TL;DR
- Problem: Recruitment spread across multiple disconnected tools
- System: A lightweight, automated recruitment process (ATS-lite)
- Built in: A few hours
- Replaced: Typeform, Airtable, Calendly, Mailchimp
- Best for: Startups, agencies, and lean HR teams that want control without enterprise software
What we mean by “ATS” in this guide
An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is simply a system used to:
- Collect job applications
- Track candidates through hiring stages
- Assign interviewers
- Communicate with candidates
In this guide, we use the term ATS-lite to describe a lightweight, customizable recruitment workflow built without traditional enterprise hiring software.
How Instinct Innovations implemented this ATS-lite system
Instinct Innovations needed a recruitment process that matched how they actually hire, without the cost or rigidity of traditional ATS platforms.
They implemented the system using TinyCommand as the execution layer.
- Interviewer master
A central table stores interviewers, departments, and role eligibility.
This enables automatic interviewer assignment during the hiring process.
- Open position management
The HR team creates new roles through a form capturing job details such as role name, skills, experience, budget, and number of openings.
Each submission updates a live roles database.
- Candidate application with resume parsing
Candidates apply through a dynamic form that:
- Lists only currently open roles
- Accepts CV uploads
- Automatically extracts resume data using AI
Extracted details are prefilled for review, reducing friction while preserving accuracy.
- Automated candidate evaluation
When a candidate submits the application, the workflow:
- Fetches the relevant job description
- Identifies the correct interviewer
- Evaluates resume fit against the role using AI
Each candidate receives:
- An ATS score
- A short justification explaining the evaluation
- Conditional routing and communication
- High-scoring candidates trigger real-time notifications for HR
- Lower-scoring candidates receive automated rejection emails
Resume screening, shortlisting, interviewer assignment, and communication all happen automatically.
You can connect this workflow to any communication or collaboration tool you prefer:
- Slack
- Google Chat
- Microsoft Teams
- Internal approval steps (human-in-the-loop)
And for scheduling, storage, or notifications:
- Google Calendar
- Gmail
- Any API or webhook-based system
The Impact:
- One platform to manage the entire recruitment process
- Automated screening and interviewer assignment
- Faster candidate response times
- Reduced dependency on multiple SaaS tools
- Full flexibility to modify the workflow as hiring needs evolve
The entire system was built collaboratively with the HR team in just a few hours.
This workflow also works for
- Startups hiring their first teams
- Agencies recruiting contractors or freelancers
- Ops teams scaling quickly
- Any team that wants a customizable ATS-lite recruitment system
This is a system-first approach, not a tool-first one.
