How does connecting an ATS to job boards work?
Connecting an ATS to job boards works in two directions, and it's essential not to confuse them. In the first direction, a posting is published from the ATS to the boards: you enter one posting in the ATS and tick where it should appear – on Indeed, LinkedIn and other boards, as well as your own career site. This is called multiposting. In the second direction, which turns out to be more important, candidate responses from those boards are automatically pulled back into the ATS so they're unified in one place. Unifying responses is the main reason to get an ATS.
Direction 1: publishing a posting from the ATS to boards (multiposting)
Multiposting means you write the text of a role once – in the ATS – and from there, in one step, publish it to several job boards at the same time, and optionally to your career site too. It removes re-typing the posting into each board separately, along with typos, diverging versions of the text, and forgotten roles left live somewhere after they were filled.
With multiposting, verify three things: how many boards the ATS publishes to, whether they include the ones you use, and whether a posting can be not only published from the ATS but also edited and closed. Publishing without the ability to take a posting down is a half-solution.
Related features in the catalog above: Multiposting · Job boards · Career site
Direction 2: pulling responses from boards back into the ATS
This direction is more important and often overlooked during selection. If the ATS can only broadcast postings but candidate responses keep coming to your email and to each board's admin panel, you've gained nothing – you've just moved the re-typing from postings to candidates.
A properly connected ATS pulls a candidate's response from the board automatically, including the resume and the application form, and creates it as a candidate card on the right role. This produces a unified database of all applicants regardless of where they came from. A side, but very valuable, effect: each candidate keeps a source, so for the first time you'll see which board actually brings you candidates.
Two things complicate this direction: duplicates (the same candidate responds from both Indeed and the career site) and LinkedIn, which has no standard response channel – you usually get candidates from it into the ATS via a browser plugin, not an automatic feed.
Related features in the catalog above: Detecting and merging duplicates · Response source overview · LinkedIn plugin · Custom application form · Webhooks
Why boards differ: API versus XML
There's no single universal way to connect to a job board. Every board offers a different interface, and that determines what the connection can do.
| Interface type | How it works |
|---|---|
| API | The ATS talks to the board directly through its programmatic interface. |
| XML | Data is passed to the board by sending an XML file with a list of roles. |
| Custom application-form URL |
A link to your own application form is inserted into the posting on the board. Very common on international job boards; it tends to be an alternative to sending responses by email. |
| Webhooks | The board sends a candidate's response in JSON to an address you specify. |
Ask the vendor whether their ATS supports exactly the boards you advertise on – and whether it can also pull responses from them.
Who pays for the connection
Ask the ATS vendor whether the connection is included in the price or charged for each board separately. But that's only half of it.
Also check with the job board operators themselves whether they charge for the connection – i.e. you, as their client. Companies are often caught off guard: the board asks for a fee to have roles from the ATS published to it automatically and candidates pulled back automatically.
There's a proven approach for this. Offer the job board that you'll buy a larger advertising subscription and automate publishing – in exchange for waiving the implementation fee. Boards usually go for it: they treat a larger commitment as compensation for setting up the connection, or provide it for free.
The complete list of questions for an ATS vendor →
The best way to schedule an interview is still the phone
Before we get to tools: the best way to agree on a time with a candidate is still a phone call, or an in-person conversation. You find the overlap together, and both sides understand how urgent the meeting is.
A recruiter usually has more constraints than the candidate can see: one or two hiring managers, an available meeting room, and their own calendar. Finding a time may mean reconciling four calendars.
The candidate may be fitting the interview between other commitments. Or the opposite may be true: they are employed, caring for sick children, and have almost no room to maneuver. A conversation handles that context better than email.
But a phone call is not always practical. You may reach someone at work or while they are dealing with something at home. They cannot focus on choosing a time, which creates more mistakes than progress.
Why you should not list available times in an email
The obvious fallback is to list several times in an email. In practice, that means opening every calendar, finding the overlap, and holding all the proposed slots so nobody else takes them.
The trap is easy to miss: the more interviews you arrange this way, the more tentative slots you block. You gradually close your own calendar.
Once four calendars are involved, you may offer one time two weeks out — and feel lucky that you found one at all.
Now look at it from the candidate's side. One email says: come in at 8 a.m. two weeks from now. Another gives them a link and lets them choose. The same calendars sit behind both options, but the candidate experience is completely different.
Booking links: what interview scheduling software should do
A booking link is a link through which a candidate chooses from genuinely available times in your calendars. It looks like one line in an email, but it is the difference between a recruiter opening four calendars and opening none.
