Anna is Fountain’s AI interviewing agent. Anna conducts structured interviews with candidates by phone or browser, then generates an interview score, transcript, recording, and summary for recruiter review.
Anna is designed to help hiring teams screen candidates more consistently and efficiently while keeping final hiring decisions with people.
Feature Availability: Add-on
Anna is available as an add-on. Contact your Fountain representative to enable Anna for your account.
What Is Anna?
How it works
Anna interviews candidates using:
Interview questions configured for the role
Job qualifications that define what Anna should evaluate
Job description context that helps Anna understand the role
Optional instructions that guide Anna’s tone, follow-up behavior, and boundaries
After the interview, Anna returns structured results to Fountain, including:
Overall interview score
Interview summary
Promoter and detractor reasons
Qualification-level assessment
Full transcript
Interview recording
Humans make the decisions
Anna does not replace recruiters or hiring managers. Anna provides a screening signal that helps teams prioritize review.
Key capabilities
Anna can:
Conduct interviews 24/7 by phone or browser
Ask structured, role-specific interview questions
Ask follow-up questions when candidate answers are short or unclear
Score candidate responses against configured job qualifications
Generate detailed interview reports
Provide transcripts and recordings for recruiter review
Use opening-specific context like location, pay, and hours when available
Interview in a configured language, using a selectable voice
Personalize some interview follow-ups when resume collection is enabled
Watch the video below to learn more!
Benefits of Anna
Anna helps hiring teams:
Reduce time-to-hire by automating initial screening
Improve consistency by asking structured questions across candidates
Increase recruiter efficiency by helping teams focus on candidates who are ready for review
Improve candidate access by allowing interviews outside recruiter working hours
Support human decision-making with transcripts, recordings, scores, and summaries
Create a more transparent review process by showing why Anna assigned a score
What Anna helps teams do
Anna is designed to help teams:
Evaluate candidate responses against role-specific qualifications
Use structured, job-relevant criteria
Review score rationale and written summaries
Review transcripts and recordings
Identify candidates for follow-up
Keep hiring decisions with human reviewers
What Anna does not do
Anna does not:
Make final hiring decisions on its own
Move candidates into Approved or Rejected on its own (Fountain prevents AI Interview stage rules from selecting terminal stages)
Infer traits from voice, appearance, or facial features
Use social media, personal web data, or unrelated information to evaluate candidates
Expose demographic responses to hiring managers
Provide a guaranteed method for detecting candidate use of AI assistants
Replace the need for customer-configured compliance, consent, and candidate communication workflows
Candidate Experience
When a candidate reaches an AI Interview stage, they receive instructions to complete an interview with Anna.
Candidates can typically complete the interview by:
Phone call
Browser on desktop
Browser on mobile, depending on the configuration
The interview usually takes about 5 minutes, though timing can vary based on the number of questions, follow-ups, and candidate response length.
Candidates should be told:
The interview is conducted by Anna, Fountain’s AI interviewing agent
The expected interview length
Whether audio or video will be recorded
How to access the interview
What to do if their call drops or internet connection is interrupted
Whether an alternate path is available if they do not want to complete an AI interview
Interview Continuation
If a candidate’s call drops or their internet connection is interrupted, they can restart the interview. Anna will attempt to continue where the candidate left off.
For best results, configure workflow rules so incomplete or interrupted interviews are not automatically rejected or treated as final.
Human review and responsible use
Anna should be used to support recruiter decision-making, not replace it.
Recommended review approach:
Candidate completes the Anna interview.
Anna returns a score, summary, transcript, and recording.
The candidate moves to a review or triage stage.
A recruiter or hiring manager reviews Anna’s results.
A human makes the final advancement or rejection decision.
Automated applicant movement is configured with rules in the Fountain Workflow Editor. Use rules to fast-track strong candidates into a priority review queue so your team reviews the best candidates first.
Terminal Stages Are Blocked By Design
When you build a rule on an AI Interview stage, Approved, Rejected, and On Hold are unavailable in the stage picker. Route score-based outcomes to a review stage instead.
