What to double-check before signing an ATS contract

Before you sign anything, run through this final checklist to make sure you haven’t missed anything important:

Requirements alignment: Does your chosen solution actually solve the problems you identified in section 2? It’s easy to get distracted by impressive features, but make sure you’re buying the right tool for your specific needs.

Stakeholder buy-in: Are your key users genuinely enthusiastic about the change? Lukewarm support during selection usually translates to poor adoption during implementation.

Budget reality check: Do your total cost calculations include everything: implementation, training, ongoing support, and hidden fees you discovered during evaluation? Nasty budget surprises kill projects.

Implementation readiness: Do you have a realistic timeline, adequate resources, and clear project ownership? Good software with poor implementation planning leads to poor outcomes.

Contract details sorted: Are licensing terms, support levels, data ownership, and exit clauses clearly defined? Don’t leave important details to be “worked out later.”

Vendor relationship confidence: Do you trust this vendor to be a good long-term partner? You’re not just buying software. You’re entering a relationship that needs to work for several years.

Set clear success criteria before you start implementation. These should connect back to the business problems you’re trying to solve, not just feature adoption.

For efficiency gains: Specific time savings per recruiter, reduction in admin tasks, faster job posting to candidate screening cycles.

For candidate experience: Application completion rates, candidate satisfaction scores, employer brand metrics.

For hiring manager satisfaction: Reduced time spent chasing updates, faster access to candidate information, clearer visibility into hiring progress.

For compliance and reporting: Improved audit trails, easier regulatory reporting, reduced manual data handling.

Make sure these success criteria are measurable and realistic. “Better hiring outcomes” is too vague to track meaningfully. “20% reduction in time-to-fill within 6 months” gives you something concrete to work towards.

Don’t treat ATS selection as the finish line. It’s actually the starting line for the hard work of implementation and change management.

Phase 1: Foundation setting. Project team assignment, detailed implementation planning, data audit and cleanup preparation, stakeholder communication about timeline and expectations.

Phase 2: System setup. Basic system configuration, integration setup and testing, data migration, initial user training for super-users and administrators.

Phase 3: Pilot rollout. Limited user pilot with one department or region, process refinement based on pilot feedback, expanded training program, documentation creation.

Phase 4: Full rollout. Organization-wide implementation, comprehensive user training, process documentation, performance monitoring setup.

Phase 5: Optimization. Performance measurement against success criteria, process refinement, advanced feature rollout, continuous improvement planning.

Timelines will vary based on your organization size, complexity, and vendor implementation approach. Some systems can go live faster, others need more time for proper setup.

Learn from others’ mistakes. Here are the most common reasons ATS implementations fail:

Insufficient change management: Technical success doesn’t guarantee user adoption. Plan communication, training, and support as carefully as you plan the technical implementation.

Trying to do everything at once: Focus on core functionality first, then add advanced features once users are comfortable with basics. Overwhelming people with complexity kills adoption.

Inadequate data cleanup: Migrating messy data creates messy processes in your new system. Invest time in data auditing and cleanup of data you actually need before migration.

Underestimating training needs: Different users need different levels of training. One-size-fits-all training usually fits nobody well.

Poor performance measurement: If you don’t track progress against your success criteria, you won’t know whether the implementation is working or what adjustments are needed.

Remember why you started this journey. An ATS is just a tool. The real goal is better hiring outcomes that support your organization’s success. Keep that bigger picture in mind throughout implementation and beyond.

Good ATS implementations typically show meaningful results within 3-6 months: reduced admin time, faster hiring cycles, better candidate experience, and improved hiring manager satisfaction. Excellent implementations deliver measurable business impact within 12 months: lower cost-per-hire, improved quality of hire, reduced time-to-productivity for new hires, and stronger employer brand metrics.

Most importantly, successful ATS implementations create positive momentum for broader HR transformation. When you demonstrate that thoughtful technology selection and implementation can deliver real business value, you build credibility for future improvements across recruitment, onboarding, performance management, and employee experience.

Choosing an ATS shouldn’t be about finding the “best” system. It should be about finding the right system for your specific situation. The perfect ATS for a 50-person startup looks completely different from the ideal solution for a 5,000-person enterprise.

Trust the process you’ve followed. If you’ve done thorough requirements analysis, engaged stakeholders effectively, evaluated options rigorously, and planned implementation thoughtfully, you’re well-positioned for success regardless of which specific system you choose.

Most ATS horror stories come from rushing the selection process, ignoring user needs, or underinvesting in change management. You’ve avoided those pitfalls by taking a structured approach to what is genuinely a complex decision.

Now go make it happen. Your future self (and your recruitment team) will thank you for the time and effort you’ve invested in getting this right.