If you are evaluating an ATS with interview scheduling, use these five capabilities to separate genuine interview scheduling from a basic calendar link.
It checks more than one calendar. Recruiter, hiring managers, and meeting room: the candidate sees the real overlap, not an estimate.
It supports booking rules. Not two months ahead and not one hour before the meeting. Rules prevent a convenient feature from creating appointments nobody can prepare for.
It writes the booking to the candidate record. This is the key difference between a booking link inside an ATS and a general scheduling service. An external tool puts the meeting in a calendar, but not necessarily in the candidate's hiring record.
It does not make candidates enter their details twice. An external service may ask again for a name, email, and phone number. If the candidate uses a different number, matching records becomes a manual problem.
It supports two-way calendar sync. You can see several calendars while speaking with the candidate and offer a specific time immediately. That requires proper email and calendar integration.
Letting a candidate choose is the next-best option after a phone call, and sometimes it is better. They may not have their calendar handy and may need a moment to choose a time they can actually keep.
Rescheduling is the other half of the feature
Booking links are usually discussed as a scheduling feature, but interview rescheduling matters just as much. Being free today does not mean you or your children will not be sick next week.
Showing up sick helps nobody. It does not demonstrate commitment; it makes the interview less useful for everyone.
A recruiter will not remember a sick candidate as determined. They may remember them as desperate for the job.
A good tool lets the candidate move the meeting, with rules that prevent a change one hour beforehand. They pick another available time, the recruiter does nothing, and every calendar updates automatically.
A phone call still conveys context better: if someone can barely speak and coughs three times, you know the reason is real. A written "I have a cold" can be read many ways.
Some recruiters are almost impossible to reach because they move from interview to interview and return missed calls only between meetings. Self-service rescheduling is a relief for both sides.
What recruiting tool can handle interview scheduling?
One that can check several calendars at once, give candidates a booking link with configurable rules, and write the confirmed time directly to the candidate's hiring record. If the scheduling tool sits outside the ATS, expect to connect records manually and ask candidates to enter the same details twice.
How can you let a candidate choose an interview time?
Send a booking link instead of listing times in an email. It shows only the real availability across every participant's calendar and applies your booking rules. The candidate chooses, the meeting is added for everyone, and you do not have to hold several tentative slots.
How do you reschedule an interview when a candidate gets sick?
Let the candidate move it through a booking link with self-service rescheduling. They choose another available time and the recruiter does not need to open a calendar. Set a cutoff for changes so the meeting cannot be moved at the last minute.
This guide is published by Recruitis.io, an ATS. For a complete picture, here's how our system handles the points above:
What the system does
- Multiposting to 35+ job boards from a single job posting.
- Responses from job boards and career sites (Indeed, niche boards and your own career site) are collected automatically, without re-typing.
- A career site can be built directly on the system and connected via REST API.
- Users are included in the price with no limit on their number, and board connections aren't charged for each one separately.
What it doesn't do
- LinkedIn has no response feed, so candidates cannot be pulled from it automatically. You can transfer them with a browser plugin in a few clicks, or add a Recruitis application form to the posting so responses go straight into the role in the ATS.
What to verify
- The specific list of boards varies by market. Verify with us and with other vendors that yours are among them – it's the only thing that really matters on this point.
- We publish an up-to-date overview in our help center: the list of job boards and their connection types shows whether each board supports publishing roles, retrieving applications, or both.
Frequently asked questions
What is multiposting and what is it for?
Multiposting is an ATS feature that lets you write the text of a role once and, in one step, publish it to several job boards at the same time, and optionally to your own career site. It removes re-typing the posting into each board separately, along with typos, diverging versions of the text, and forgotten roles left live after they were filled. With multiposting, verify how many boards the ATS publishes to, whether they include the ones you use, and whether a posting can be not only published from the ATS but also edited and closed.
What is the difference between connecting via API and via an XML feed?
Every job board has a different way of connecting. Some allow an API interface, where the ATS talks to the board directly through its programmatic interface. Others allow XML, i.e. sending data as a file with a list of roles. A third option is to enter your own application-form URL on the board: a link to your form is inserted into the posting and candidates respond through it. This variant is very common on international job boards and tends to be an alternative to sending responses by email. Some boards also offer webhooks, sending a candidate's response in JSON to an address you specify. So for every place you want to publish, you need to verify whether your ATS supports its interface type.