Most startups configure their ATS the way it comes out of the box and spend years working around the gaps. StackBuilders designs and implements the system around your actual hiring process, from platform selection through to team training and handover.
The platform is rarely the issue. The way it's been configured, or not configured, usually is.
Default stages, generic fields, and out-of-the-box automations that don't reflect how your team actually moves candidates through a process.
Incomplete records, inconsistent stages, and fields that no one fills in mean reports are unreliable. Nobody uses them, and the problem compounds.
Spreadsheets, email threads, and Slack messages replace the ATS. The system becomes a record of what already happened, not a tool for running what's happening now.
Your HRIS, calendar, LinkedIn, and job boards are all disconnected. Every hire creates manual data entry in at least three places.
No commercial relationships with any vendor. The recommendation is based entirely on your hiring volume, team size, and process complexity.
The timeline depends on your current state, team size, migration complexity, and the platform selected. Most standard engagements run 6–12 weeks. Scope and timeline are agreed before any configuration begins.
No configuration starts until we understand what you have, what you need, and what decisions need to be made before a single setting is changed. This phase resolves the questions that derail implementations later.
The ATS is built to reflect how your team actually hires. Pipeline stages, custom fields, automations, scorecards, and integrations are configured in a staging environment. Nothing goes live until it's been reviewed against the agreed scope.
End-to-end testing before anything touches live data. Training is role-specific: admins, recruiters, and hiring managers each get sessions built around how they'll actually use the system. A short parallel-running window is built in where complexity warrants it.
The go-live isn't the end. The first weeks in a new system surface questions and edge cases that can't be anticipated before users are in it. This phase ensures adoption sticks and the team is genuinely self-sufficient by the time the engagement closes.
Your hiring stages and workflows documented before any configuration begins.
Pipelines, fields, automations, and scorecards built to your specification.
HRIS, calendar, LinkedIn, job boards, and Slack connected where applicable.
Core dashboards configured: time to hire, pipeline health, source effectiveness.
Role-specific sessions for recruiters, hiring managers, and admins.
Written handover guide so your team can manage the system independently.
Screen recordings for each user type, serving as a permanent onboarding resource for new hires.
Questions, tweaks, and adjustments in the first month, included in the project fee.
ATS implementations vary significantly in scope. A platform selection for a 20-person company looks very different to a multi-country configuration with deep HRIS integration. Fees are agreed at the end of the discovery phase, once the full scope is understood.
Whether you're selecting a platform for the first time, inheriting a badly configured setup, or preparing for a significant hiring ramp, book a free 20-minute discovery call to talk through what you need.
Book a free 20-min callNo commitment. 20 minutes. You'll leave with a clear sense of what your ATS work involves.