6 ways to automate your HR processes

If you're in human resource management, it's likely because you want to help your company bring on the right people and help those employees be successful.  

On the downside, there are a lot of tasks involved: Scheduling interviews, looking through resumes, onboarding employees…the list goes on. And when you do all those tasks manually, it's easy for things to slip through the cracks. 

With Zapier, you can automate your HR processes, connecting the apps you use every day to automatically parse resumes, share job openings, and more. Here are some of the best Zaps—our word for automated workflows—that will help you automate your HR processes. 

Table of contents

• Share job openings across platforms

• Get notified about new applications

• Parse and save resumes and other links

• Add candidates to your HR tool

• Onboard and train new employees

• Manage time off and birthdays

Share job openings across platforms

Recruitment, especially at a growing company, involves a lot of juggling schedules and back-and-forth communication with candidates. But first, you have to make sure you spread the word about new job openings. 

If you're a growing company, sharing those openings across various platforms can take up a good portion of your day. Instead, set up a Zap that shares that job posting on LinkedIn, Facebook Pages, or wherever your professional network lives whenever you share a job posting on your company's job board.

Get notified about new applications

Once you post a job, you're likely to start seeing those applications roll in. But don't waste time and resources double-checking those sites every five minutes. Instead, you can use these Zaps to get notified in your team chat app every time a new application is submitted. 

That way, you and your employees can tag team the review process efficiently and leave no stone unturned in your search for the right person. 

Parse and save resumes and other links

You can set up an automated workflow to move email attachments, like resumes, to an organized folder in your cloud storage instead of keeping them in your email inbox, where they could get lost or accidentally deleted. 

You can also automatically parse resumes with an AI tool like Hirize to convert resume data from PDFs, texts, and images into structured, accessible formats.

Alternatively, you might want to easily save other important candidate information in a safe place, like a portfolio, LinkedIn profile, or elsewhere. In that case, you can use this Zap to do exactly that: 

Add candidates to your HR tool

Now, let's say you've found the perfect candidate, and they've accepted a job offer. 

Before you can even begin onboarding them, you'll need to set their profiles up in your HR management tool, along with important employee information. That way, they'll be able to manage vacation time, access payroll information, and so on down the line. 

With these Zaps, whenever a new candidate is submitted via a form or database, they'll be added automatically to your HR tool. 

Onboard and train your employees

Effective, streamlined onboarding can shape the way your employees experience their first few weeks at a new company. 

With automation, you can make sure they receive the right training materials at the right time throughout the entire process—with nothing falling through the cracks. You could even set up Zaps that automatically invite them to a new Slack channel once they've completed certain onboarding steps. 

Manage time off and birthdays

It can be pretty difficult to keep track of everybody's OOO time, especially if you're part of a big team. 

While managers typically stay on top of their employees, you can make their lives easier by automatically posting summaries of those absent in your team chat app. You could even set up an automated workflow that sends them well wishes on their birthday.  

Streamline your HR processes with automation

A successful human resources department plays a key role in a positive work environment with happy, productive teams. You use your judgment to find quality candidates, your creativity to build engaging and effective onboarding processes, and your insight to support employees and help them navigate difficult situations.

By adding automation into the mix, you can spend more time focusing on the human side of HR and leave the admin to the bots. 

This article was originally published in March 2017. It was most recently updated in February 2024 by Elena Alston.