Workflow automations do more than save you time — they make hiring smoother for candidates and your team. This article shares what works best when you plan, build, test, and fine-tune them.

Think of each automation as a simple “if this happens, do that” rule, built from three parts:

Triggers start the automation — for example, when a candidate moves to a new stage.
Conditions make sure the actions only run when specific criteria are met — for example, only if the candidate has a certain tag.
Actions are the tasks that follow — for example, sending an email or changing a job’s status.

Workflow automations can react to events anywhere in the hiring process, not just at one pipeline stage. They can respond to candidate activity (a new note, a completed evaluation, a scheduled event) and to job activity (a status change, filled openings, a date that has passed).

Note: What you can automate depends on your plan. On every plan, you can run automations when a candidate moves to a stage or is disqualified. The Optimize plan adds all other triggers, job-level automations, and actions like Move to the next stage, Share candidate, and Change job status. Many of the examples in this article use those features. Options that aren’t on your plan are labeled Available in Advance or Available in Optimize.

Map your ideal flow

It’s tempting to jump straight into building automations, but a little planning first saves you from rework later.

Outline your ideal workflow on paper or in a document. Start with your goal and work backward. For example, if your goal is to make sure no candidate is left waiting:

Define what you want to achieve. Keep the candidate informed and follow up on time.
Decide what needs to happen to meet that goal. Send the candidate an update and remind the recruiter to check in.
Turn it into logic. When a candidate is overdue in a stage, send them a personalized follow-up email and add a task for the recruiter to review their status.

In Recruitee, that becomes one automation: the Candidate is overdue trigger, followed by the Send an email and Add a task actions.

Start small, then scale

Begin with the tasks your team does most often and that take the most time. For example:

Candidate evaluations: When a candidate moves to a new stage, request an evaluation from the hiring manager or interviewers.
Pipeline movement: Move candidates to the next stage as soon as all evaluations are completed.
Team follow-ups: Add a task for the recruiter when a new candidate is added to a job, or add a note or tag when a candidate reaches a specific stage.

Tip: When you create a new automation, you can start from scratch or pick one of our ready-made templates. For job-level automations, these include Close job, Submit to job boards, Send emails to overdue candidates, Move when evaluated, Schedule publication, Move after event is scheduled, and Send hires to Tellent HR. Each one is pre-filled for you, so you only need to review it and save.

Once those core automations are running smoothly, move on to more complex flows. For example:

Interview follow-up: When an event is scheduled, move the candidate to your interview stage. When the event has passed, send the candidate a thank-you email (with a link to a feedback survey, if you use one) and add a task for the recruiter to collect feedback.
Visibility control: When a candidate moves to the Offer stage, use the Stop sharing candidate action to remove access for team members who only needed it earlier, leaving the decision-makers and HR involved.
Tailored communication: Add conditions to send different emails or take different actions based on the candidate’s tags, source, or origin.

Note: For interview reminders, use event reminders instead of an automation. They’re sent a set time before the event, while a delayed automation email is sent a set number of days after the trigger.

Put candidates first

When you set up an automation, think about how the candidate will experience each message or action. Even when much of the process runs on its own, candidates should feel valued and informed.

✅ Do

Confirm key moments. Let candidates know when you’ve received their application or when they move to a new stage. These updates reassure them and show that you value their time.
Keep candidates engaged. Use the Candidate is overdue trigger to send an update or add a task for the recruiter, so no one is left waiting too long.
Avoid delays. Use the All evaluations are completed for candidate trigger with the Move to the next stage action, so candidates move forward as soon as everyone has given feedback.
Personalize your emails. Add placeholders like [candidate.first] and [job_offer] so each email feels tailored, not generic.
Welcome new hires. Use the Candidate start date is trigger to send a welcome or pre-boarding email before their first day.

❌ Don’t

Flood candidates with messages. Space out your automated emails, and avoid sending two emails for the same event (like a confirmation email right before a “next steps” email). Use the Send after option on the Send an email action to delay an email by a few days.
Send generic rejection emails. Set up automations for your disqualify reasons so the email matches the reason and the stage — a short message for early stages and a more personal one for later stages.
Automate sensitive news. Automate status updates and logistics, but deliver sensitive news, like an offer withdrawal, personally.

Test your workflows

Always test a new automation before you use it on a live job. This prevents unwanted emails, unexpected job status changes, and candidates moving to the wrong stage.

Create a new job, or use a job you don’t actively recruit for.
You can set the status to Internal use.
Add the automation to that job.
Add a test candidate — for example, yourself, with your own email address.
Perform the trigger (for example, move the test candidate to the stage) and check that each action works as expected.

When an automation starts because of something you did, a panel shows you the actions that are about to run. You have a few seconds to preview, edit, pause, or cancel them before they’re carried out.

Note: Automations can trigger other automations — for example, a stage move that starts another stage automation. To prevent endless loops, Recruitee stops the chain after three automations in a row. When you plan linked automations, check that each step still happens as you expect.

Tip: If you trigger the same automation again within 30 minutes (common while testing), Recruitee asks whether you want to run it again or proceed without it.

Track and iterate

Once your automation is live, give it a few weeks before you judge its impact. Focus on the pain points you set out to fix and check whether they’re improving.

Look for changes in:

Time-to-hire
Candidate drop-off rates
Evaluation completion times
Candidate response rates
Recruiter productivity

To see what your automations have done, open a job, go to its Activity, and filter by Automations. You can also see automation activity on each candidate’s profile.

If a bottleneck hasn’t improved, revisit your design. Review the triggers, conditions, and actions, and adjust them as needed.

Save time and scale

Move candidates through the pipeline: When all evaluations are completed, move the candidate to the next stage.
Close filled jobs: When all job openings are filled, change the job status to Closed. The job is then hidden from your careers site and removed from job boards.
Advertise new jobs: Submit jobs to your selected job boards once they’re published. Submission can take up to two days.
Confirm manual additions: When a candidate is added to a job, and their origin is Manual, send them a confirmation email.
Hand over new hires: If you use Tellent HR, send hired candidates there automatically with the Send to Tellent HR action. Only candidates with a first name, last name, and email address are exported.

Improve the candidate experience

Send personalized rejection emails based on the disqualify reason and the pipeline stage.
Keep candidates updated on their status, like delays or next steps.
Send a welcome email a set number of days before a new hire’s start date.

Collaborate as a team

Share candidates with the team members involved in a specific stage, and stop sharing them when that stage is over.
Request evaluations from recruiters or hiring team members.
Add a note or a task for the team when a candidate reaches a particular stage or when all tasks are completed.
Add followers to a candidate so the right people stay up to date.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why don’t I see all the triggers mentioned in this article?

Most triggers beyond “candidate moves to a stage” and “candidate is disqualified” are part of the Optimize plan. If a trigger isn’t on your plan, it appears in a separate list with an upgrade option.

Will automations run on a draft job?

No. Automations run on any job that isn’t archived or a draft.

Can I stop an automation after it has started?

When your own action triggers an automation, you have a few seconds to pause, edit, or cancel its actions before they run.

Best practices for building Workflow automations