Creating and managing automation workflows

Automation workflows provide a set of configurable automation 'building blocks' to help you and your team introduce greater efficiencies to your recruiting process. This feature makes your team more productive by automating repetitive work performed by recruiters in Lever. Workflows can be used to automatically archive, tag, email, or advance candidates based specific trigger conditions. Automation creates consistency in recruiter behavior and fewer missed actions, which in turn results in more reliable data for reporting purposes. Readers of this article will learn about:

• Creating automation workflows
• Enabling, editing, and deleting automation workflows
• Automation workflow actions in candidate stories
• Automation workflow use cases

To view a demonstration of how to build automation workflows, jump to the video at the end of this article.

Creating automation workflows

• Navigate to More > Automation

• Click the + New Workflow button.
• In the workflow editor, input a title and variables in the following fields:

  • Trigger (When this happens...): The event that triggers the rule to begin. Triggers can be one of three events:

    • Application form submitted: The workflow will trigger when a candidate application is received after a candidate submits their application through the job site. 
    • Opportunity archived: The workflow will trigger when an opportunity is archived for a reason other than 'Hired'

    • Opportunity hired: The workflow will trigger when an opportunity is archived as 'Hired'

    • Opportunity stage changed: The workflow will trigger when an opportunity is moved into a different stage of your candidate pipeline.

    • Tag added: The workflow will trigger when a specified tag is added to an opportunity

  • Condition (Continue if...): The criteria that must be met in order for the action to execute. Multiple conditions can be used for a single workflow. Conditions can be based on one or more of the following objects:

    • Opportunity, with the characteristic:
      • is archived...(true or false)
      • has archive reason...(true, false, or specific reason(s))
      • has tags...(true, false, or specific tag(s))
      • has stage...(true, false, or specific stage(s))
      • has origin...(true, false, or specific origin)
      • has sources...(true, false, or specific source(s))
    • Application form, with the ability to choose specific forms and questions within them.
    • Job posting, with the characteristic(s):
      • department/team is...(true, false, or specific department(s)/team(s))
      • hiring manager is... (true, false, or specific hiring manager(s))
      • owner is... (true, false, or specific posting owner(s))
      • is...(true, false, or specific posting(s))
      • location is...(true, false, or specific location(s))
      • work type is...(true, false, or specific work type(s))

  • Action (Do this...): The action(s) that takes places when the trigger and condition(s) are satisfied. Multiple actions can be used in single workflow. There are four possible actions that can be executed as part of a workflow:

    • Add tag: The specified tag(s) will be applied to the opportunity. Multiple workflows may have rules to apply the same tag, but each tag can only appear once on an opportunity.
    • Auto-archive: The opportunity will be archived with the archive reason defined in the rule, as long as the opportunity has not already been archived. If you include this action in your workflow, you will also have the option to send a rejection email as part of the execution of the auto-archive action. Rejection emails can be sent with a pre-set delay and can only be selected from team email templates.
    • Change stage: The opportunity will be moved to either the next stage in the pipeline, or a specified stage.
    • Send email: An email will be sent to the candidate, user in your Lever environment, or external recipient. Auto-text tokens and templates can be used to compose the subject and body of the email. The email can include cc and bcc recipients, as well as attachments. To learn more about this specific action, refer to our help article on setting up email automations.
• If the rule you have defined in the workflow is valid, the step will turn blue in the workflow editor. When all rules are valid, the Create Workflow button will become clickable at the top of the editor. Click this button add the newly created workflow to the list of workflow automations. Note: new workflows will be active upon creation. If you wish the workflow you are creating to start in an inactive stake, move the toggle at the top of the editor to the off position before clicking the Create Workflow button.

Enabling, editing, and deleting automation workflows

Enabling/disabling

To enable or disable an automation workflow, click the toggle at the top of the workflow editor. The toggle will appear blue when the workflow is active.

Workflows can also be enabled and disable by clicking the toggle next to the corresponding workflow title in the Automation workflows list.

Editing

To edit an automation workflow, select it in the workflow list to open the workflow editor, and then click the Edit Workflow button. The process for making changes to the triggers, conditions, and actions in the workflow is the same as the workflow creation process described above.

Deleting

To delete an automation workflow, open the workflow editor, click the ⋯ button and select Delete Automation Workflow.

Automation workflow actions in candidate stories

When an action from an automation workflow is executed, an entry is made on the candidate profile story for the associated opportunity documenting the action include the date the action was executed and the title of the workflow that was triggered. 

Automation workflow use cases

Refer to our automation workflow recipes article for instructions on how to set up commonly-used automations that build efficiency, consistent, and reliability into key recruitment processes.

Video walkthrough