In your recruitment process, there may be occasions when a record (like a job opening, offer, or other entry) requires approval from a senior user such as a hiring manager. Instead of manually tracking, sending, and managing these approvals outside Zoho Recruit, the Approval Process feature automates the entire flow, sending records for approval based on criteria you define, and triggering actions when those records are approved or rejected.
Availability
Available for | Profile Permissions | Only users with the Manage Workflow permission can create approval processes. |
Modules | Candidates, Job Openings, Departments, To-dos, Offers & Custom Modules |
Plans | Enterprise, PeoplePlus & Zoho One |
Editions | Corporate HR edition only |
How to Create an Approval Process
Every approval process includes a rule to determine when the approval should trigger, who approves it, and what actions occur upon approval or rejection.
- Go to Setup → Automation → Approval Processes.

- Click Add Approval Process.

- Fill in the following details:

- Module: Choose the module (e.g., Job Openings, Offers, Candidates).
- Name & Description: Give a clear name and summary.
- When the should trigger: Select at least one option. You can check both if needed.
- Record Creation — works when a record is first added.
- Record Edit — works when the record is modified.
- Click Add Rule to this process and define the criteria that identify which records should be submitted for approval (criteria are mandatory).
- Under Who should Approve, choose Users, Roles, Groups, Levels, or supporting fields such as Created By / Modified By / Record Owner. Click + to add more approvers.

- Levels use your organization’s role hierarchy to escalate approvals for the record owner’s manager chain. Keep in mind that your Hierarchy Preference must be set to Reporting Hierarchy for this option to work.
- After selecting more than one, you’ll see these options:

- Anyone: Any one approver can approve.
- Everyone: All approvers must approve.
- Sequential: Approvals must be submitted in the specified order.
- Parallel: Approvals can be submitted independently at the same time.
- You can also include Reporting Managers as levels if your process needs managerial review.
- Add Actions on Approval and Actions on Reject (see sections below).

- Click Done save your changes.
- Review your configuration and click Save.

Important Note:
- A maximum of 10 approval processes can be active per module.
- Each process can have up to 5 rule entries; the first matching rule applies.
- You can select up to 10 approver entries (users, roles, groups, or levels).
- If a role or group has no users, records are auto-approved at that stage.
- When a role is chosen, its manager approves; if no manager exists, the first user in the role approves.
- Once a record enters approval, edit, delete, and convert actions are disabled until a decision is made.
Approval Email Templates
All emails sent when requesting, completing, delegating and rejecting approvals use default templates that can be managed under Setup > Customization > Templates > Approval Email Template.

The sender email for all templates listed here will be notifications@zohorecruit.com by default. You can change it to any user in your account by editing the templates.
Understanding Approval Logic
Single vs Multi Approve
- Single Approve (Anyone): Moves forward when any one approver approves.
- Multi-Approve (Everyone): Waits for all approvers’ decisions before progressing.
Auto Approvals
Auto-approval ensures your processes don’t stall due to missing approvers. This option appears only when Everyone is selected with multiple approvers.
Records may be automatically approved when:
- The approver is also the user who created the record.
- The approver is also the record owner.
- The approver has no reporting manager.
- The approver is inactive or the selected role/group/level has no users.
Actions You Can Associate
Approval or rejection can trigger actions. Many are similar to workflow actions in other parts of Zoho Recruit.
Send Alerts
- Email alerts can be sent to users, roles, groups, or related record contacts.
- Choose existing alerts or build new ones.
- Specify From and Reply-To email addresses from several options.
- You may include approver comments in alert emails.
Assign Tasks
- Assign follow-up tasks to approvers (e.g., remind someone of pending approvals).
- Specify task subject, due date, status, priority, notifications, and description.
- Notification emails go to active, confirmed users.
Update Fields
- Automatically update specific fields on the record upon each approval level.
- You can define different update values for each approval level.
Call Webhooks
- Trigger REST API calls to external systems on approval or rejection.
- Specify the URL, method (GET/POST), and parameters.
Call Custom Functions
- Run custom logic (e.g., add records to another module) upon approval.
- Functions you’ve already created in Automation → Custom Functions can be reused.
Note:
- On multi-stage approvals, tasks and field updates can run after each stage.
- Alerts, webhooks, and custom functions only trigger after final approval.
- Workflow alerts, webhooks, and custom functions are also available for association here.
Approving/Rejecting from the MyActions tab
Once records are submitted, approvers see them in the MyActions tab. From here:
- View all records pending your decision.
- Click a record to see:
- Record details (owner, criteria that triggered approval).
- List of required approvers.
- Approval history for that record.
- Choose Approve, Delegate, or Reject.
- Administrators can view and act on all pending approvals across the organization.
Note:
- Approvers can approve even if they do not have access to the record itself.
- The tab also highlights recent activities (last 5 approvals/rejections).
- There’s no strict deadline for responding to approval requests.