---
title: 7 Steps to Choosing the Right ATS (In Collaboration with Pinpoint)
description: Discover a 7-step guide to confidently choosing the right ATS for your team, created in collaboration with Udder and Pinpoint.
---

[The Udder Blog ](https://blog.udder.rocks/the-udder-blog)

# [7 Steps to Choosing the Right ATS (In Collaboration with Pinpoint)](https://blog.udder.rocks/the-udder-blog/7-steps-to-choosing-the-right-ats-in-collaboration-with-pinpoint)

 Written by [Louise Kabban](https://blog.udder.rocks/the-udder-blog/author/louise-kaban) | Oct 28, 2025 1:16:49 PM

A practical framework from Udder and Pinpoint to help talent teams make confident, data-informed ATS decisions.

### **The Problem: Too Many ATSs, Too Little Clarity**

If you’ve ever been through an ATS review, you’ll know it can feel like shopping for a new phone except there are hundreds of models, the specs don’t line up, and every vendor insists theirs is “the most intuitive.”

We speak to hundreds of in-house talent and people teams every year, and one thing’s always clear: **choosing the right ATS isn’t just about features, it’s about fit.**

That’s why we partnered with the team at[**Pinpoint**](https://www.pinpointhq.com/series/7-steps-choose-right-ats/?utm_source=udder&utm_medium=referral). A platform that’s helped thousands of recruiters and hiring managers streamline their process to create something we wish existed years ago:

**The 7 Steps to Choosing the Right ATS:**  a complete guide to evaluating, comparing, and selecting the system that’s right for your team.

### **Why We Made This Guide**

Most “how to choose your ATS” articles out there are either vendor-led (read: biased) or too generic to be useful.  
We wanted to do something different something that combines:

- **Our experience at Udder**: helping organisations navigate complex HR tech decisions every day.
- **Pinpoint’s expertise**: building one of the most well-rated ATS products on the market.

The result? A practical, vendor-neutral framework that walks you through *how to think*, *what to ask*, and *how to decide*.

### **What You’ll Learn**

The guide walks through seven clear, actionable steps that simplify every stage of the ATS buying process:

- Understanding your hiring DNA before you choose an ATS — define what makes your hiring unique before you even look at tools.
- Which stakeholders to involve in your ATS decision (and when) — align early with the right people so the process doesn’t stall later.
- How to make sure your ATS requirements reflect the way you hire — translate your real workflows into system needs.
- How to make ATS vendor demos useful for your team — focus on what actually matters to your users, not the feature fireworks.
- After the ATS demo: What to do next — turn your notes into structured comparisons and clear next steps.
- 7 red flags (and 7 green lights) when choosing an ATS vendor — know what to look for (and what to avoid) in your shortlist.
- What to double-check before signing an ATS contract — make sure the deal, the data, and the implementation plan all stack up.

 It’s not about choosing the best ATS — it’s about finding your best ATS.

 

### **Why This Collaboration Matters**

We’re big believers in collaboration over competition. By bringing together **a consultancy that helps teams choose tools** (that’s us) and **a company that builds one of those tools** (that’s Pinpoint), we’ve created a genuinely balanced perspective. No fluff, no hard sell.

It’s rare for a vendor and an independent advisory firm to come together on a project like this. That’s exactly what makes it useful.

### **Who It’s For**

This guide is for:

- Heads of Talent or People leading an ATS review.
- HR teams tired of spreadsheet-based comparisons.
- Founders or operations leads trying to scale hiring systems.
- Anyone who’s thinking: *“We’ve outgrown our current setup — what next?”**  
  *

### **Go Read the Guide**

You can read the full guide for free here: [ **7 Steps to Choosing the Right ATS**](https://www.pinpointhq.com/series/7-steps-choose-right-ats/?utm_source=udder&utm_medium=referral)

If you’re thinking about changing your ATS in the next 12 months or just want to sanity-check your current setup, it’s worth a read.

### **A Final Word**

We’ve both seen how overwhelming HR tech decisions can get.  
Our hope is that this guide gives you the clarity, confidence, and language to make a choice that actually works, not just one that ticks boxes.

[View full post](https://blog.udder.rocks/the-udder-blog/7-steps-to-choosing-the-right-ats-in-collaboration-with-pinpoint)

```json
{
  "@context" : "http://schema.org",
  "@type" : "BlogPosting",
  "author" : {
    "@type" : "Person",
    "name" : "Louise Kabban"
  },
  "dateModified" : "2025-10-28T13:16:49.100Z",
  "datePublished" : "2025-10-28T13:16:49Z",
  "headline" : "7 Steps to Choosing the Right ATS (In Collaboration with Pinpoint)",
  "image" : {
    "@type" : "ImageObject",
    "height" : 1260,
    "url" : "https://4895258.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/4895258/7%20Steps%20to%20Choosing%20the%20Right%20ATS%20%28In%20Collaboration%20with%20Pinpoint%29%20%281%29.png",
    "width" : 2240
  },
  "mainEntityOfPage" : "https://blog.udder.rocks/the-udder-blog/7-steps-to-choosing-the-right-ats-in-collaboration-with-pinpoint",
  "publisher" : {
    "@type" : "Organization",
    "logo" : {
      "@type" : "ImageObject",
      "height" : 60.0,
      "url" : "https://4895258.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/4895258/Udder_Black-2.png",
      "width" : 166.31848
    },
    "name" : "The Udder Blog"
  }
}
```