Creating Workflows for Hiring

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to configure hiring workflows to automate tasks and ensure process consistency.

Workflow Rules in the Hiring Process

Workflows enable Administrators to configure and enable workflow automation for the hiring process. These workflows can automatically create follow-up tasks, auto-advance candidates, assign task ownership, send email messages, and set SLAs.

The workflow rules that make up steps in a hiring process fall into one of two categories:

Standard Workflow Rules
Automated Workflow Rules

Standard Workflow Rules

Standard workflow rules in SmartRecruiters are a core automation feature that automatically enforces consistency and efficiency across each hiring process. They function as predefined, system-wide rules that execute actions based on specific conditions or events in the candidate's journey.

The following workflow rules are available to enable:

Coordinate interview: Assigns a task for a member of the hiring team to schedule an interview with a candidate.
Send self-schedule: Assigns a task for a member of the hiring team to send a self-schedule link to a candidate.
Candidate interview reminder: Create tasks for recruiters to follow up with candidates who have not confirmed an interview after the specified number of days.
Collect interview feedback: Assigns a task for the interviewer(s) to write a review and provide feedback after the interview is complete.
Create offer: Assigns a task for a member of the hiring team to prepare a new offer.
Offer approval reminder: Prompts a hiring team member to follow up on pending approvals.
Reject candidate: Assigns a task for a member of the hiring team to reject a candidate based on the average star rating within the current hiring process step.
Pipeline cleanup: Reminds a hiring team member when a candidate is left idle in a hiring step for a determined duration.

Note

Only Administrators can set up new workflows against specific steps in the hiring process. Workflow actions can apply to any user who is identified as an owner in the workflow step.

Automated Workflow Rules

The following automated workflow rules are available to configure:

Move Forward Rule: The Move Forward rule automatically moves candidates further in the hiring process based on selected parameters.
Send Message Rule: The Send Message rule can be used to send messages to candidates, members of the different hiring team roles, or a named user when an applicant enters a hiring step or after X days.
Auto Self-Schedule Rule: The Auto Self-Schedule rule can be used to automatically send a link to the candidate to select an interview time.
Auto Reject Rule: The rules can automatically reject candidates based on a wide range of conditions, streamlining repetitive rejection tasks and significantly reducing the manual workload in high-volume hiring environments for greater efficiency.
Invite to Hiring Event Rule: The Invite to Hiring Event workflow rule is designed to automate and streamline the process of inviting candidates to scheduled hiring events.

Workflow Structure

Hiring process workflows are configured against a hiring process step, such as In-Review / Phone Screen. They are applied to all jobs or applications that are associated with that hiring process step. Admins will be able to define both multi-step and single-step workflows.

Each step (workflow rule) in the workflow includes the following properties:

Filter rules: Filtering rules can be applied to each workflow rule to customize a set of candidates that the workflow step should be executed against.
Actions: Each rule results in an action for the system. That action can be the system creating a task, sending a notification, or changing the state of an object.
Owner(s): This is the person responsible for any actions that result from the configured workflow rule. For workflow rules that create a task, the owner will be set as the Task assignee.
SLA: Commonly known as Service Level Agreement, this is a timer property that can be set to determine when a particular action will need to be completed. For workflow rules where a task is created, the Due Date is set according to the SLA.

To help users get started with configuring a workflow, a gallery of preset workflow rules is available. Administrators can configure their workflow by dragging a preset workflow step from the gallery and adjusting its properties.

The first rule in the workflow is immediately initiated when a candidate enters a hiring process step. The action of the candidate entering the hiring process step is the trigger for the workflow. When the workflow is set to start after a specified amount of time, the candidate's entry into the hiring process step triggers the timer.

Workflow Owners

Workflow rules require an assigned Rule Owner to ensure accountability for triggered actions. The owner can be defined in one of two ways: as a specific Hiring Team Role or as a specific named user.

