A system I proposed to automate placement shortlists

A design I proposed for turning a shortlist spreadsheet into emails and a group chat, and why I would not use an automated WhatsApp number.

This is a proposal and a design write-up. It describes a system I proposed to automate placement shortlists: the idea, the flow and the risks. It is not something I built.

The problem

After a company shortlists students, someone has to tell them. That means emailing the shortlisted students, emailing the waitlisted ones with different wording, and adding everyone to a group chat for the next step. Done by hand, it is slow and easy to get wrong.

The idea

Upload the shortlist Excel file. From it, the portal would:

• Send an email to each shortlisted student, with the link to the group.
• Send a different email to each waitlisted student.
• Create the WhatsApp group automatically.

The first two steps are ordinary. Reading a spreadsheet and sending mail is the kind of thing the portal already does for other reports.

The risk

The third step is the problem. Creating groups and adding people from an automated number is the kind of behaviour WhatsApp can ban an account for. A banned number in the middle of placement season would be worse than doing it by hand.

The alternative is the Telegram Bot API. It is an official way for a program to create and manage chats, so the same flow works without risking the account.