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Automate Sourcing with Funnel Management

Set up automation to pause campaigns when your pipeline is full and resume when you need more candidates.

Updated over a week ago

Fountain Source includes funnel automation that monitors your candidate pipeline and automatically pauses sourcing campaigns when you have enough applicants to meet your hiring goal. This prevents overspending on applicants you don't need and ensures budget efficiency.

This article explains how to set up funnel automation, map funnel stages, and monitor automation activity.

About Funnel Automation

Funnel automation is a feature that calculates how many candidates you need at each stage of your hiring funnel to reach your final hiring goal. Based on your hiring workflow and historical conversion rates, Source determines target applicant counts for stages like Apply, Screen, Interview, and Offer.

When a stage reaches its target count, Source automatically pauses integrated campaigns to stop spending. If candidates drop out and the count falls below the target, Source resumes campaigns to keep your pipeline full.

How Funnel Automation Works

Here's the automation flow:

  1. You set up your hiring funnel – Map your Fountain Hire workflow stages to Source's standardized funnel stages (Apply, Assess, Screen, Interview, Offer, Hire)

  2. You define conversion rates – Enter the percentage of candidates who typically move from one stage to the next based on your historical data (predicted conversion rates)

  3. Source calculates targets – Using your hiring goal and conversion rates, Source determines how many applicants you need at each stage

  4. Source monitors your pipeline – As candidates move through your workflow, Source tracks counts at each stage in real-time

  5. Campaigns pause automatically – When a stage hits its target, Source pauses integrated campaigns

  6. Campaigns resume automatically – If candidates drop out (rejections, withdrawals), Source resumes campaigns to refill the pipeline

Example: If your hiring goal is 10 hires and your Apply-to-Hire conversion rate is 10%, Source calculates you need approximately 100 applicants (10 ÷ 0.10 = 100). When you reach 100 applicants, Source pauses sourcing automatically.

Set Up Funnel Automation

Before you can enable automation, you must map your hiring funnel and set conversion rates.

NOTE: If you've already set a target conversion rate through Edit Targets (accessible from the dashboard's more actions menu), that rate represents your overall Apply-to-Hire conversion. The funnel automation requires more granular conversion rates between each stage (Apply→Screen, Screen→Interview, etc.).

To set up funnel automation:

  1. Go to Source > Dashboard and click on an opening.

  2. Click the Funnel tab at the top of the Opening details page.

  3. Click the Map stages button.

    1. Note: If Map stages has already been configured, click Edit mapping to make changes.

  4. In the mapping screen, you'll see Source's standardized funnel stages on the left and your Fountain Hire workflow stages on the right.
    ​Source Funnel Stages:

    • Apply

    • Assess

    • Screen

    • Interview

    • Offer

    • Hire

  5. For each Source funnel stage, select the corresponding workflow stage from the dropdown menu.

    ​Example mapping:

    • Apply → "Application Questionnaire"

    • Assess → "AI Interview"

    • Screen → "Hiring Manager Review"

    • Interview → "Onsite Interview"

    • Offer → "Offer Call"

    • Hire → "Approved"

  6. After mapping stages, enter predicted conversion rates for each transition.

    1. Review the conversion estimates displayed next to each stage. Source shows the recommended values and allows you to modify them.

  7. Click Map stages to save your configuration.

Source calculates your funnel goals and begins monitoring your pipeline.

Conversion rates represent the percentage of candidates who successfully move from one stage to the next. For example:

  • Apply to Screen: 13% (13 out of 100 applicants advance to screening)

  • Screen to Interview: 49% (49 out of 100 screened candidates get an interview)

  • Interview to Offer: 83% (83 out of 100 interviewed candidates receive an offer)

  • Offer to Hire: 80% (80 out of 100 offers result in hires)

If you have at least one opening in Fountain Hire with data from the last 90 days, Source may pre-fill recommended conversion rates based on your past performance. You can adjust these values as needed.

View Funnel Goals and Progress

After mapping your funnel, you can monitor progress toward each stage's target.

To view funnel goals:

  1. On the Opening details page, click the Funnel tab.

  2. You'll see two main sections:

    1. Stages

    2. Hiring Funnel

Stages (left panel):

This panel displays each Source funnel stage with:

  • Stage name (e.g., Apply, Screen, Interview)

  • Workflow stage name in parentheses (e.g., "Applications")

  • Current count / Target count

  • Conversion rate to next stage

  • Status indicator (Goal Met, On Track, At Risk)

When a stage shows "Goal Met," that stage has reached its target, and funnel automation may have paused campaigns.

Hiring Funnel (right panel):

This visualization shows a bar chart with your progress at each stage. Bars fill in as you reach targets, giving you a visual snapshot of pipeline health.

Understanding Stage Status

  • Goal Met (Green) – The stage has reached its target count

  • On Track (Blue) – The stage is progressing normally toward its target

  • At Risk (Red) – The stage is behind the expected pace

How Automated Pausing Works

When funnel automation is enabled and a stage reaches "Goal Met," Source automatically pauses integrated campaigns for that opening.

What gets paused?

