Why Optimization Deserves a Budget

It’s easy to assume once iCIMS is live, the heavy lifting is done. But over time, even the best implementations degrade: workflows become outdated, automation remains unused, and data quality suffers. The cost? Slower time-to-fill, higher recruiter workload, poor candidate experience—and eventually, diminished trust in the platform.

But optimization doesn’t have to mean expensive overhauls. When framed correctly, it’s one of the highest-leverage investments your team can make.

Step 1: Define the Optimization Opportunity

Start by pinpointing specific pain points that are costing your team time, money, or momentum. Common examples include:

• Job postings requiring manual rework

• Inefficient approval workflows causing hiring delays

• Career sites with poor mobile conversion rates

• Underutilized text engagement or CRM tools

Gather insights through:

• Workflow audits

• Recruiter and admin feedback

• Candidate experience analytics (e.g., application abandonment)

• Time studies of manual tasks

This helps ground your case in concrete, observable inefficiencies.

Step 2: Quantify the Cost of the Status Quo

A strong business case doesn’t just focus on potential gains—it illustrates the ongoing cost of doing nothing.

Examples:

• Lost recruiter hours: “Our recruiters spend 3 hours/week updating fields that could be automated. Across 5 recruiters, that’s over 750 hours/year.”

• Vacancy costs: “Each 30-day delay in filling a sales role costs the business $12K in lost productivity.”

• Agency overuse: “Without robust internal pipelines, we spent $200K on agency fees last year alone.”

Put a dollar value on every inefficiency you can. Even directional estimates are better than none.

Step 3: Identify the Potential Gains

Now flip the equation. What happens if you fix these problems?

• Improved career site UX = higher conversion = more qualified applicants = less spend on job boards.

• Streamlined workflows = faster time-to-fill = better candidate experience and reduced offer declines.

• Automation = reduced manual errors and faster recruiter ramp-up.

Use:

• Before/after results from similar organizations

• Internal pilot data (e.g., A/B tests on application forms)

• Benchmarks from your vendor or consulting partners

These projections don’t need to be perfect—they just need to be reasonable.

Step 4: Tie It to Strategic Priorities

This is where most optimization proposals fall flat. You’re not just fixing broken buttons—you’re enabling business goals.

Link your proposal to:

• Reducing third-party spend (by building internal pipeline strength)

• Supporting DEI goals (by auditing and improving visibility of diverse slates)

• Improving quality-of-hire (by increasing recruiter efficiency and bandwidth)

Speak the language of business outcomes, not system admin features.

Step 5: Present a Tiered Investment Plan

Give decision-makers room to say yes—at any level.

This approach shows you’re thoughtful about budget and scale—and ready to adapt based on available resources.

Step 6: Address Common Objections

Preempt pushback by preparing responses to these common concerns:

“We don’t have time right now.”
Optimization creates time. Fixing repetitive manual work pays for itself in weeks.

“Shouldn’t we just switch platforms?”
Replacing an ATS is expensive, risky, and time-consuming. iCIMS is already paid for and deeply integrated—optimization is a faster path to ROI.

“What if we optimize and it doesn’t work?”
Tie efforts to measurable outcomes from the start and phase in changes to reduce risk.

Step 7: End with ROI Framing

When in doubt, bring it back to ROI:

“We’re not asking to spend more on the ATS—we’re asking to finally get what we paid for.”

That message resonates. Optimization isn’t overhead. It’s an ROI multiplier.

✅ Next Steps

If you’re ready to turn insight into action:

• RSVP for a Free Friday call to see how other iCIMS customers are solving similar problems.

• Try expert support free for a month through our Office Hours program.

• Listen to the SAI Podcast on Spotify to hear real-world optimization stories.