2 min lesson
How an ATS actually works
Walk through each part of "How an ATS actually works", then explain what each one does.
Step 1 of 2
An ATS is the system of record for hiring and the Recruiting Coordinator is the person who keeps that record true. When the data is right, recruiters and hiring managers can trust it without re-checking; when it drifts, every decision made on top of it inherits the error.
Strip away the marketing and an Applicant Tracking System is a small set of objects that link together. Learn the objects and how they relate and you can ramp on any ATS in days, which is exactly the story you want to tell if you have not used Cursor's specific tool. Five objects carry most of the weight.
- Candidate
- A person in the funnel. Holds contact info, resume, current stage, interview history and feedback.
- Job / req
- An open role being hired for. Defines the interview plan and the stages a candidate moves through.
- Stage
- A step in the pipeline (Screen → Onsite → Offer). A candidate sits in exactly one stage at a time.
- Interview kit
- The brief for interviewers: what to assess, suggested questions and which scorecard to fill out.
- Scorecard
- The structured feedback an interviewer submits after a session, mapped to the attributes the role needs.
Offers attach to the candidate once they clear the loop - the sixth object that turns a pipeline into a hire.
These objects move in one direction most of the time. A candidate enters against a job, advances stage by stage and at each stage an interview kit tells the interviewer what to look for and a scorecard captures what they found.
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Full explanation
One Stage, End to End
Interactive diagram. Step through it with the Next and Previous controls below, or Tab to a region to read its detail.
The RC owns every handoff except the decision - and the scorecard is the gate the decision waits on.
Where does the RC sit in that loop? You are not the decision-maker and you are not the interviewer. You are the person who guarantees the machine has clean inputs and that nothing stalls between steps. Two failure modes are yours to prevent: a candidate stuck in the wrong stage and an interview that happens with no scorecard to show for it.
- What you own
- Stage accuracy
- Why it matters
- Reports and HM decisions read off it
- What breaks if you don't
- A hire sits invisible; a reject lingers in the pipe
- What you own
- Interview kits attached
- Why it matters
- Interviewers know what to assess
- What breaks if you don't
- Unbriefed interviewer, wasted slot, weak signal
- What you own
- Scorecards routed + chased
- Why it matters
- Decisions need the feedback
- What breaks if you don't
- Loop stalls waiting on missing feedback
- What you own
- No duplicate / stale records
- Why it matters
- Metrics and search stay trustworthy
- What breaks if you don't
- Two records for one person, double-counted funnel
| What you own | Why it matters | What breaks if you don't |
|---|---|---|
| Stage accuracy | Reports and HM decisions read off it | A hire sits invisible; a reject lingers in the pipe |
| Interview kits attached | Interviewers know what to assess | Unbriefed interviewer, wasted slot, weak signal |
| Scorecards routed + chased | Decisions need the feedback | Loop stalls waiting on missing feedback |
| No duplicate / stale records | Metrics and search stay trustworthy | Two records for one person, double-counted funnel |
The RC's job in ATS terms: make the inputs clean so everyone downstream can move without re-verifying.
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Optional practice
Practice: How an ATS actually works
QWhat is the difference between an interview kit and a scorecard?