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Latest postLatest from the blogHubSpot: Auto-assign candidates from a form
Every time a candidate fills out your application form, someone has to manually open HubSpot, find the new contact, set their status, assign them to a recruiter, and remember to follow up. That gap — between "form submitted" and "recruiter notified" — is where candidates fall through the cracks.
Create a blank contact-based workflow
A workflow in HubSpot is a set of automatic actions that run whenever a contact (a person in your CRM — short for Customer Relationship Management database) meets conditions you define. You'll build one from scratch here. In your HubSpot account, go to Automation → Workflows in the top navigation. Click Create workflow, then choose From scratch. On the next screen, select Contact-based as the object type — this means the workflow will act on people, not companies or deals. Click Next.
Set the enrollment trigger to your application form
An enrollment trigger is the event that kicks off the workflow — think of it as the 'if this happens' part. You want the workflow to start the moment a candidate submits your application form. In the workflow editor, click Set up trigger (or the trigger block at the top of the canvas). In the left panel that opens, choose Filter-based enrollment, then click When filter criteria is met. Click Add filter, search for Form submission, and select it. Then pick your application form from the dropdown. Click Save.
Add action 1 — set the Lifecycle Stage
Now you'll tell HubSpot what to do when the trigger fires. The Lifecycle Stage is a built-in contact property that tracks where someone is in your pipeline (e.g., Subscriber, Lead, Customer). Tagging candidates as 'Lead' keeps your CRM organised and lets you filter them later. In the workflow editor, click the + plus icon below the trigger block. In the left panel, expand the CRM section and click Edit record. Leave 'Target object' as Contact. In the Property to edit dropdown, choose Lifecycle Stage. Set the value to Lead. Click Save.
Add action 2 — assign a contact owner
A contact owner is the HubSpot user responsible for a contact. Assigning one means a specific recruiter's name appears on the record — no more 'whose candidate is this?' confusion. Click the + plus icon again to add another action. In the left panel, expand CRM and click Edit record again. This time, choose Contact owner from the Property to edit dropdown. Select the recruiter's name from the Value dropdown (HubSpot lists all users in your account). Click Save. Tip: if you have multiple recruiters, look up 'rotate contact owners' in HubSpot's help to distribute candidates evenly.
Add action 3 — create a follow-up task
A task in HubSpot is a reminder that appears in the assigned owner's to-do list. You're going to create one automatically so the recruiter always has a prompt to review the new application. Click + again. In the left panel, find and click Create task (it's under the CRM section). Fill in the Title (e.g., 'Review new application'), set Due date to 1 day from now using the 'Relative to enrollment date' option, and assign it to the Contact owner you set in the previous step. Click Save.
Add action 4 — send an internal notification email
Finally, send the recruiter an instant heads-up email so they don't have to check HubSpot to know a new candidate arrived. Click + one more time. In the left panel, scroll to the Communications section and click Send internal email. Type the recruiter's email address in the To field, give it a subject line (e.g., 'New candidate: {{contact.firstname}} {{contact.lastname}}' — the double-curly parts are personalization tokens that auto-fill the candidate's actual name), and add a short message body. Click Save.
Test and turn on the workflow
Before going live, test the workflow using a real contact (use yourself or a colleague as the test contact). In the top-right corner of the editor, click Test and choose a contact from your CRM to run through the workflow. Check that the Lifecycle Stage changed, the owner was assigned, the task appeared, and the email landed in the inbox. When everything looks correct, click Review and publish (top-right). Toggle the workflow to On and click Turn on. From now on, every candidate who submits your form is handled automatically.
What you get
Every candidate who submits your application form is automatically tagged as a Lead, assigned to a recruiter, given a follow-up task, and the recruiter gets an immediate email — all within seconds of the form submission, with zero manual steps. Rough effort: ~1 hour, HubSpot Professional or Enterprise subscription required for Workflows (free tier does not include multi-step workflows).