A Glossary of Make.com Core Concepts & Terminology for HR Professionals

In today’s fast-paced HR and recruiting landscape, leveraging automation is no longer a luxury but a necessity for driving efficiency, improving candidate experience, and enabling strategic growth. Make.com stands as a powerful no-code/low-code platform for connecting disparate systems and automating complex workflows. To effectively harness its potential, particularly within HR and recruiting operations, understanding its core terminology is paramount. This glossary provides essential definitions, tailored to help HR and recruiting professionals navigate Make.com with confidence and apply its functionalities to real-world business challenges.

Make.com (formerly Integromat)

Make.com is a visual platform that allows users to design, build, and automate workflows by connecting various applications and services without writing any code. It functions as a digital orchestrator, enabling HR and recruiting professionals to automate tasks such as candidate onboarding, data synchronization between an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and Human Resources Information System (HRIS), or automated communication sequences. For HR, Make.com can eliminate manual data entry, streamline recruitment pipelines, and ensure consistent communication, freeing up valuable time for strategic initiatives rather than repetitive administrative tasks.

Scenario

A Scenario is the fundamental building block of automation in Make.com. It represents a complete workflow, comprising a series of modules linked together to perform a specific set of tasks. Each scenario starts with a trigger (e.g., a new candidate application) and then proceeds through a sequence of actions. In an HR context, a scenario might automate the entire process from a new job application submission to initial candidate screening, sending automated follow-up emails, or even scheduling preliminary interviews, all without human intervention once configured.

Module

A Module is a specific operation or action within a Make.com scenario, representing a connection to an application (like your ATS, HRIS, or email client) or a built-in Make.com function. Each module performs a single task, such as “Watch New Applications” in an ATS, “Create a Candidate Record” in a CRM, or “Send an Email.” HR professionals interact with modules to define each step of their automated workflow, from extracting candidate data to updating status fields or generating documents, ensuring precision in every automated action.

Connection

A Connection in Make.com is the authenticated link between your Make.com account and a third-party application or service (e.g., Gmail, Slack, Workday, Greenhouse). Establishing a connection allows Make.com to interact with that application, reading or writing data on your behalf. For HR teams, secure connections are crucial for integrating various recruitment and HR tech tools, ensuring that sensitive candidate and employee data can flow securely and seamlessly between systems without compromising privacy or data integrity.

Webhook

A Webhook is a mechanism for one application to provide real-time information to another. In Make.com, a webhook module acts as a trigger that “listens” for incoming data from external services, enabling scenarios to start immediately when a specific event occurs. For instance, an ATS could send a webhook to Make.com whenever a new application is received, instantly triggering an automated screening process, or a hiring manager update could prompt a notification to the HR team. This real-time capability is vital for agile HR operations.

Iterator

An Iterator is a special type of module in Make.com designed to process collections of items, such as a list of candidate skills or multiple attachments in an email. When a module outputs an array of data, the iterator splits that array into individual items, allowing subsequent modules to process each item one by one. In HR, this is incredibly useful for workflows that need to parse multiple résumés, extract individual data points from a candidate profile, or send personalized communications to a list of applicants.

Aggregator

An Aggregator module does the opposite of an Iterator: it collects multiple bundles of data processed by previous modules in a scenario and combines them into a single bundle or array. For example, if an Iterator processes multiple candidate skills individually, an Aggregator could then reassemble those skills into a single formatted list. This is useful for creating consolidated reports, compiling all feedback notes for a candidate into one document, or formatting multiple data points into a single message for a Slack notification to a hiring team.

Filter

A Filter is a decision-making tool within a Make.com scenario that allows you to specify conditions under which a scenario’s path should continue or stop. If the filter’s conditions are not met, the scenario halts at that point for that particular data bundle. For HR, filters are indispensable for creating conditional workflows, such as automatically advancing only candidates who meet specific criteria (e.g., minimum years of experience, specific certifications), routing different applications based on job type, or sending different rejection emails based on the stage of application.

Router

A Router module allows a single incoming data bundle to be split into multiple paths, enabling a scenario to perform different actions based on various conditions. After the Router, you would typically use Filters on each path to direct the data appropriately. For HR and recruiting, a Router is perfect for complex workflows: for example, a new hire scenario might branch to simultaneously notify IT for equipment setup, HR for onboarding paperwork, and the hiring manager for welcome preparations, all triggered by a single event.

Data Store

A Data Store in Make.com is a persistent storage mechanism within the platform itself, allowing you to save and retrieve small amounts of data across multiple scenario executions. Unlike temporary variables, data in a Data Store remains available for subsequent runs or different scenarios. This can be used by HR to maintain a list of active job requisitions, store custom candidate tags not supported by the ATS, or keep track of unique identifiers for internal processes, ensuring continuity and consistency across automated workflows.

App (or Service)

In Make.com terminology, an “App” or “Service” refers to any third-party software application or cloud service that Make.com can connect and interact with. This includes a vast ecosystem of tools such as CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot), communication platforms (e.g., Slack, Microsoft Teams), document management systems (e.g., Google Drive, Dropbox), and various HR and recruiting-specific platforms. The ability to integrate with hundreds of apps makes Make.com incredibly versatile for building end-to-end HR automation solutions across your entire tech stack.

Scheduler

The Scheduler is a built-in Make.com trigger that allows scenarios to run automatically at predefined intervals. Instead of being triggered by an external event, a scheduled scenario executes hourly, daily, weekly, or at specific times. HR teams can leverage schedulers for routine tasks like generating daily reports on application volume, sending weekly reminders to hiring managers about open requisitions, performing nightly backups of candidate data, or automatically archiving old records, ensuring consistency and compliance with minimal manual oversight.

Mapping

Mapping is the process of connecting the output data from one module to the input fields of a subsequent module within a Make.com scenario. It involves visually dragging and dropping data elements from previous steps into the relevant fields of the next action. For HR, effective mapping ensures that information like a candidate’s name, email, or application date captured from an ATS is correctly transferred to a CRM, an email template, or a new employee record, guaranteeing data accuracy and preventing errors in automated workflows.

Error Handling

Error Handling in Make.com refers to the strategies and tools available to manage unexpected issues or failures within a scenario execution. This includes mechanisms like “Break,” “Commit,” “Rollback,” and “Resume” directives, along with built-in error routes that can trigger specific actions when an error occurs. For HR, robust error handling is critical: it ensures that if an integration temporarily fails (e.g., ATS is down), the scenario doesn’t simply crash but can notify an administrator, log the error, or reattempt the operation, preventing data loss or process disruption.

Operation

An Operation in Make.com refers to a single task executed by a module within a scenario. Each time a module successfully performs an action (e.g., “Create a Candidate,” “Send an Email,” “Read a Row”), it counts as one operation. Operations are the primary unit for calculating Make.com usage and subscription costs. For HR departments, understanding operations is key to optimizing scenario design for cost-efficiency. Strategic planning can help minimize unnecessary operations, ensuring automation delivers maximum ROI without incurring excessive platform costs.

If you would like to read more, we recommend this article: Make.com Consultants: Unlocking Transformative HR & Recruiting Automation