initiative."

Action step: Create a "value delivered" document that tracks all measurable improvements since ATS implementation, and update it monthly.

Overcoming Common Challenges

When Executives Question the Investment

Focus on metrics that matter to the C-suite: cost-per-hire, time-to-productivity, and quality of hire improvements. Whenever possible, express benefits in actual dollar values rather than percentages.

When Hiring Managers Resist New Processes

Identify their specific pain points and customize training to address them. Often, resistance comes from fear of complexity – demonstrate how the ATS simplifies rather than complicates their work.

When Initial Adoption Plateaus

Create friendly competition by publishing department-level adoption metrics. Recognition for teams with high engagement can reignite momentum across the organization.

The Long-Term Vision: From Champion to Strategic Advisor

As your influence grows, your role evolves from promoting a system to becoming a strategic talent advisor who:

• Uses ATS data to predict future hiring challenges
• Connects recruiting metrics to broader business outcomes
• Identifies opportunities for process optimization beyond the ATS
• Positions Talent Acquisition as a competitive advantage, not just a service function

Your 30-Day Action Plan

• Week 1: Meet with 3-5 key stakeholders to understand their specific recruitment pain points
• Week 2: Create department-specific value propositions for the ATS
• Week 3: Develop a simple dashboard highlighting early adoption wins
• Week 4: Host a "success stories" session featuring positive experiences from early adopters

Conclusion

Building influence as an ATS champion isn't about technical expertise – it's about connecting technology to business value, solving real problems for stakeholders, and consistently demonstrating the impact of your solution. By following these key actions, you'll not only drive successful ATS adoption but also elevate your strategic position within your organization.

Remember: technology changes quickly, but the principles of influence remain consistent. Focus on delivering and communicating value, and your position as an ATS champion will continue to strengthen over time.

Expanding Your ATS Toolkit

As you build your influence as an ATS champion, don't limit yourself to just one solution. Forward-thinking TA leaders should explore innovative platforms like the MyNextHire app, which offers complementary features that can further enhance your recruitment ecosystem. With its intuitive mobile interface and specialized candidate engagement tools, MyNextHire can address gaps in your current ATS while providing additional data points for your hiring intelligence reports. Taking the initiative to evaluate emerging technologies demonstrates your commitment to continuous improvement and positions you as an innovation leader within your organization.