AI Interview Results
Anna's results are visible in Fountain Hire and Hire Go on the applicant's profile.
The sentence immediately after it references the [AI Recruiter] Status Label. Leave that bold label alone until Product confirms whether the in-product label text has changed.
Fountain Hire:
Hire Go:
Results are broken into two sections:
Full Report (View Interview Report): A URL to access the full interview report, including an assessment summary, the original recording, and a full transcript.
Interview Score (Partner Details): A numerical rating of the candidate’s performance, which is also visible on the label.
Full Report
Within the full report, you can review the score and the reasons Anna gave the candidate that specific score.
Scoring overview
Anna scores interviews on a 1–5 scale based on how well candidate responses align to configured job qualifications.
Score | Evaluation | Review guidance |
5 - Excellent | Excellent alignment with required skills and behaviors | Strong candidate for human review and next steps |
4 - Good | Strong responses with clear qualification alignment | Review with confidence |
3 - Acceptable | Relevant but may lack depth or evidence | Consider additional review or follow-up |
2 - Poor | Some potential but missing important evidence | Review carefully before proceeding |
1 - Very Poor | Responses do not demonstrate required qualifications | Human review recommended before any final decision |
Provide Feedback on the Evaluation
You can leave optional feedback on the AI’s evaluation, which Fountain uses to suggest recommended updates to your Job Qualifications and improve grading calibration over time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Why does my candidate have to complete the interview in a new tab?
Q. Why does my candidate have to complete the interview in a new tab?
We cannot request microphone and camera permissions from within an iframe in the Applicant Portal. When applicants click the “continue interview in browser” link, it will open a new tab to request permissions and start the interview.
Q. Can Anna be used in only a subset of Openings?
Q. Can Anna be used in only a subset of Openings?
Yes. You can add the AI Interview stage to selected workflows and set rules before the stage to determine which applicants are routed to Anna.
Q. Can I give candidates a choice between Anna and a human interview?
Q. Can I give candidates a choice between Anna and a human interview?
Absolutely! Simply set up a Data Collection stage asking candidates to choose between two options: if they’d like an interview immediately, conducted by AI, or if they’d like to schedule one later. A rule can then route candidates who choose the AI interview to the AI Interview stage.
Q. Can Anna interview in multiple languages?
Q. Can Anna interview in multiple languages?
Anna supports multiple interview language configurations. Available languages can vary by account and product configuration. If you do not see the language you need, contact Fountain Support or your Fountain representative.
Each job opening has an Interview language setting and a Voice setting. Your interview questions do not need to be written in the same language Anna speaks. If the language you need is not in the list, reach out to support to request access to additional languages.
Q. Can I have the same interview template twice in one Opening?
Q. Can I have the same interview template twice in one Opening?
No. If an applicant lands in the same interview configuration twice in one Opening, Anna assumes the applicant was cut off during the last interview and shows only "Resume Interview" as an option. Applicants are identified by email and phone pairs.
Q. Why are none of my applicants receiving a 5 score?
Q. Why are none of my applicants receiving a 5 score?
Anna scores strictly, but 5s should still appear occasionally. Sometimes adjusting the wording of a qualification or question can help. Reach out to your Fountain Customer Success contact or [email protected] for additional assistance.
Q. Can Anna use resumes?
Q. Can Anna use resumes?
If resume collection is enabled, Anna can use resume information to personalize some interview questions or follow-ups. Anna’s interview score is based on the interview conversation and configured qualifications, not a standalone resume ranking.
Q. Can Anna detect whether a candidate used ChatGPT, Siri, or another AI assistant?
Q. Can Anna detect whether a candidate used ChatGPT, Siri, or another AI assistant?
Anna does not provide a guaranteed technical way to detect all AI assistant usage. Customers can use available interview integrity settings, review transcripts and recordings, and add deterrence language to candidate instructions.
Q. Can Anna be turned on only during certain hours?
Q. Can Anna be turned on only during certain hours?
Anna is designed for 24/7 candidate access. Turning Anna on or off automatically based on recruiter working hours is not currently a standard self-serve workflow configuration.
▶ Additional Resources
Watch the video below for additional best practices: