From AI-friendly to AI-first: How Zapier is transforming hiring and onboarding

At Zapier, we believe the future of work is AI-powered—and that future is already here.

Recently, we shared our AI adoption playbook, which showed that 89% of the Zapier team is already using AI in their daily work. But to make AI transformation truly sustainable, we have to start at the beginning: how we hire and onboard people into Zapier to build this future with us.

That's why our Talent Acquisition (TA) and Learning & Development (L&D) teams are revamping many of our talent practices to be AI-first.

AI fluency: Now a requirement for all new hires

Starting immediately, all new Zapier hires are expected to meet a minimum standard for AI fluency. That doesn't mean deep technical expertise in every case—but it does mean showing a mindset of curiosity toward AI, a demonstrated willingness to experiment with it, and an ability to think strategically about how AI can amplify their work.

We're upgrading our application process, recruiter screens, and interviews to reflect this. We're also updating our skills assessments—starting with technical roles and expanding across the company—to better evaluate AI fluency in real-world contexts. 

Every Zapier applicant will have access to AI training materials and transparent guidance. We want everyone to have an opportunity to meet our AI fluency bar.

How we measure AI fluency at Zapier

We map skills across four levels, keeping in mind that AI skills vary and are heavily role-specific.

• Unacceptable: Resistant to AI tools and skeptical of their value

• Capable: Using the most popular tools, with likely under three months of hands-on experience

• Adoptive: Embedding AI in personal workflows, tuning prompts, chaining models, and automating tasks to boost efficiency

• Transformative: Uses AI not just as a tool but to rethink strategy and deliver user-facing value that wasn't possible a couple years ago

Measuring AI fluency isn't a science—these aren't just boxes to be checked. But here are a few examples of the skill types we're assessing to see where an applicant is on their AI journey.

We evaluate these skills through screenings, async exercises, and live interviews, and the signals compound across stages. Here are some real questions we've asked in interviews:

Marketing

• How is AI changing how you plan or execute campaigns?

• How do you use AI to personalize messaging, generate content, or analyze performance?

People

• Can you share an example of how you use AI in your daily work?

• Can you share an example of a process or program you've built using AI (why AI, how does it work, tooling, outcomes, how you think about ROI)?

Product

• How is AI impacting SaaS?

• Give an example of a time you used AI in a product feature. Did it improve with a better/faster/cheaper model?

Of course, none of this is gospel. The best way to improve is to try things, collect data, then improve. And the bar will keep rising.

Redesigning onboarding: Every Zapier teammate as a builder

Our L&D team is reimagining onboarding from the ground up, with an emphasis on building, not just learning. Every new hire will learn how to use Zapier as well as our savviest enterprise customers can: identifying opportunities, building AI-powered workflows, and embracing a "builder mindset" from day one.

This approach helps new teammates understand our product deeply so they can do their best work, amplified by automation and AI.

Later this year, we'll explore optional pre-onboarding opportunities to help new hires start strong even before their first day.

Supporting continued AI growth across Zapier

We're not stopping at onboarding. We're expanding learning programs, scaling an already-long list of approved AI tools, and extending our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) vision to include product-based training and community-led experimentation, creating more pathways to build with AI across roles. 

Across every team, we're helping folks embed AI into their daily work. For example, a performance metrics rollup for our Support team, a way to automatically calendarize work blocks for high priority tasks, or using AI help to summarize lengthy Slack message threads.

Embedding AI into Zapier culture and expectations

Build the robot is one of Zapier's company values. We strive to find ways to work smarter so that we can spend more time doing what humans do best. 

Like automation, AI is now part of our company's DNA. Our updated performance review expectations call on every Zapier teammate to experiment with AI tools and seek ways to supercharge their impact through thoughtful use of AI and automation.

What this means for the future

This evolution—from AI-friendly (open to adopting AI) to AI-first (proactively using AI tools to enhance our work)—isn't about checking boxes or chasing hype. It's about unlocking a new level of productivity, creativity, and innovation, a deeper transformation in how we operate, grow, and scale. 

It starts with the people at Zapier, and the ones we bring in, who are eager to figure this out with us.

We believe every team will need to make similar shifts to stay competitive in the years ahead. As other companies navigate similar journeys, we hope our approach to hiring and onboarding can serve as a model for what's possible. We're always looking to learn as well—drop us a line anytime.

We're building the robot. And we're building the team to do it.

This was originally published in Mary 2025. The most recent update was in June 2025.