Using ATS Data to Forecast Hiring Needs and Trends

In today’s data-driven world, gut instinct alone is no longer enough to drive effective hiring strategies. Modern recruitment requires foresight, and that means using real-time insights to make smarter, faster decisions. One of the most powerful tools to achieve this is your Applicant Tracking System (ATS). With platforms like Exelare, hiring teams can unlock actionable data to forecast future talent needs, track trends, and plan recruitment proactively.

Let’s explore how using data from your Applicant Tracking Software can give your organization a strategic edge in workforce planning.

Why Forecasting Matters in Recruitment

Forecasting hiring needs is critical to ensuring that businesses are prepared to meet growth goals, seasonal demands, or unexpected talent shortages. When you’re equipped with historical hiring data and predictive analytics, you can:

• Reduce time-to-hire by planning ahead

• Minimize recruiting costs

• Identify skills gaps early

• Allocate recruiting resources efficiently

• Maintain a strong employer brand by being proactive rather than reactive

But the key to this level of foresight lies in your ATS.

How Exelare’s Applicant Tracking Software Supports Forecasting

At Exelare, we understand that an ATS shouldn’t just help manage applicants—it should help shape your long-term talent strategy. Here's how Exelare enables better forecasting through its advanced data capabilities:

1. Historical Data Trends

Exelare captures every stage of the recruitment process—from job postings and candidate sourcing to interviews, offers, and hires. By reviewing this data over time, recruiters can identify patterns such as:

• Time-to-fill for different roles

• Hiring seasonality by department or location

• Which sourcing channels yield the best candidates

This information helps forecast not only when hiring peaks may occur, but also which roles are historically harder to fill.

2. Pipeline and Funnel Analytics

Want to know how many candidates typically convert from application to hire for a given role? Exelare’s pipeline analytics track conversion rates at each stage of the process. With this data, recruiters can predict how many applicants they’ll need in the funnel to make successful hires in the future.

3. Skills and Role Mapping

Using Exelare’s tagging and categorization features, recruiters can map out which skills are trending in incoming applicants, and which roles consistently lack strong candidates. This allows HR teams to identify emerging needs before they become critical gaps.

4. Custom Dashboards and Reports

With Exelare’s custom reporting tools, you can generate dashboards that reflect key recruitment KPIs. Visualizing this data over time reveals hiring velocity, departmental needs, and projected growth areas. These insights can be shared with leadership to inform budget, headcount planning, and business strategy.

5. AI-Enhanced Forecasting

Exelare integrates AI to help analyze large volumes of applicant and performance data, surfacing trends and predictive insights that help refine your recruitment strategy. Whether it’s anticipating attrition risk or identifying departments that need more support, AI-driven insights take your forecasts to the next level.

Real-World Example: Forecasting in Action

Imagine a growing tech company planning to launch a new product in Q3. By reviewing Exelare's hiring data from similar projects, the recruitment team forecasts that they’ll need to hire six developers and two product managers within the next two months. They see that it takes an average of 45 days to fill a developer role, so they begin the sourcing process early—avoiding the time crunch and ensuring a smoother product launch.

That’s the power of data-backed hiring foresight.

Why Choose Exelare for Data-Driven Recruitment

Exelare’s Applicant Tracking System isn’t just a tool to manage applications—it’s a strategic platform that transforms data into direction. From forecasting hiring spikes to identifying gaps in your recruiting process, Exelare empowers HR and recruitment professionals with the intelligence they need to act with precision and confidence.

And because Exelare is built with scalability in mind, it grows with your business—providing even deeper insights as your talent database expands.

Conclusion

In a competitive talent landscape, guessing is no longer good enough. Forward-thinking organizations are using Applicant Tracking Software like Exelare to turn historical hiring data into future success. By leveraging these insights, recruiters can forecast hiring needs, anticipate challenges, and ensure they always have the right talent at the right time.

Ready to start planning smarter? Let Exelare show you how data-driven recruitment leads to long-term growth and strategic advantage.