Applicant Tracking System (ATS)
What an applicant tracking system (ATS) is, how it works, and how a staffing agency ATS differs from the one an employer uses to fill its own jobs.October 3, 2026
3 min read
ATS & Recruiting
Written by the NextCrew team
Definition
An applicant tracking system (ATS) is software that collects job applications, stores candidate records and moves each candidate through hiring stages such as screening, interview and hire. In a staffing agency, the ATS also keeps hired candidates in a searchable pool so they can be placed again with other clients.
How does an applicant tracking system work?
An ATS turns a stream of applications into searchable records and a visible pipeline. Most systems follow the same five steps, whoever the employer is:
- 1Capture
Applications arrive through an online form or registration link, job boards, manual entry for walk-ins, or an import of an existing database.
- 2Parse
Resume parsing reads each resume into fields such as contact details, skills, certifications and work history.
- 3Track
Each candidate sits in a stage, such as new, interview or onboarding, that the whole team can see.
- 4Search
Recruiters filter the database by skill, certification, location or availability to find people for an opening.
- 5Hand off
Hired candidates move to onboarding, and in a staffing agency, on to scheduling and payroll.
What is an ATS in recruiting for a staffing agency?
It is the same idea with a different finish line. A corporate ATS closes the file when one job is filled. A staffing agency places the same people again and again, so its ATS has to work differently:
| Employer ATS | Staffing agency ATS | |
|---|---|---|
| Recruits for | One company's openings | Many clients at once |
| After the hire | The file closes | The person joins a pool and is placed again |
| First place to look | New applicants | Past applicants and current Crew Members |
| Next step | HR onboarding | Onboarding, scheduling, timesheets and payroll |
Does an ATS reject resumes automatically?
Only if someone sets it up to. Some systems let recruiters set knockout questions or filters that screen applicants out, and job seekers often worry about resume scanners for that reason. Whether a person is rejected still depends on the rules a recruiter sets and the decisions a recruiter makes.
Bottom line: an ATS is the system of record for candidates. For a staffing agency, the test is whether it keeps them searchable and placeable after the first hire.
How NextCrew fits
NextCrew's ATS for staffing agencies captures applications on a phone, parses resumes with AI, tracks candidates through configurable stages and hands each hire to onboarding and scheduling on the same record. Recruiters review every candidate and make every decision.
Frequently asked questions
Related terms
- Resume parsing: how an ATS reads a resume into a profile.
- Candidate pipeline: the stages an ATS tracks.
- Talent pool: the people an agency ATS keeps placeable.
- Source of hire: the channel each hire came from.
- Job requisition: the request that opens a search.
Go deeper
See the ATS for staffing agencies page.