Sequences automate your email outreach to candidates—you define a series of email steps with wait times between them, add candidates as leads, and Paraform sends the emails for you at the cadence you set.

This article walks through how sequences work, how to set one up, and what each section of the sequences UI does.

When to use a sequence

Sequences are the right fit when you're reaching out to a larger list of candidates and want to automate follow-ups. If you're only messaging a few people, a manual approach is usually faster. See 📄 Writing Effective Outreachfor what to put in your emails.

Before you start: connect Gmail

To send sequences, you need to connect your Gmail inbox. Visit your Settings page and enable the Gmail integration—see 📄 Gmail Integrationfor setup details.

Creating a sequence

Go to the Sequences page and click Create sequence. You'll choose a name and (optionally) link the sequence to a specific role. Once created, the sequence UI has six sections:

Overview

Shows stats for the sequence—sends, replies, and completion rate—and lets you start, pause, or edit the sequence name and linked role.

Setup

Configure the inboxes that send from this sequence. You can select multiple connected Gmail inboxes; emails will rotate across them, which helps with deliverability and volume. You also set:

• The sequence's start date and days of the week to send

• A time window during the day

• A daily sending limit (default: 10 emails/day per inbox)

Schedule: steps and timing

This is where you write your sequence's email steps and control the timing between them.

• Up to 5 steps per sequence. Each step has its own subject, body, and wait time before it sends.

• Wait times are 1–30 days between steps. The default is 2 days.

• Tokens let you personalize each email with candidate-specific variables (first name, current company, etc.).

• If a candidate replies, later steps stop sending to that candidate automatically.

Leads: who's in the sequence

This is where you add candidates to the sequence and view their status.

• Add from your candidates or the sourcing tool. Pull candidates directly from your Candidates dashboard or Paraform's sourcing tool.

• Edit emails per lead. Click a lead's email field to edit the address before they're contacted.

• Email finder helps fill in missing addresses. You can run it on up to 50 leads at a time, and you have a monthly credit limit. If you run out of credits and need more, contact support.

Breakdown

A per-step view of your sequence's performance—how many emails are queued, sent, and replied to at each step. Click into a step to preview the email template.

Inbox

All sequence emails you've sent, with replies synced from your Gmail inbox. Click an email to open the full thread.