Form Field Connectors
Form Field Connectors let you link form questions directly to candidate fields (including custom fields), so responses automatically populate the linked field on the candidate's profile. This eliminates manual data entry, keeps candidate data accurate and consistent across your hiring workflows, and means you can report on candidate fields directly rather than tracking responses form by form. You can connect questions from application forms, referral forms, surveys, sourcing forms, and feedback forms to both standard and custom candidate fields.
Permissions & access
Form Field Connectors can be configured on the Plus, Legacy Plus, and Enterprise plans. You must be an Organizational Admin to configure form field connections.
Foundations | Legacy Plus | Plus | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Linking form fields to candidate fields
Form fields can be linked to candidate fields on all of the below form options:
- Application forms - by navigating to Admin > Jobs & Applications > Application Forms and selecting the applicable application form.
- Global Application Questions - by navigating to Admin > Jobs & Applications > Global Application Questions and editing the appropriate global application question.
- Referrals - by navigating to Admin > Sourcing > Referrals and clicking on the applicable referral form.
- Surveys or Questionnaires - by navigating to Admin > Jobs & Applications > Surveys. From there, go to either the Candidate Experience tab or the Questionnaires tab and select the applicable asset.
- Sourcing forms - by navigating to Admin > Sourcing > Forms. From there, select the sourcing form you'd like to edit, then navigate to Settings > Configure Form.
- Feedback forms - by navigating to Admin > Interviews & Scheduling > Feedback Forms and selecting the form you'd like to edit.
See additional notes on linking feedback forms in Form Field ConnectorsLinking a Feedback Form Field to a Candidate Custom Field below.
Once you're in the form with fields you need to link, the process is very similar across these different assets.
- Scroll to the question you'd like to connect to a candidate field and click the link icon.
- Ashby prompts you to either select an existing field to connect to this question, or create a new custom field. You can use the search bar to find a specific field if you already have a lot of custom fields in place
To select an existing field, click on it from the list. If there is no existing applicable field, you can create a new one by adjusting the Title and Description fields under the "Or, create a new custom field" section. Select Create and Connect Custom Field to create the field.
- Ashby confirms the connection and gives you the option to disconnect the link or switch the field the question is mapped to.
- Select Backfill Answers to backfill any forms submitted before this link was configured.
When linking application form fields to candidate fields, you need to go back and save your form changes before the Backfill Answers button is active. It is greyed out until you do so.
For more on the backfill process for global application questions, check out Global Application Questions & Global Auto-Reject Rules.
Additional information on linking feedback forms to candidate fields
When backfilling feedback forms specifically, the latest value added to a feedback form field linked to a candidate custom field overwrites any previous values.
The only exception is if you are connecting a phone number field to the Any Phone Number field. In this case, the backfilled phone number is added to the list under Other Phone Numbers on the candidate's profile.
As such, if two interviewers complete the same feedback form for an interview, and one interviewer submits a value in the connected field at 1pm while the second submits a value in the same connected feedback form field at 1:30pm on the same day, the value submitted at 1:30pm overwrites the value submitted at 1pm and is displayed within the candidate custom field.
Unsupported field types for feedback form connectors
You cannot connect the following field types using feedback form field connectors:
Candidate custom field types
You cannot link feedback form fields to the following candidate or custom field types:
- Long Unformatted Answer
Feedback form field types
The following feedback form field types are not supported when connecting fields to a candidate custom field:
- Score
- Location
- Long Formatted Answer
There is also limited support for Phone Number fields. They can only be connected to the following fields:
- The Phone Number (Primary, Personal) field - the value replaces the existing number listed in this field on the candidate profile.
- The Any Phone Number field - the value is added to the Other Phone Numbers field on the candidate's profile.
Pulling candidate information through to interviewers with limited access
If you have information mapped to custom fields that you'd like interviewers to see before an interview regardless of their access level (for example, the candidate's pronouns), you can add those custom fields in Interview Briefing Info.
Any custom fields you specify here are then shown to your panel in their interview briefing.
FAQ
How does this work with multiple-answer question fields with answers that differ from the form's range of answers?
When backfilling a Multiple Choice or Checkboxes field, you also get the opportunity to map any options on previous versions of the form to the new connected field. This allows you to backfill the previous forms, even when the connected field's options don't line up perfectly with the previous submissions. You can also map all other choices to a specific value.
How does linking forms to fields impact reporting?
Instead of reporting on a specific form field, you can report on that specific candidate field directly, streamlining your reporting process.
What happens if a candidate submits two forms, both of which have questions connected to the same field?
The most recent submission overrides the previous ones.
How can I view the forms that are connected to a specific field?
Navigate to Admin > Organization Setup > Custom Fields, then click the field in question to view the form fields the custom field is connected to.
