A Glossary of Key Automation & Integration Terms for HR & Recruiting Professionals
In today’s fast-paced talent acquisition landscape, leveraging automation and seamless data integration is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity. For HR leaders, recruiting managers, and operations professionals, understanding the foundational terminology of automation, APIs, and data flow is critical for implementing efficient systems that save time, reduce errors, and elevate the candidate experience. This glossary provides clear, actionable definitions of key terms you need to know to navigate and optimize your recruitment and HR tech stack.
Webhook
A webhook is an automated message sent from one application to another when a specific event occurs. Unlike traditional APIs where an application makes requests to a server, webhooks allow applications to send real-time data to other systems as soon as an event happens. In HR, a webhook might trigger when a new candidate applies in an Applicant Tracking System (ATS), sending that applicant’s data directly to a CRM or a custom onboarding workflow. This immediate data transfer eliminates delays and manual data entry, ensuring that processes like candidate screening, interview scheduling, or background checks can begin instantly, significantly accelerating the hiring timeline and reducing administrative burden for recruiters.
API (Application Programming Interface)
An API, or Application Programming Interface, is a set of rules and protocols that allows different software applications to communicate and interact with each other. It defines the methods and data formats that applications can use to request and exchange information. Think of it as a menu in a restaurant: you can order specific dishes (data requests) without needing to know how the kitchen prepares them (the internal workings of the application). For HR and recruiting, APIs are fundamental for integrating disparate systems like an ATS with a payroll system, a background check provider, or a video interviewing platform. This interoperability ensures data consistency, automates workflows, and creates a unified view of candidate and employee data, which is vital for compliance and strategic HR decision-making.
Payload
In the context of webhooks and APIs, a “payload” refers to the actual data being transmitted during a communication. When an event triggers a webhook or an API request is made, the payload is the body of information sent from the source application to the destination. For example, when a candidate completes an application form in your ATS, the webhook’s payload might contain their name, contact information, resume text, and answers to screening questions. Understanding the structure and content of a payload is crucial for configuring automation platforms like Make.com to correctly extract, process, and map this data into other systems, ensuring that valuable candidate information is accurately captured and utilized across your HR tech stack for effective decision-making.
Endpoint
An endpoint is a specific URL or address where an API or webhook can be accessed to send or receive data. It acts as the destination for incoming requests or the source for outgoing information. When you set up an integration, you typically configure one application to send data to another application’s designated endpoint. For instance, an automation platform might provide a unique webhook endpoint (a URL) where your ATS can send new candidate application data. This endpoint serves as the digital mailbox for specific types of data, ensuring that information is routed to the correct processing logic or database. Properly configured endpoints are essential for reliable, secure, and accurate data exchange between HR systems, powering seamless automated workflows.
Integration
Integration refers to the process of connecting two or more disparate software applications or systems so they can work together and exchange data seamlessly. Rather than manual data transfer or duplicate entry, integration automates the flow of information, creating a more efficient and cohesive operational environment. In HR and recruiting, integration is paramount for connecting systems like an Applicant Tracking System (ATS), a Human Resources Information System (HRIS), a CRM, a payroll system, and various communication tools. Effective integration eliminates data silos, reduces human error, enhances data accuracy, and provides a comprehensive view of talent data, allowing HR professionals to focus on strategic initiatives rather than administrative tasks. Platforms like Make.com are specifically designed to facilitate robust, low-code integrations.
Automation Platform
An automation platform is a software tool designed to connect various applications and services, enabling users to create automated workflows and processes without extensive coding knowledge. These platforms typically offer a visual interface where users can define “triggers” (events that start a workflow) and “actions” (tasks performed in response to a trigger). Popular examples include Make.com and Zapier. In HR and recruiting, an automation platform can orchestrate complex processes such as automatically moving candidates from an ATS to a CRM after a specific stage, sending personalized follow-up emails, scheduling interviews based on availability, or initiating background checks. By automating these repetitive tasks, HR teams can significantly reduce administrative overhead, improve candidate experience through faster responses, and free up valuable time for more strategic, human-centric activities.
CRM (Candidate Relationship Management)
A CRM, or Candidate Relationship Management system, is a specialized software application designed to help recruiting teams build, nurture, and manage relationships with potential candidates, similar to how sales teams use CRM for customer management. It tracks interactions, communication history, and candidate status, enabling recruiters to engage talent proactively, even before specific job openings arise. For HR and recruiting, integrating a CRM with an ATS and other communication tools is vital. Automation can populate the CRM with new applicants from an ATS via webhooks, track engagement, and automate follow-up sequences. This ensures a consistent, personalized candidate journey, helps build a robust talent pipeline, and allows recruiters to maintain long-term relationships with silver medalist candidates, making future hiring cycles more efficient.
ATS (Applicant Tracking System)
An ATS, or Applicant Tracking System, is a software application that manages the entire recruiting and hiring process, from job posting and candidate application to screening, interviewing, and offer management. It serves as a central database for all candidate information and helps recruiters streamline workflows, track progress, and ensure compliance. In the context of automation, an ATS often acts as a primary data source and destination. Webhooks from an ATS can trigger subsequent actions in other systems, such as updating a CRM, sending interview invitations, or initiating onboarding tasks. Conversely, data from external sources like job boards or candidate assessment tools can be integrated into the ATS. Optimizing ATS usage through automation significantly improves recruiter efficiency, reduces time-to-hire, and enhances the overall candidate experience by ensuring smooth, rapid progression through the recruitment pipeline.
