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Connect Zoho Recruit to publish Serin jobs as Zoho Job Openings, import their applicants with resumes and pre-screening answers, and keep candidate statuses in sync. Setup has three parts:
  1. Connect your Zoho account by signing in (OAuth).
  2. Publish a job after choosing its domain.
  3. Set up webhooks in Zoho for real-time updates: one for applications and one for assessment reviews. Zoho doesn’t let other apps create webhooks automatically, so this is a one-time manual step. Serin gives you everything you need to copy in.

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Connect Zoho Recruit

  1. Open your organization’s Integrations tab.
  2. On the Zoho Recruit card, click Connect Zoho Recruit.
  3. Sign in to Zoho and review the permissions Serin asks for. Then click Accept.
  4. Zoho sends you back to the Integrations tab with a “Zoho Recruit connected” message.
Sign in as a Zoho Recruit user who can manage Job Openings, Candidates, Applications, Clients, Departments, and Assessments. Serin acts in Zoho with this user’s permissions. Once connected, the card shows:
  • Data center: the Zoho region your account is in. Serin detects this automatically. Supported regions are US (com), India (in), EU (eu), Australia (com.au), Japan (jp), and Saudi Arabia (sa).
  • The Zoho account email you connected with.
  • Inbound webhooks: when Serin last received a webhook from Zoho, or “none received yet”.
  • The Zoho webhook settings you’ll need in the webhook setup below.

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Permissions Serin requests

Serin asks only for the access it uses:
  • Job Openings — read, create, update
  • Candidates and Applications — read, create, update
  • Clients and Departments — read, create
  • Assessments — full access, to create the job’s screening questionnaire and read candidates’ answers

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Disconnect

Click Disconnect and confirm. Publishing and application import stop until you reconnect. Applications already imported stay in Serin, and your jobs keep their link to Zoho. If Zoho access expires or is revoked, the card shows Not connected. Click Connect Zoho Recruit to sign in again. Your webhook secret is kept when you reconnect, so the webhooks you set up in Zoho keep working.

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Publish a Job

Each job page has a Zoho Recruit section once your organization is connected.

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1. Choose a job domain

Zoho requires an Industry on every Job Opening, so each job needs a domain before you can publish it.
  1. In the Zoho job domain box, select up to 3 domains.
  2. Click Save domain.
The first domain you select is published as the Job Opening’s Industry. The domain is saved on the Serin job itself, so it stays the same everywhere the job’s domain is shown.

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2. Check the requirements

Zoho needs all of these before a job can be published:
  • Job title
  • Job description
  • Application deadline, which becomes the Zoho target date
  • Job domain
  • Your organization’s name
Anything missing is listed under Fix before publishing, and the Publish button stays disabled until it’s fixed. A missing location type shows as a warning but doesn’t block publishing.

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3. Publish

Click Publish to Zoho. The badge changes to Live on Zoho Recruit, and a View in Zoho Recruit link opens the opening. Zoho requires a Client and a Department on every Job Opening. Serin handles this for you: it reuses what your Zoho account already has, and creates them only the first time if none exist (for example “Your Org’s Recruitment”). The panel shows which department and client the job uses.

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4. Attach the screening questions (one time per job)

If the job has pre-screening questions, Serin creates them in Zoho as a Pre-Screening Assessment. Zoho doesn’t let apps attach an assessment to a job, so you need to do that once yourself:
  1. After publishing, a message names the assessment Serin created.
  2. In Zoho Recruit, open the Job Opening.
  3. Under Pre-Screening Assessment, add the assessment with that name.
You only need to do this once per job. When you change the questions in Serin and click Update on Zoho, Serin updates the same assessment in Zoho.
If you see “Reconnect Zoho Recruit to sync screening questions”, your connection was made without the Assessments permission. Disconnect and connect again to grant it.

