A Glossary of Key Terms: Integration & API Fundamentals for HR & Recruiting
In today’s fast-paced HR and recruiting landscape, leveraging technology to streamline operations is no longer optional—it’s essential for competitive advantage. Understanding the core concepts behind system integration and APIs empowers HR and recruiting professionals to automate critical workflows, reduce manual errors, and elevate the candidate and employee experience. This glossary defines fundamental terms, providing a clear foundation for navigating the world of automation and data connectivity within your organization.
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. Think of it as a menu in a restaurant: you can see what dishes are available (the services an application offers) and how to order them (the specific requests you can make), without needing to know how the kitchen prepares the food. For HR and recruiting, APIs are crucial for connecting systems like your Applicant Tracking System (ATS), HRIS, payroll software, or background check services. This connectivity allows for seamless data exchange, such as pushing new candidate details from a careers page to your ATS or syncing employee data between your HRIS and a benefits platform, dramatically reducing manual data entry and ensuring data consistency across platforms.
Webhook
A webhook is an automated message sent from one application to another when a specific event occurs. Unlike traditional APIs where one system has to constantly “ask” another for updates (polling), webhooks allow an application to “push” information instantly when something new happens. This is often described as a “reverse API” or a “push notification.” In HR and recruiting, webhooks are incredibly powerful for real-time automation. For instance, when a candidate moves to a new stage in your ATS, a webhook can instantly trigger an action in a separate system—like sending an automated email notification to the hiring manager, creating a task in a project management tool, or initiating a background check process, all without human intervention.
Integration
Integration refers to the process of combining different software applications, systems, or data sources so they can work together seamlessly and share information. The goal of integration is to create a unified system that operates more efficiently than its individual components. For HR and recruiting teams, integration is key to eliminating data silos and manual data transfer. Integrating your ATS with your HRIS, for example, means that once a candidate is hired in the ATS, their information can automatically populate an employee record in the HRIS, eliminating duplicate data entry and reducing the risk of errors. Robust integration strategies are foundational to building comprehensive automation workflows that save time and improve accuracy.
REST API (Representational State Transfer API)
A REST API is an architectural style for an application programming interface (API) that uses HTTP requests to access and use data. It’s the most common and flexible type of API used in web services today, known for being stateless, meaning each request from a client to a server contains all the information needed to understand the request. For HR and recruiting professionals, understanding REST APIs is important because most modern HR tech platforms (ATS, HRIS, CRM, payroll) expose their functionalities through REST APIs. This allows automation tools like Make.com to easily connect to these systems to retrieve candidate data, update employee records, post job openings, or trigger complex workflows based on specific events, providing immense flexibility in system design and automation.
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)
JSON, or JavaScript Object Notation, is a lightweight data-interchange format that is easy for humans to read and write, and easy for machines to parse and generate. It’s a text-based format for representing structured data, widely used for transmitting data in web applications, especially with REST APIs and webhooks. In the context of HR and recruiting automation, when your ATS sends data to a payroll system via an API, that data is often formatted as a JSON object. This could include a new hire’s name, address, salary, and start date, all neatly organized into key-value pairs. Understanding JSON helps HR professionals grasp how data is structured and moved between their various software tools, making it easier to troubleshoot or design custom integrations.
XML (eXtensible Markup Language)
XML, or eXtensible Markup Language, is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. Like JSON, it’s used to structure data, but it uses tags to define elements in a tree-like structure, similar to HTML. While JSON has become more prevalent for modern web services due to its simpler syntax, XML is still widely used in many legacy systems and enterprise applications, particularly for complex data structures and document-oriented data. For HR and recruiting, you might encounter XML when integrating with older HRIS platforms, payroll systems, or government reporting interfaces that still rely on this format. When building automations, understanding XML helps ensure that data exchanged with these systems is correctly parsed and processed, preventing errors in critical HR data.
Endpoint
In the context of APIs, an endpoint refers to a specific URL (Uniform Resource Locator) where an API can be accessed to perform a specific action or retrieve a particular resource. It’s essentially the destination that systems interact with to exchange information. For example, an HRIS might have an endpoint like `/api/v1/employees` to retrieve a list of all employees, and another like `/api/v1/employees/{id}` to access a specific employee’s record. For HR and recruiting automation, knowing the exact endpoints is crucial for configuring integrations correctly. When setting up a workflow in an iPaaS tool like Make.com, you specify the endpoint you want to interact with, along with the method (e.g., GET to retrieve, POST to create, PUT to update) and any necessary data (payload) to ensure the right information is sent or received from the target system.
