How we built an applicant tracking system for 800+ open positions

From spreadsheets and email threads to one live hiring portal for 50+ departments.

A large mining and engineering group we work with hires at a scale most companies never see: white-collar and blue-collar roles, across more than 50 departments, with 800+ positions open at the same time. Until recently, much of that ran on spreadsheets, email threads and phone calls.

The applicant tracking system we built replaces that. Here is what we learned.

The problem: everyone was asking the recruiters

When hiring runs on spreadsheets, every department head has the same question: "What is the status of my position?" The only way to find out is to ask a recruiter. Recruiters spend their day answering status questions instead of hiring.

Agencies sent CVs by email. Offers were tracked in separate files. Nobody had one view of the whole pipeline.

What we built

• Requisitions: departments raise a hiring request, which is approved and tracked from day one
• Candidates and agencies: every CV, from every agency, lands in one place against the right position
• Offers: offer status is visible alongside the candidate, not in a separate file
• Dashboards: the whole team sees the same numbers every morning, for every department
• Self-service status: department heads check their own positions instead of chasing recruiters

What changed

High-volume hiring now runs through one workflow. Leadership and departments see live hiring status themselves. Recruiters spend their time on candidates, not on status updates.

How it started

Like every system we build, it did not start with a long proposal. It started with the real process, a working prototype the recruitment team could click, and steady improvement from there. You can see the screens on the applicant tracking system case study.

If your hiring still runs on spreadsheets, book a free audit. We will show you what one system would look like for your team.