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Update, close, and reopen

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Set Up Webhooks in Zoho

Webhooks let Zoho tell Serin the moment something changes. Zoho sets them up per organization, not per job. You do this once and it covers every job you publish. You’ll create two kinds of webhook in Zoho: Submitting an assessment doesn’t change the application in Zoho, so the Applications webhook never fires for it. That’s why answers need their own Reviews webhook.
Webhooks are optional. Without them, use Import applications on each job page (see Import Applications →). They make imports instant, and they’re the only way Zoho status changes and deletions reach Serin.

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Step 1: Copy your URL and secret from Serin

On the Zoho Recruit card in Integrations, find the Zoho webhook box. URL to Notify — click the copy icon. It looks like this:
Use this same URL for every webhook below, and paste it in full. The ?org= part tells Serin which organization the delivery is for. Webhook secret — Serin creates one when you first connect.
  1. Click Reveal secret.
  2. Copy the secret with the copy button.
  3. Paste it somewhere safe until you’ve finished setting up Zoho.
The secret is shown only once. The dialog doesn’t close until you’ve copied it. If you lose it, click Regenerate secret: the old secret stops working immediately, so update every Zoho webhook with the new one. You can regenerate at most once every 8 hours.

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Step 2: Create the Applications webhook

In Zoho Recruit, go to Setup → Automation → Actions → Webhooks and create a new webhook: Add the secret and the application’s ID as parameters: If Zoho won’t let you map the Application Id, use these two parameters instead of application_id. Serin then finds the application from the candidate and the job: Send the secret one way: as the x-zoho-webhook-secret header if you can, or as the webhook_secret parameter if your plan can’t send custom headers.
Use the parameter names exactly as written. Serin rejects a delivery without application_id, or without both candidate_id and job_opening_id.

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Step 3: Create the Applications delete webhook

Zoho doesn’t tell webhooks why they fired, so deletions need their own webhook that labels them:
  1. Create a second webhook exactly like Serin – Applications, and name it Serin – Applications (Delete).
  2. Add one more custom parameter: action with the value delete.
Serin always checks with Zoho before removing anything. If the application still exists in Zoho, the delivery is treated as a normal update and nothing is removed.

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Step 4: Create the Applications workflow rules

A webhook only runs when a workflow rule triggers it. Go to Setup → Automation → Workflow Rules and create two rules on the Applications module: Rule 1 — created or edited Rule 2 — deleted With both rules on:
  • Created — a new application is imported into the Serin job.
  • Edited — a status change in Zoho updates the candidate’s status in Serin (see Status mapping).
  • Archived — moving an application to Archived in Zoho is an edit. Rule 1 catches it and Serin removes the application.
  • Deleted — Serin removes the application.
Interview sessions and reports are always kept when an application is removed from Serin.

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Step 5: Create the Reviews webhook and rule

This webhook brings in candidates’ answers to the job’s pre-screening assessment. Webhook. Go to Setup → Automation → Actions → Webhooks and create: review_id is how Serin tells a Reviews delivery from an Applications delivery. The recommended IDs let Serin quickly ignore reviews for jobs that aren’t connected to Serin. Workflow rule. Go to Setup → Automation → Workflow Rules and create: When a candidate submits the assessment, Serin saves their answers to the application. If the application isn’t in Serin yet, Serin imports it first.

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Step 6: Check it works

  1. Apply to one of your published jobs from its Zoho careers page, or add an application in Zoho.
  2. On the Integrations tab, Inbound webhooks should change from “none received yet” to “last received (time)”.
  3. The applicant appears in the job’s applications in Serin, with a Zoho badge.
If nothing arrives, open Zoho’s webhook failure log. Serin answers with a clear error instead of failing silently:

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Import Applications (Manual Poll)

