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Move job applications into a hiring pipeline

Applicants appear as tasks in the Recruiting project, sorted into the section for the role they applied for.

When this happens

New submission on your job application form

Do this

Create a task in the Recruiting project under the section for that role, with the candidate name as the task title and their experience in the description

One-directional. A submission triggers the action — nothing is written back into your form.

Recruiters running more than one open role end up with candidates spread across an inbox, a spreadsheet and someone's memory. Putting each applicant on a board as a task gives the whole panel one place to look, and a task that can be dragged from Screening to Interview to Offer as things progress.

It also makes the pipeline countable. A hiring manager can see how many people are waiting on a first call without asking anyone, and nobody goes a fortnight without a reply because their email slid down the page.

Setting it up

  1. 1

    Set up the Recruiting project in Asana with one section per open role, named exactly as the options in your form's Position Applied For field.

  2. 2

    Publish the application form with a File Upload field for the CV, which takes the document itself at up to 2 MB per file, and keep a URL field beside it for a portfolio or showreel that runs larger; both read through into the task description.

  3. 3

    Create the Zap with formformform as the trigger app, New Submission as the event, and the application form as the watched form.

  4. 4

    Add Asana's Create Task action, select the workspace, and set Project to Recruiting.

  5. 5

    Use Zapier Paths keyed on Position Applied For to set the Section, so each candidate lands under the role they applied for.

  6. 6

    Map Full Name to the task name, then put Work Experience, Relevant Skills and Cover Letter into the description under headings a reviewer can skim.

  7. 7

    Map Email Address and Available Start Date to custom fields, so the panel can sort the board by who can start soonest.

  8. 8

    Test with a real application, check the candidate landed in the right section, then turn the Zap on.

What maps where

Using the Job Application Form as the starting point. These are its real fields — swap in your own and the mapping works the same way.

Form fieldAsana
Full NameTask name in the Recruiting project
Position Applied ForSection in the Recruiting project, chosen by a Zapier path
Work ExperienceTask description
Relevant SkillsTask description, under a Skills heading
Available Start DateStart date custom field the panel sorts on
Email AddressCandidate email custom field

Variations worth knowing

One project per role

A high-volume role outgrows a section. Point the Zap at a dedicated project for that role, with sections for Screening, Phone Call, Onsite and Offer, and keep the shared Recruiting board for the positions you hire for once a year.

Flag applicants who came through a referral

How Did You Hear About This Position? tells you where the candidate came from. Add a path that assigns referred applicants straight to the recruiter who knows them, rather than leaving the task unassigned in a section nobody has claimed yet.

If something isn't arriving

Candidates land in the wrong section, or in no section at all

Zapier matches the section by ID rather than by label, so a path that falls through creates the task at the top of the project. Add a catch-all path pointing at an Unsorted section, and re-check the mapping whenever you open a new role.

Long cover letters are cut off in the task

Asana caps how much text a task description holds, and a long Cover Letter can be truncated. Add a second Asana action that posts the letter as a comment, or map a shorter field and read the full text in your formformform responses view.

Frequently asked questions

Does a candidate get told when their task moves to Interview?

No. The link runs one way, from submission to Asana task, and the form is never updated from the board. Send candidate emails from Asana rules or a separate Zap triggered by the status change, and treat the board as internal only.

Can applicants upload a CV to the form?

Yes. File Upload is a field type, so the CV arrives attached to the submission and the panel previews or downloads it there. Each file is capped at 2 MB, which a CV clears easily, so keep a URL field beside it for the things that run larger or already live online: a portfolio site, a showreel, a Drive folder of work samples. What reaches Asana depends on the step you use — Create Task writes text, so map the link into the description, and add Asana's file-attachment action after it if the panel wants the document sitting on the task itself. On an encrypted form the uploaded bytes leave the candidate's browser as ciphertext and only decrypt in yours, so there the task can carry a link back to the submission and nothing more.

How do we keep applications for one role private to that hiring manager?

Control it in Asana. Make the role's project private and invite only the panel. The Zap still creates tasks there as long as the Asana account you connected is a member of that project. The form itself does not decide who reads a submission.

Related automations

Build the form first

The automation needs somewhere to fire from. Publish a form, connect it once, and every submission from then on runs this flow.

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