Utilizing Data Migration To Your Advantage

Think of Data Migration as a Strategic Reset

For most recruiting firms, the biggest hesitation around switching ATS platforms isn’t the software, it’s the migration. The concerns are familiar:

• What if we lose data?

• We can’t afford business interruption.

• It’s going to be expensive and painful.

Those concerns are valid. Recruiting firms run on relationships and institutional knowledge. But here’s the reframe we encourage firms to consider: A data migration isn’t just a switching cost, it’s a rare opportunity to strengthen how your firm operates. When done well, migration doesn’t disrupt your business. It sharpens it.

Migration as a Chance to Rethink Your Process

Legacy systems often reflect years of organic growth and workarounds. Over time,

processes become bloated, not because teams are careless, but because systems make

it easy to accumulate complexity.

Switching platforms creates a natural moment to ask:

• What data actually matters?

• What signals move candidates forward?

• Where has inconsistency crept in?

Example: Candidate Statuses

One of the most common issues we see is status sprawl, dozens of overlapping or

ambiguous candidate statuses that mean different things to different recruiters.

Migration creates an opportunity to:

• Streamline statuses into a clearer funnel

• Define what each stage actually means

• Create consistency across the team

The result: better visibility, cleaner reporting, faster decisions, and less cognitive load.

Migration as a Data-Cleaning Opportunity

Good data isn’t about volume, it’s about relevance. A database of 30,000 candidates is

meaningless if the relationships aren’t there.

A thoughtful migration should include curation, not just a raw data dump. High-impact

cleaning often includes:

• Removing candidates without resumes, notes, or contact info

• Excluding contacts never tied to a search

• Archiving searches/jobs older than 10 years

• Eliminating duplicate records

Less noise makes the remaining data more searchable, more trustworthy, and far more

valuable.

Migration as a Data Refresh

Modern migrations don’t have to move data “as-is.” They can refresh it.

Examples include:

• Enriching profiles using LinkedIn URLs

• Deduplicating contacts across systems

• Normalizing titles, companies, and industries

For firms stuck with years of compounding mess, migration is often the cleanest moment

to fix it once.

No Business Interruption Required

Migration doesn’t mean stopping work.

At TATracker, firms can begin executing active searches immediately while historical data

is cleaned, mapped, and migrated in parallel. This staged approach removes the pressure

of a hard cutover and keeps the business moving.

Common Pitfalls — and the Best Practices That Prevent Them

Most migration issues stem from a few predictable mistakes:

• Too many decision-makers defining the new structure

→ Best practice: designate a small group or single owner to finalize mappings.

• Unclear expectations around what data will migrate

→ Best practice: confirm a field-level migration list upfront, including what requires

custom work.

• Skipping validation before going live

→ Best practice: always review data in a demo or staging environment before

production.

Successful migrations follow a simple formula: clear scope, intentional mapping, realistic

timelines, and validation before launch.

The Real Question Isn’t “Should We Migrate?” It’s this; Do you want to carry yesterday’s complexity into tomorrow’s growth? Handled thoughtfully, migration isn’t a disruption, it’s an upgrade.