If the action for a workflow rule is configured to automatically create a task, the owner of the workflow rule becomes the task assignee.

Handling Hiring Team Roles (ANY vs. ALL)

When a Hiring Team Role (such as Recruiter or Hiring Manager) is selected as the Rule Owner, you have an option to define the required scope of completion:

ANY: Selecting ANY means the created task is assigned to all users who hold that role on the hiring team, but only one of those assignees must complete the task to satisfy the workflow requirement.
ALL: Selecting ALL means the created task is assigned to all users who hold that role on the hiring team, and every assignee must complete the task for the workflow requirement to be met.

When Hiring Team Roles are used in workflows, it is critical to ensure the selected Hiring Team Role is populated with staff. When no user is currently assigned to the selected Hiring Team Role for the specific job, the workflow rule will not execute. This failure event will be recorded and logged in the job activity feed for auditing and troubleshooting purposes. Consider how the user group will be trained to ensure these roles are completed on every job.

Set Up a New Workflow

Steps

Navigate to Settings.
Select Hiring Process in the Configuration list.
On the Custom Hiring Process page, find a hiring process where you would like to add the workflow and select Edit.
Select the step you want to add a workflow to, then select Workflows from the dropdown list. On the next screen, you will see the preset workflow step gallery on the left and the workflow you want to configure for this hiring process on the right side.
Drag and drop the chosen workflow steps from the left panel into the workflow builder screen on the right. You can add up to 20 workflow rules of the same type within a single workflow.
Adjust the workflow properties as needed. These differ per workflow rule.
Remember to select Save if you edit workflow properties.

Use Case Example: Streamlining Internal Mobility for Company A's IT Department

Company A wants to encourage internal mobility and recognizes that current employees applying for IT roles don't need the same screening process as external candidates. Their talent acquisition team decides to create a dedicated hiring process for IT positions that efficiently accommodates both internal and external applicants.

The Challenge:

Internal candidates already understand Company A’s culture and have a proven track record, but they are required to complete the same lengthy screening steps as external applicants. This creates unnecessary work and delays for both recruiters and candidates.

The Solution:

To improve efficiency, the team decides that internal employees applying for these roles should skip the initial screening steps and move directly to the Submitted to Manager stage. They achieve this by using the Move Forward workflow in the New status with the condition If the employee badge is yes. As a result, all new internal applicants are automatically advanced to the Submitted to Manager step.

Screen with Move Forward rule: If Employee badge is yes, auto-advance candidate to Submitted to Manager when moving to NEW/NEW stage; Save and Delete.

Privacy Considerations

The current feature may be considered automated profiling or decision-making under applicable data protection laws. There, SmartRecruiters recommends reviewing the privacy and legal implications of this feature with your legal and/or privacy teams before activating it.

SmartRecruiters, as a data processor, does not determine how data is processed; it processes its customers' data in accordance with the instructions in the data protection addendum.

In this case, you have complied with applicable data protection regulations and taken the steps required prior to activating this feature. SmartRecruiters cannot be held responsible for any claims and/or requests from customers’ applicants who are impacted by activating the feature.

Watch the video below for more details about configuring hiring process workflows.

This video is for demonstration purposes. Any references made in this video to previous or later videos in this course (including titles, numbers, links, or sequence) may differ from the current course structure. Additionally, some functionalities shown may have evolved over time due to ongoing enhancements or business decisions.

Summary

Workflow rules in SmartRecruiters automate tasks and enforce consistency within the hiring process.
Standard workflow rules include actions such as coordinating interviews, sending self-schedule links, collecting interview feedback, and rejecting candidates.
Automated workflow rules include moving candidates forward, sending messages, auto self-scheduling, auto-rejecting candidates, and inviting candidates to hiring events.
Workflows are configured against a hiring process step and applied to all jobs or applications associated with that step.
Each step in the workflow includes properties such as filter rules, actions, owners, and SLA.

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