Data Parsing
Data parsing is the process of extracting specific pieces of information from a larger block of unstructured or semi-structured data, often received via webhooks or APIs. When a payload arrives, it might be in a format like JSON or XML, containing many data points. Parsing involves dissecting this data to identify and isolate the exact values needed for subsequent actions. For example, if a webhook payload from an ATS contains a candidate’s full resume text, parsing might extract their name, email, phone number, and previous job titles into separate, usable fields. In automation, data parsing is crucial for transforming raw data into a structured format that can be easily understood and processed by other applications, allowing for accurate mapping of information into different systems and enabling complex, conditional workflows based on specific data points.
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)
JSON, or JavaScript Object Notation, is a lightweight, human-readable, and machine-understandable data interchange format. It is widely used for sending data between a server and web applications, making it the most common format for payloads in webhooks and RESTful APIs. JSON organizes data into key-value pairs (like “name”: “John Doe”) and ordered lists of values (arrays). In HR and recruiting automation, data transmitted between systems—such as candidate details, job descriptions, or assessment results—is frequently formatted as JSON. Understanding JSON structure is fundamental for configuring automation platforms to correctly parse and extract specific data points from incoming webhooks, ensuring that information flows accurately between your ATS, CRM, HRIS, and other tools, enabling robust and error-free automated workflows.
Workflow Automation
Workflow automation refers to the design and implementation of technology-driven systems that automatically execute a series of tasks or processes based on predefined rules. It involves identifying repetitive, rule-based tasks and configuring software to perform them without human intervention. In HR and recruiting, workflow automation can transform numerous administrative burdens: automated interview scheduling, candidate screening based on specific criteria, sending welcome kits to new hires, initiating background checks, or updating candidate statuses across multiple platforms. The goal is to streamline operations, reduce human error, improve efficiency, and free up HR professionals to focus on strategic activities that require human judgment and empathy, ultimately leading to faster hiring cycles and a better experience for both candidates and employees.
Trigger
In the context of automation platforms and workflows, a “trigger” is a specific event that initiates an automated sequence of actions. It’s the starting point that tells the system, “something happened, now do X, Y, and Z.” Triggers are fundamental to event-driven automation. For instance, in HR, common triggers include “new candidate applies,” “candidate status updated to Interview,” “new employee hired,” or “interview scheduled.” When a specified trigger event occurs in one application (e.g., a new application submitted in your ATS), it signals the automation platform (like Make.com) to start a predefined workflow, which then executes a series of subsequent actions in other connected systems. Properly defining triggers is crucial for building responsive and effective automation that reacts instantly to critical changes in your HR processes.
Action
An “action” in an automation workflow is a specific task or operation performed by an application in response to a trigger. Once a trigger event occurs, the automation platform executes one or more predefined actions in a sequence, often across different connected systems. Examples of actions in HR and recruiting automation include “send an email,” “add candidate to CRM,” “create a task in a project management tool,” “update candidate status in ATS,” “generate an offer letter,” or “schedule a meeting.” Actions are the building blocks that complete the steps within an automated process, turning a single event into a cascade of productive outcomes. By chaining multiple actions together, HR teams can automate complex, multi-step workflows, transforming manual processes into seamless, hands-free operations.
Low-Code/No-Code Automation
Low-code/no-code automation refers to development platforms that enable users to create applications and automated workflows with little to no traditional programming knowledge. “No-code” platforms provide a purely visual interface with drag-and-drop functionality, while “low-code” platforms offer similar visual tools but also allow for some custom code to extend functionality. For HR and recruiting professionals, these platforms (like Make.com) are transformative because they empower non-technical users to build sophisticated integrations and automations that streamline operations, without relying on IT departments or specialized developers. This democratization of automation allows HR teams to quickly adapt to changing needs, implement solutions for immediate pain points (like manual data entry or repetitive communication), and foster a culture of efficiency and innovation across the organization, accelerating the adoption of powerful HR tech solutions.
Event-Driven Architecture
Event-driven architecture (EDA) is a software design pattern where applications communicate by producing and consuming “events.” An event is a significant occurrence or a change in state within a system (e.g., “new candidate applied,” “payment processed”). Instead of direct requests between applications, systems publish events, and other interested systems subscribe to these events to react accordingly. Webhooks are a common mechanism for implementing EDA, as they push notifications of events in real-time. In HR and recruiting, EDA allows for highly responsive and scalable automation. For example, a new candidate application event in an ATS can instantly trigger multiple downstream processes—sending a confirmation email, adding the candidate to a CRM, and initiating an automated screening. This decoupled approach makes systems more flexible, resilient, and easier to integrate, ensuring HR processes are agile and respond immediately to critical changes.
If you would like to read more, we recommend this article: Reducing Candidate Ghosting with Automated Scheduling ROI
