A Step-by-Step Guide to Integrating PandaDoc with Your ATS Using Make’s Webhooks

In today’s fast-paced recruiting environment, efficiency is paramount. Manual document generation and data entry between your Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and a document automation tool like PandaDoc can be a significant bottleneck, wasting valuable time and introducing errors. This guide will walk you through leveraging Make (formerly Integromat) and its powerful webhooks to create a seamless, automated integration, ensuring your candidates receive professional documents promptly and your team remains focused on what truly matters: finding the best talent. By connecting these critical systems, you’ll eliminate low-value, repetitive tasks, accelerate your hiring pipeline, and deliver an elevated experience for both your candidates and your recruitment team.

Step 1: Define Your Integration Triggers and Data Points

Before building any automation, you must clearly identify where in your ATS a document needs to be generated by PandaDoc. Is it when a candidate reaches the “Offer Extended” stage, or when a contract requires signature after a successful interview? Pinpoint the exact trigger event within your ATS that should initiate this workflow. Once identified, list all the critical data points from your ATS that PandaDoc will need to populate the document – this typically includes candidate name, contact information, offer details (salary, start date, position), and any specific clauses. Understanding these triggers and required data fields is the foundational step, ensuring your automation is both relevant and comprehensive, avoiding the common pitfall of building a solution that doesn’t fully address the business need.

Step 2: Set Up the Initial Webhook in Make

Make serves as the powerful intermediary orchestrating data flow between your ATS and PandaDoc. Begin by creating a new scenario in Make and selecting “Webhooks” as your initial module. Choose “Custom webhook” to generate a unique URL. This URL is the crucial endpoint where your ATS will send information. Make will then prompt you to listen for incoming data, putting it in a ready state to receive a sample payload. This step is critical for Make to automatically understand the data structure it will be receiving from your ATS. Keep this webhook URL safe, as you will need it when configuring your ATS to send data.

Step 3: Configure Your ATS to Send Data to Make’s Webhook

Now, bridge the gap between your ATS and Make. Most modern ATS platforms offer webhook functionalities or custom integration options that allow you to send data to an external URL when a specific event occurs. Navigate to your ATS’s automation or integration settings. Paste the unique webhook URL generated in Make into the designated field. Then, configure which data fields should be sent from your ATS when your chosen trigger event occurs. For instance, when a candidate’s status changes to “Offer Ready,” your ATS should automatically push the candidate’s name, email, job title, and other offer specifics to Make’s webhook. Thoroughly test this connection by triggering the event in your ATS and verifying that Make successfully receives the data, confirming the initial handshake is complete.

Step 4: Connect Make to PandaDoc for Document Creation

With data flowing into Make, the next step is to instruct Make to interact with PandaDoc. In your Make scenario, add a new module and search for “PandaDoc.” Select an action like “Create a Document from a Template.” You’ll then be prompted to connect your PandaDoc account to Make using your API key or by authenticating directly. Once connected, choose the specific PandaDoc template that corresponds to the document you want to generate (e.g., “Offer Letter Template”). This module will serve as the engine for transforming your ATS data into a polished, professional document within PandaDoc, initiating the automated document creation process and significantly reducing manual effort.

Step 5: Map ATS Data to PandaDoc Template Fields

This is where the magic of automation truly shines. Within the PandaDoc module in Make, you will see fields corresponding to your chosen PandaDoc template. Your task is to map the data received by your Make webhook (from your ATS) to the appropriate fields in the PandaDoc template. For example, the “Candidate Name” field from your ATS data should be mapped to the `[[candidate.name]]` content variable in your PandaDoc template. The “Job Title” from your ATS should go to the `[[job.title]]` variable. Carefully map every relevant data point. This precise mapping ensures that every document generated by PandaDoc is accurately pre-filled with the correct candidate and offer information, eliminating manual data entry and minimizing errors.

Step 6: Handle Document Distribution and Status Updates

After the PandaDoc document is created, you’ll want to manage its distribution and potentially update the status back in your ATS. In Make, add another PandaDoc module to send the generated document to the candidate (e.g., “Send a Document”). Configure this module to use the candidate’s email address obtained from your ATS data. Additionally, consider adding another module in Make, or potentially a custom API call back to your ATS, to update the candidate’s status to “Offer Sent” or similar, once the PandaDoc document has been successfully delivered. This ensures a closed-loop system, keeping all systems updated in real-time and providing a complete overview of each candidate’s journey without manual intervention.

Step 7: Implement Robust Testing and Refinement

A well-built automation is only as good as its reliability. Before deploying your integration fully, conduct thorough testing. Run your Make scenario multiple times with different candidate profiles and data variations from your ATS. Verify that documents are generated correctly in PandaDoc, that all fields are accurately populated, and that documents are sent to the correct recipients. Pay close attention to edge cases – what happens if a data field is missing from the ATS? Implement error handling within Make to gracefully manage such situations. Continuously monitor the automation’s performance and gather feedback from your recruiting team to identify any areas for refinement. Iterative testing and optimization ensure a robust, reliable, and error-free workflow that truly saves time.

If you would like to read more, we recommend this article: Mastering HR Automation: PandaDoc and Make for the Automated Recruiter