Source only pauses campaigns on integrated channels where it has pause/resume control:

  • Joveo

  • Indeed

Campaigns on non-integrated channels or channels without API control (Boost, ZipRecruiter, Reach, Pool) are not automatically paused. You must pause these manually if needed.

Notification of pausing

When Source pauses campaigns automatically, you'll see:

  1. A blue banner at the top of the Channels tab stating: "Sourcing paused - [Date] Sourcing has been paused automatically as we have sufficient applicants in the funnel."

  2. The affected campaigns will show their toggles switched to OFF (paused state).

Which stage triggered the pause?

A stage that has its "Goal Met" is often the cause of triggered pause. To see which stage is set to Goal Met:

  1. Go to the Funnel tab.

  2. Look for the stage showing "Goal Met" status.

    1. This is likely the stage that triggered automation.

Typically, the Apply stage is the first to reach its target and trigger automatic pausing, since it's at the top of the funnel.

How Automated Resuming Works

If candidates drop out of your pipeline (due to rejections, withdrawals, or transitions to other openings) and a stage count falls below its target, Source automatically resumes paused campaigns.

This ensures your pipeline stays full enough to hit your hiring goal even if attrition occurs.

Edit Funnel Mapping and Conversion Rates

You can update your funnel mapping or conversion rates at any time.

To edit funnel mapping:

  1. Go to the opening details page and click the Funnel tab.

  2. Click Edit mapping at the top of the Stages panel.

  3. Update workflow stage mappings or conversion rates as needed.

  4. Click Map stages to save.

Source recalculates your funnel goals based on the new values.

Changing conversion rates will immediately update your target applicant counts. If your current counts are already above the new targets, automation may pause campaigns immediately.

Configure Automation Settings

Source provides three types of automation that you can enable or disable at the account level.

To configure automation settings:

  1. In Source, click Settings in the left navigation menu.

  2. You'll see three automation options:

    1. Funnel Automations - Automatically pauses sourcing when the opening is on track to hit the hiring goal, based on performance across key workflow stages.

    2. Hiring Automations - Automatically pauses sourcing when the hiring goal period ends, so you don't keep spending after the window closes.

    3. Budget Automations - Keeps spend on track with budget alerts and automatic pauses when you reach your target budget.

  3. Toggle each automation on or off based on your preferences.

It's recommended to enable all three automation types for maximum spend efficiency. However, if you prefer manual control over campaign pausing, you can disable specific automation types.

Troubleshoot Automation Issues

My campaigns paused but I'm still getting applicants

This is normal and can happen for three reasons:

  1. Organic traffic – Applicants coming through free channels (career page, direct applications) are not affected by campaign pauses

  2. Non-integrated channels – Source cannot pause campaigns on channels without API control

  3. In-flight clicks – Candidates who clicked your ad before the pause may still complete their applications afterward

If you're concerned about too many applicants, you can manually pause additional channels or adjust your funnel conversion rates to set higher targets.

Automation paused too early

If automation paused campaigns before you're comfortable with your pipeline, consider:

  1. Reviewing your conversion rates – If your actual conversion rates are lower than what you entered, you may not have enough applicants to reach your hiring goal. Increase the conversion percentages to set higher applicant targets.

  2. Checking your hiring goal – Ensure your target hires and duration are accurate in Fountain Hire

  3. Disabling funnel automation temporarily – If you want manual control, disable Funnel Automations in Settings

Can I override automatic pausing?

Yes. Even if automation paused a campaign, you can manually resume it by:

  1. Going to the Channels tab

  2. Clicking the campaign toggle to turn it back ON

Source will allow the campaign to run until automation criteria are met again or you manually pause it.

How do I know which stage is causing the pause?

Go to the Funnel tab and look for the stage showing "Goal Met" status. This stage likely reached its target and triggered the automatic pause.

You can also hover over campaign toggles on the Channels tab—some implementations show tooltips explaining why a campaign was auto-paused.

Automation isn't working at all

Verify the following:

  1. Funnel automation is enabled – Check Settings > Enable Automations for All Openings > Funnel Automations is toggled ON

  2. Funnel is mapped – Go to the Funnel tab and ensure stages are mapped with conversion rates set

  3. Channel is integrated – Automation only works with integrated channels (Joveo, Indeed). Non-integrated channels cannot be auto-paused.

  4. Campaigns are active – Automation only pauses running campaigns. If a campaign is already paused or ended, automation won't affect it.

If automation still isn't working, contact Fountain Support.

View Past Hiring Goals

Source stores performance data for all your hiring goals—past, active, and scheduled. This allows you to see how previous goals performed and learn from past conversion rates

.

To view past hiring goals:

  1. On the Opening details page, click View All next to the hiring goal in the header.

  2. A panel will open showing three tabs:

    • Active – Currently running hiring goal

    • Past – Completed hiring goals with final performance metrics

    • Scheduled – Upcoming hiring goals

  3. Click the Past tab to see historical goals.

  4. For each past goal, you'll see:

    • Duration

    • Target hires vs actual hires

    • Total applicants

    • Total spend

    • Final status (Goal Met, Goal Not Met)

Reviewing past hiring goals can help you set more accurate conversion rates for future funnel automation. Look at your actual conversion rates from past goals and use those as baselines.

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