Prospects are individuals in your talent pool who haven't applied through Fountain Hire and don't have a Worker Profile. Adding them lets you send targeted campaigns and match them to new job Openings. This article covers importing prospects in bulk through the Talent page, including setting up an import configuration and mapping custom data columns.
Set Up a Prospect Import Configuration
Before you can import prospects in bulk — whether through the Talent page or through a recurring data pipeline — you need an import configuration. Unlike Workers, Jobs, Locations, Openings, and Location Groups, Prospects does not have a built-in standard configuration, so you'll need to create one, even if your CSV file only contains standard fields.
If your contact spreadsheet also has custom data columns beyond the standard prospect fields, this is where you'll map each additional column to a Fountain custom attribute so the data can be used for targeting in Pool.
Create new custom attributes first if needed, by following the steps in this article. These custom attributes are visible in the Summary section of the Talent Profile and can be used in places like the Automation Center, when creating segments, or when filtering within different Fountain products.
Prospect Contacts Require a Matching Worker Record to Appear Elsewhere
Although custom attributes can be used across Fountain, prospect contacts uploaded via CSV file will not appear in the Worker Profile list or anywhere else in Fountain products unless a corresponding worker contact already exists with the same email address.
To set up a prospect import configuration, follow the steps below:
Click your company name in the bottom left side panel, then click Settings.
Under Workflows, click Data Pipelines.
Click Add a data pipeline.
Enter a name, and set Data type to Prospects.
Upload a sample CSV file, including any custom data columns, then click Next.
On the Mapping step, each column from your file appears in a Sample columns list. For each one, use the Select field... dropdown to choose a matching target field. Standard fields (email, firstName, lastName, phone, address fields, and others) are listed first, followed by your account's custom attributes.
A banner above the mapping list names any required fields still unmapped. Email and first name are required; other fields are optional.
Click Save.
Import Prospects
Upload Prospects via Data Pipeline
For large-scale or recurring prospect uploads, Pool supports ingestion via Fountain's Data Pipelines tool. This method is designed for uploads that exceed what a single CSV import can handle — including one-time bulk uploads of tens of thousands of contacts, and recurring ingestion from external sources.
When to use this method:
You are uploading more than a few hundred prospects at once
You have a recurring source of prospect data (for example, a nightly export from an external database)
You want to automate prospect ingestion without manual CSV uploads
To configure a pipeline for large-scale or recurring prospect imports, follow the steps in Set Up a Prospect Import Configuration above, selecting Prospects as the data type.
Import Prospects via the Talent Page
Click Pool in the left side panel, then Talent.
Click Import talent in the top right corner.
In the Import configuration dropdown, select an existing configuration for prospect imports.
Once a configuration is selected, click Download CSV template.
Enter prospect information into the CSV file. The prospect's email and first name are required.
Save the CSV file to your computer.
Drag and drop the CSV file, or click browse to select it from your computer.
Click Preview to review how each column will map to your prospect data.
Click Import prospects. You'll see a confirmation message showing how many prospect records were queued for import.
A Configuration Must Exist Before You Can Import
If no configuration appears in the dropdown, create one first by following the steps in Set Up a Prospect Import Configuration above.
Keep CSV Imports Small for Best Results
When uploading prospects via CSV file, limit each file to 50 prospects or fewer for best results. For large-scale or recurring uploads, use the Data Pipeline method instead.