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Setting Up WorkSignal with Ashby

Connect WorkSignal to your Ashby account so candidates are screened automatically when they reach the stage you choose, and results are written back to each candidate's profile.

How the integration works

Once connected, WorkSignal watches your Ashby pipeline. When a candidate enters your trigger stage (for example Phone Screen), WorkSignal invites them to complete a voice screening interview with an AI interviewer. Candidates pick a time that works for them, or you can have WorkSignal call them directly.

When the interview finishes, WorkSignal writes the results back to the candidate's Ashby profile as structured values, a summary note, and a recommendation tag (for example WS: Strong Recommend). Your recruiters never leave Ashby.

Step 1: Connect your Ashby API key

  1. In WorkSignal, go to Settings → Integrations → Ashby.
  2. Find your Ashby API key. In Ashby, open Admin and go to API Keys, then create a new key for WorkSignal if you do not have one.
  3. When creating the key, select the candidatesWrite permission scope. WorkSignal needs it to write screening results back to candidate profiles.
  4. Paste the key into the "Connect with API Key" form in WorkSignal and click Connect Ashby. You can click Test Connection to check the key first.

Your key is encrypted before it is stored. If connecting fails, see Troubleshooting below.

Step 2: Create the webhook in Ashby

The webhook tells Ashby to notify WorkSignal when a candidate moves to a new stage. This is what triggers the screening call.

  1. In WorkSignal, copy the Webhook URL and Webhook Secret shown on the Ashby integration page.
  2. In Ashby, go to Settings and open Integrations → Webhooks.
  3. Add a new webhook using the WorkSignal Webhook URL.
  4. Subscribe the webhook to the candidateStageChange event.
  5. If Ashby offers signature verification for the webhook, paste the WorkSignal Webhook Secret. WorkSignal verifies every webhook with HMAC-SHA256, so events from other senders are rejected.

The webhook only affects candidates you choose to screen. A candidate moving between stages that are not your trigger stage is ignored.

Step 3: Enable the assessment integration

The assessment integration makes WorkSignal available as a native Ashby assessment, so recruiters can also start a screen on any candidate directly from their Ashby profile, not just the trigger stage.

This is a two-way key exchange, both steps are on the same Ashby integration page in WorkSignal:

  1. Give Ashby your WorkSignal key. Click Generate Key, then copy the key and the Partner Base URL shown below it. Enter both into the WorkSignal assessment settings inside Ashby.
  2. Add your Ashby API key in WorkSignal. Paste the same Ashby API key from Step 1 (the one with candidatesWrite permission) into Step 2 of the assessment setup and click Save. WorkSignal uses this key to deliver results back to Ashby.

When both keys are in place the page shows Assessment integration active.

Step 4: Configure screening

On the same Ashby integration page, choose how screening runs:

  • Trigger stage - the stage a candidate must enter before WorkSignal starts a screen. Phone Screen is the most common choice.
  • Screen template - the interview questions to use. You can override the stage or template for specific jobs in the Job-Specific Overrides table.
  • Data sync options - what gets written back: screening scores, a transcript summary note, recommendation tags, and candidate profile enrichment data.
  • Auto-advance - optionally, candidates receiving a WS: Strong Recommend result move to the next stage automatically.
  • Candidate notifications - whether candidates get an email and a text reminder before the call, plus the call delay and retry behavior.

Click Save Settings. From this point, screening starts automatically when candidates enter the trigger stage.

What appears in Ashby after a screen

In Ashby What it contains
Assessment values Overall score, category scores, and screening status, shown on the candidate profile
Summary note A transcript-based summary of the interview with a link to the full transcript in WorkSignal
Recommendation tag WS: Strong Recommend, WS: Recommend, WS: Needs Review, or WS: Do Not Advance
Enrichment fields Extracted profile details such as experience and background, where a custom field was configured

Recruiters can filter candidates in Ashby using the recommendation tags, and can jump into WorkSignal for the full transcript and scoring detail.

Troubleshooting

"Invalid API key. Please check your credentials and try again."
The key was not accepted by Ashby. Copy it again from Ashby's API Keys page and make sure it is active.
Candidates are not being screened automatically
Check three things: the webhook exists in Ashby and is subscribed to candidateStageChange, the trigger stage name configured in WorkSignal matches the stage name used in your Ashby pipeline exactly, and the candidate is actually moving to a job that is still open.
Results are not appearing in Ashby
The Ashby API key used in Step 3 must have the candidatesWrite permission. Check the key's permissions in Ashby's API Keys page.
Rotated or regenerated keys
If you regenerate the WorkSignal key, update the key stored in Ashby as well. If you disconnect and reconnect, replace the webhook secret in your Ashby webhook configuration with the new one shown on the integration page.

Need help?

If setup does not go as described, or you hit an error not covered above, contact [email protected] and include the email address on your WorkSignal account plus a description of where you got stuck.