A Glossary of Core Make.com & iPaaS Terminology for HR and Recruiting Professionals

In today’s fast-paced HR and recruiting landscape, leveraging automation and integration technologies is no longer a luxury but a necessity for efficiency, scalability, and competitive advantage. Understanding the foundational terms associated with platforms like Make.com and the broader Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) ecosystem is critical for HR leaders, COOs, and recruitment directors looking to streamline operations and enhance the candidate experience. This glossary defines key concepts, providing practical context for how these technologies apply directly to the challenges and opportunities within human resources and talent acquisition.

iPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service)

iPaaS, or Integration Platform as a Service, refers to a suite of cloud-based services that connect disparate applications, data sources, and business processes. It provides a centralized, managed environment for developing, executing, and governing integration flows across various cloud and on-premise systems. For HR and recruiting professionals, iPaaS is a game-changer. It eliminates data silos by allowing seamless communication between your Applicant Tracking System (ATS), Human Resources Information System (HRIS), payroll software, assessment tools, and communication platforms. Instead of manual data entry or complex custom coding, an iPaaS solution like Make.com empowers teams to automate the flow of candidate information, employee onboarding data, and performance metrics, ensuring data consistency and significantly reducing administrative overhead.

Make.com

Make.com (formerly Integromat) is a powerful visual integration platform and a leading example of an iPaaS solution. It enables users to design, build, and automate complex workflows without writing a single line of code, using a drag-and-drop interface to connect thousands of apps and services. For HR and recruiting, Make.com offers unparalleled flexibility. Imagine automating the entire candidate journey: from a new application submission triggering a resume parse, scheduling an initial screening interview, sending personalized follow-up emails, to updating candidate status in your CRM and ATS simultaneously. Make.com scenarios can transform manual, repetitive HR tasks into efficient, hands-off processes, freeing up valuable time for strategic initiatives and direct candidate engagement.

Scenario (in Make.com)

In Make.com, a “scenario” represents a complete, end-to-end automation workflow. It’s a visual blueprint of connected modules that dictates how data flows and transforms between different applications to achieve a specific business outcome. A scenario typically starts with a “trigger” event and proceeds through a series of “actions” and “conditional logic” steps. For HR teams, a scenario might automate the entire process of onboarding a new hire, starting with the acceptance of an offer letter, creating accounts in various internal systems, sending welcome emails, and assigning initial training modules. Each scenario is designed to solve a particular problem or automate a specific sequence of tasks, providing a structured approach to workflow automation.

Module (in Make.com)

A “module” is the fundamental building block of any Make.com scenario, representing a single operation or interaction with a specific application or service. Each module performs a distinct task, such as “Gmail – Send an Email,” “Airtable – Create a Record,” or “Google Drive – Upload a File.” Modules are connected in a sequence to form a scenario, with the output of one module often serving as the input for the next. In an HR context, modules might include actions like “LinkedIn Recruiter – Search for Profiles,” “Greenhouse – Update Candidate Stage,” or “DocuSign – Send Document for Signature.” By chaining these specific actions together, HR professionals can construct intricate automations that precisely fit their operational needs.

Webhook

A “webhook” is an automated message sent from one application to another whenever a specific event occurs. Unlike traditional APIs that require polling for data, webhooks provide real-time, push-based notifications, acting as an instant messenger between systems. For HR and recruiting, webhooks are incredibly powerful for initiating immediate actions. For instance, a webhook can be configured to trigger a Make.com scenario the moment a candidate submits a job application on your career site, a recruiter updates a candidate’s status in an ATS, or a survey is completed by an employee. This real-time capability ensures that your automated workflows respond instantly to critical events, eliminating delays and improving responsiveness in high-stakes HR processes.

API (Application Programming Interface)

An API, or Application Programming Interface, is a set of defined rules and protocols that allow different software applications to communicate and exchange data with each other. It acts as an intermediary, enabling one system to request information or perform actions in another system without needing to understand the internal complexities of that system. In HR and recruiting, APIs are the backbone of most integrations. They allow your ATS to pull candidate data from LinkedIn, your HRIS to send employee information to a payroll system, or your internal communication tools to receive updates from performance management software. Make.com leverages APIs extensively to enable seamless data transfer and command execution across the thousands of applications it supports, making complex integrations accessible to non-developers.

No-code/Low-code

“No-code” and “low-code” refer to software development approaches that enable users to create applications or automate workflows with minimal to no traditional programming. No-code platforms, like Make.com, primarily use visual interfaces with drag-and-drop functionality, making development accessible to business users without technical expertise. Low-code platforms offer similar visual tools but may also allow developers to inject custom code for more complex or unique functionalities. For HR and recruiting, these approaches are transformative. They empower HR professionals, who understand their processes best, to build custom dashboards, automate reporting, create self-service portals, or integrate tools without relying heavily on IT departments, significantly accelerating digital transformation within the HR function.

