FORMSTACK FOR SALESFORCE. PART 1.

Introduction

We as a consultancy are growing so we are constantly looking for new people to join our team. Even if innovation is at our core, the digitalization of the recruitment process appears to be tricky for us. I guess it is challenging for any smaller organization, where there is only one recruiter in place, and the workload is not big enough to implement and maintain a dedicated recruitment system.

In this article, I illustrate how Formstack for Salesforce can facilitate this process. Formstack is a powerful productivity solution that can be used for different industries and scenarios. The use case described below is just one of many possible applications of their product named Formstack for Salesforce. I am not going to teach you how to set up the recruitment process or how to build a data model[1] in Salesforce. Rather I want to showcase the capabilities of the solution, using the example of a small company (up to 20 employees) that has a Salesforce org.

The recruitment process that I am going to cover includes the following sub-processes:

Challenges

The challenges faced before implementing Formstack were as follows:

Job application

In the Formstack app in Salesforce I have created a form named Developer application. A form means that a user fills in some fields and the data entered is saved somewhere. In this case, applicants will fill in data about themselves such as name, contact details, motivation, salary expectations etc. This data will end up in Salesforce on the Contact and Job application records.

Form settings. The form consists of fields, so the question is which fields should show up on my form? This depends on where I want to save the data obtained from the form. I want this to be saved in Contact and Job application records, therefore, the objects are specified in the form settings. There are other settings available such as which page to show after submission of the form and how to save the submission file in Salesforce. There is also a possibility for an applicant to save a form and return to it later by clicking a link in their email.

Form builder. Next, I want to put together my form by choosing the fields and the order in which they should appear. As you can see, it is a drag-and-drop experience. I can add sections to my form, rename the labels, and add default values and placeholder text.

Not only can Salesforce object fields be added, but I can also add special buttons, such as File upload, Payment, Signature, Image, and Captcha.

Fields in the form can behave according to the given logic. For example, if an applicant chooses a location country different from the Netherlands, the question “Are you ready to relocate to the Netherlands?” becomes visible and required.

I can style and brand the form as much as I like by changing fonts, adding background images, etc. It can easily be saved as a template for future use.

Publish options

I want this form to be publicly available so for a publish option I can use either embedded code or a link. Note that the link is static and will remain the same even if I change the form.

Form submission

I am publishing the link on the company website, job boards, LinkedIn, and the recruiter and I are patiently waiting for the first submissions. The recruiter can track submissions by navigating to the Submission Dashboard in the Formstack app. All submissions, even failed ones, are visible here. It will also show why a submission has failed. If I click on the Recordsign, I am taken to the Salesforce org, where I can see the record that this form has created.

Conclusion

At this point, we are enjoying these business benefits:

It is magical for me, how an external user who probably doesn’t even know what Salesforce is, can still create records directly in Salesforce by simply filling in the form published on the internet. No duplication of work, and no need to manually transfer the data, it just allows users to complete the forms and the record miraculously appears in Salesforce.

Feel free to reach out to us if you want the same magic to happen in your org! We are certified Formstack partners, and it is our pleasure to let you free from mundane tasks so you can spend more time on things you love!

This is all for now! In the next part, I will show you how to create a form that will update a specific record in Salesforce. We’ll show you how an interviewer captures interview feedback using forms. Stay tuned!

[1] If you’re still interested, the custom objects created in Salesforce to meet the requirements of the solution are