Each job’s Zoho Recruit section has an Import applications button. It fetches the job’s applications from Zoho on demand, and works only while the job is Live on Zoho Recruit. Use it to:
  • Import applicants if you haven’t set up webhooks yet.
  • Catch anything a webhook missed, for example while a workflow rule was off.
Each import:
  1. Reads every application on the Zoho Job Opening.
  2. Imports the ones that aren’t in Serin yet, skipping any that are Archived in Zoho.
  3. Fills in missing screening answers for applicants who submitted the assessment, even without the Reviews webhook.
  4. Updates the panel: the Last import time, and how many applicants are still waiting.
When it finishes, a message shows how many applications were imported, and how many were skipped because they’re missing a resume or email.
Import applications only brings in new applicants and their answers. Status changes and deletions made in Zoho reach Serin only through the Applications webhook. If you rely on those, set up the webhooks.

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”N new Zoho Recruit applications since the last import”

This means some applicants were skipped on the last import because Zoho had no resume or email for them yet. They aren’t lost. Serin tries again on the next import or webhook delivery, so make sure those candidates have a resume attached in Zoho.

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How Applications Sync

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From Zoho to Serin

For each new Zoho application, Serin:
  • Creates the candidate, or matches an existing Serin user by email.
  • Saves their resume and runs AI resume screening against the job.
  • Saves their pre-screening answers, once they’ve submitted the assessment.
  • Sends brand-new candidates an email invite to Serin, unless Zoho already has a final decision for them.
Serin always fetches the latest record from Zoho before saving anything. Field values in the webhook are only used to find the record.

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From Serin to Zoho

Applications that start in Serin are created in Zoho too. That includes candidates who apply on Serin and candidates you add or invite. Serin creates the Zoho candidate with their name, email, phone, and resume, then adds them to the Job Opening. Withdrawn applications are never sent.

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Status mapping

When you change a candidate’s status in Serin, Serin sets the matching Zoho Application Status: When the Applications webhook reports a change in Zoho, Serin reads the application’s pipeline stage: Two rules keep the systems from fighting each other:
  • Decisions always apply. Rejecting, hiring, or withdrawing in Zoho always updates Serin, even if the candidate already had a different decision.
  • Other moves only go forward. A Zoho stage never moves a Serin application back to an earlier step.
Status names can be customized in Zoho, so Serin matches on the pipeline stage rather than the exact name. If you renamed or removed Archived, contact Serin support so we can map your status.

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Deleting applications

  • Deleted in Serin — Zoho doesn’t allow apps to delete applications, so Serin moves the Zoho application to Archived. The Zoho candidate isn’t touched. If Zoho rejects the change (for example, your account has no Archived status), the delete in Serin is cancelled so the two systems stay in step.
  • Archived or deleted in Zoho — with the Applications webhook rules on, the application is removed from Serin. Interview sessions and reports are kept.

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FAQ

No. Zoho webhooks and workflow rules apply to your whole Zoho account. Set them up once and they cover every job you publish from Serin, including future ones.
Yes. Use Import applications on each job page to bring in new applicants and their screening answers. Without the Applications webhook, though, status changes and deletions in Zoho won’t reach Serin.
The panel lists the reason under Fix before publishing. The usual causes are a missing job domain or a missing application deadline, and Zoho requires both. Pick a domain in the Zoho job domain box and click Save domain, and set a deadline on the job.
Check three things. Is the assessment attached to the Job Opening in Zoho (Publish a Job, step 4)? Is the Reviews webhook and workflow rule set up (Step 5)? If both are in place, click Import applications once to fill in any missing answers.
Click Regenerate secret on the Integrations tab, copy the new secret, and update every Serin webhook in Zoho. The old secret stops working right away, and you can regenerate only once every 8 hours.
No. Reconnecting keeps your existing secret, so your Zoho webhooks keep working. Serin lets you reveal it once more after reconnecting.
Zoho requires both on every Job Opening. Serin reuses what you already have, and only creates them the first time if none exist. Every later job reuses the same ones.
No. An organization can be connected to one ATS at a time. Disconnect the current one before connecting the other.