Automation Workflow

An “automation workflow” is a predefined sequence of tasks, actions, and decisions that are executed automatically by a software system, rather than manually by a human. The goal is to streamline business processes, reduce manual effort, minimize errors, and improve efficiency. In HR and recruiting, automation workflows can span a wide range of activities: from initial candidate screening and interview scheduling to offer letter generation, background checks, and new hire onboarding. By designing and implementing robust automation workflows, organizations can ensure consistency in their processes, provide faster responses to candidates, free up HR staff from repetitive administrative tasks, and ultimately create a more scalable and efficient human resources operation.

Trigger

A “trigger” is the initiating event that sets an automation workflow into motion. It’s the “if this happens” part of an “if-then” statement. Triggers can be diverse, including a new email arriving, a form being submitted, a record being created or updated in a database, a scheduled time passing, or a webhook receiving data. In HR and recruiting, common triggers include a new job application submission, a candidate’s status changing in an ATS, an employee’s anniversary date, or a new document being uploaded to a shared drive. Identifying and configuring the correct trigger is the first critical step in building any effective automation scenario, ensuring that your systems respond immediately to relevant operational events.

Action

An “action” is a specific task performed by a module within an automation workflow in response to a trigger or a preceding module. If a trigger is “what starts it,” an action is “what happens next.” Actions involve interacting with an application to perform a function, such as sending an email, creating a record, updating a field, uploading a file, or generating a report. For HR and recruiting, actions might include sending a personalized candidate rejection email, adding a new employee to the HRIS, creating a new task for a hiring manager, generating an offer letter from a template, or updating an applicant’s interview notes. Each action in a workflow contributes to the overall automation of a process, moving data and tasks forward seamlessly.

Data Mapping

“Data mapping” is the process of defining how data elements from a source system correspond to data elements in a target system during an integration or automation. It involves identifying which fields in one application should be transferred to which fields in another, ensuring that data is correctly matched, transformed, and exchanged. In HR and recruiting, accurate data mapping is crucial for maintaining data integrity across various platforms. For example, mapping “Applicant First Name” from a job application form to the “Candidate Given Name” field in your ATS, or “Employee Start Date” from your HRIS to a “Payroll Commencement” field in your payroll system. Proper data mapping prevents errors, standardizes information, and enables seamless data flow critical for accurate reporting and compliance.

Iterators/Aggregators (in Make.com)

In Make.com, “Iterators” and “Aggregators” are powerful tools for managing collections of data. An **Iterator** takes a collection of items (e.g., multiple job applications received in one webhook, or multiple skills listed on a resume) and processes each item individually through subsequent modules in a scenario. This allows for specific actions to be taken on each piece of data. Conversely, an **Aggregator** combines multiple individual bundles of data (produced by previous modules or an iterator) into a single, consolidated bundle. For HR, an iterator might process each applicant individually from a bulk resume upload, while an aggregator could collect all interview feedback notes for a single candidate into one summary document, preparing it for a hiring decision.

Conditional Logic

“Conditional logic” refers to the ability within an automation workflow to make decisions and follow different paths based on specific criteria or conditions. It’s the “if-then-else” functionality that allows a scenario to adapt to varying inputs and requirements. For HR and recruiting, conditional logic is invaluable for creating intelligent, responsive workflows. For instance, “IF a candidate’s experience is greater than 5 years, THEN send their application to Senior Recruiter A, ELSE send it to Junior Recruiter B.” Or, “IF the background check status is ‘clear’, THEN trigger onboarding; ELSE send a notification to HR for review.” This capability ensures that workflows are smart, dynamic, and able to handle the nuances of complex HR processes effectively.

Webhook Listener

A “webhook listener” is a specific type of module within an iPaaS platform like Make.com that is configured to receive and interpret incoming webhook data. It essentially “listens” for HTTP POST requests from external applications, capturing the data sent by those applications in real-time. Once data is received by the webhook listener, it acts as the trigger for the rest of the Make.com scenario, passing the incoming information to subsequent modules for processing. For HR and recruiting, a webhook listener is typically the starting point for scenarios that react to external events, such as a new form submission from a career page, a status update from an external assessment tool, or real-time candidate actions from an integrated platform.

Data Transformation

“Data transformation” is the process of converting data from one format or structure into another. This often involves cleaning, enriching, restructuring, or standardizing data to ensure it is compatible with the target system or suitable for specific analytical purposes. In HR and recruiting, data transformation is crucial when integrating systems that use different data conventions. Examples include converting a date format from ‘MM/DD/YYYY’ to ‘YYYY-MM-DD’ for an HRIS, extracting specific skills from a free-text resume field, normalizing job titles across various sources, or combining first and last names into a single ‘Full Name’ field. Effective data transformation ensures that information is accurate, consistent, and usable across all your HR technology platforms, preventing errors and facilitating seamless automation.

If you would like to read more, we recommend this article: Make.com Pricing Comparison: What You Need to Know