Authentication
Authentication is the process of verifying the identity of a user or system attempting to access a resource. Before any data can be exchanged between two applications via an API, both systems need to confirm that the other is who it claims to be. Common authentication methods include API keys, username/password combinations, and OAuth tokens. For HR and recruiting automation, robust authentication is paramount to data security. When integrating an ATS with a background check service, for example, the ATS must securely authenticate with the service to ensure only authorized requests for candidate checks are processed, protecting sensitive personal information. Failing to implement proper authentication can lead to security vulnerabilities and unauthorized data access.
Authorization
Authorization is the process of determining what an authenticated user or system is permitted to do once their identity has been verified. While authentication confirms “who you are,” authorization determines “what you can access or do.” For instance, an authenticated HR application might be authorized to read employee records but not to modify payroll information. In HR and recruiting, understanding authorization is crucial for maintaining data integrity and security. When configuring an automation that interacts with multiple HR systems, you need to ensure the integration has only the necessary permissions—no more, no less—to perform its designated tasks. This principle of least privilege minimizes the risk of unauthorized data manipulation or exposure, even if an integration is compromised.
Rate Limiting
Rate limiting is a technique used by API providers to control the number of requests a user or system can make to an API within a given timeframe. Its primary purpose is to prevent abuse, ensure fair usage among all consumers, and protect the server from being overwhelmed by too many requests. For example, an ATS API might limit a client to 100 requests per minute. For HR and recruiting professionals building automation workflows, understanding and respecting rate limits is critical. Exceeding these limits can result in requests being denied, leading to failed automations and disrupted operations, such as job postings not updating or candidate data not syncing. Well-designed integrations will incorporate error handling and exponential backoff strategies to manage rate limits gracefully, ensuring reliable data exchange.
Data Mapping
Data mapping is the process of matching data fields from one system to corresponding data fields in another system. It’s a critical step in any data integration or migration project, ensuring that information is correctly transferred and understood across different platforms. For example, when integrating an external job board with your ATS, you need to map the “Candidate Name” field from the job board to the “First Name” and “Last Name” fields in your ATS. In HR and recruiting automation, accurate data mapping prevents errors, ensures consistency, and allows for meaningful data analysis. Incorrect mapping can lead to lost data, miscategorized information, or failed automations, emphasizing the need for meticulous attention to detail during this setup phase.
Workflow Automation
Workflow automation refers to the use of technology to automatically execute a series of tasks or steps within a business process, based on predefined rules and triggers. It eliminates manual intervention in repetitive, rule-based processes, freeing up human resources for more strategic work. In HR and recruiting, workflow automation can transform operations by automating everything from candidate screening and onboarding tasks to performance review reminders and offboarding checklists. For example, a new hire workflow might automatically send offer letters, initiate background checks, provision IT accounts, and schedule onboarding meetings. By leveraging tools like iPaaS platforms, HR teams can design and implement these automations to significantly reduce administrative overhead, improve efficiency, and enhance compliance across the employee lifecycle.
iPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service)
iPaaS, or Integration Platform as a Service, is a suite of cloud services that connects applications, data, and business processes in a standardized and automated way. It provides a centralized platform for building, deploying, managing, and monitoring integrations without the need for extensive coding. Platforms like Make.com are prime examples of iPaaS solutions. For HR and recruiting, iPaaS is a game-changer, allowing teams to integrate their diverse ecosystem of HR tech tools—ATS, HRIS, payroll, CRM, communication platforms—without relying on IT or custom development. This enables HR professionals to quickly set up complex automations, like syncing new hires from an ATS to an HRIS or automating candidate follow-ups, driving significant operational efficiencies and reducing reliance on manual processes.
Low-Code/No-Code
Low-code/no-code platforms are development environments that allow users to create applications and automate workflows with little to no traditional programming knowledge. No-code platforms use visual drag-and-drop interfaces for building, while low-code platforms provide a similar visual interface but also allow developers to add custom code for more complex functionalities. These platforms democratize automation, empowering business users, including HR and recruiting professionals, to build their own integrations and applications. For HR, this means processes like onboarding checklists, candidate feedback loops, or internal request forms can be automated and customized quickly without heavy IT involvement, drastically accelerating digital transformation initiatives and making automation accessible to a wider range of skilled personnel within the organization.
Payload
In the context of APIs and webhooks, a payload refers to the actual data being sent in a request or response. It’s the “body” of the message, containing the relevant information that needs to be transferred between systems. For instance, when an ATS sends a webhook notification that a candidate has accepted a job offer, the payload would typically contain details about the candidate (name, contact info, job title, start date) and the offer itself. For HR and recruiting automation, understanding the structure and content of a payload is crucial for correctly configuring integrations. It dictates what data is available for use in subsequent automation steps, allowing you to extract specific pieces of information (e.g., the candidate’s email address) to trigger actions in other systems, ensuring accurate and targeted data flow.
If you would like to read more, we recommend this article: Choosing the Right Automation Platform for Your Business
