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Set Up AI Recruiter

How to set up AI Recruiter for your job openings, from adding the stage to your workflow to configuring interview questions and qualifications.

Updated this week

Add AI Interview Stage to Your Workflow

  1. Navigate to your job opening's workflow in Fountain Hire

  2. From the Workflow Editor, click Add Stage, then select Create new stage

  3. From the Stage type dropdown, select AI Interview

  4. Enter a title for your stage (e.g., "AI Phone Interview")

  5. Use Stage Placement to position the stage in your workflow (typically after initial questions/data collection)

  6. Click Add Stage

Once added, you'll land on the stage configuration page where you can create or select an AI Interviewer.

Create an AI Interviewer

Once you've added the AI Interview stage, you'll see two options to get started:

Select an Existing AI Interviewer

If you've already created an AI Interviewer (Job Type) that you want to use:

  1. Click the Stage Option Type dropdown

  2. Select from your pre-existing AI Interviewers

  3. The selected interviewer will be attached to this stage

Create a New AI Interviewer

If you haven't created an AI Interviewer yet or want to create a new one:

  1. Click Manage Integration

  2. Click Create Job Opening

  3. Choose your creation method:

    1. From a Job Description (Create from scratch):

      1. Select this option to manually input a job description

      2. You'll build the AI Interviewer configuration from the ground up

    2. From Fountain Position (Recommended):

      1. Select this option to use information from an existing Position in Fountain

      2. Search for and select your position (e.g., "Tour Guide")

      3. Click Create AI Interviewer


    The system will automatically generate:

    1. Job description (pulled from the Position)

    2. Job qualifications (auto-generated based on the description)

    3. Interview questions (AI-suggested based on qualifications)
      ​

    You can then customize any of these elements within the interface.

Customize Your AI Interviewer

After creating your AI Interviewer, the system generates a complete interview configuration including job description, qualifications, and questions. You can now customize each section to match your specific needs.

The following sections are auto-generated when you create an AI Interviewer from a Fountain Position. Review and edit each section to ensure it aligns with your hiring requirements.

Configure Job Description

The job description is imported from Fountain or can be entered manually. It is not displayed to candidates — it's used internally by AI Recruiter to:

  • Generate qualifications

  • Inform interview questions

  • Guide Anna's conversation and follow-up questions

Best Practices

  • Use clear language - Use "must have" or "nice to have" to indicate requirement priority

  • Include important details - Add job, company, or role-specific context to guide Anna's interview focus

  • Be specific about desired answers - If you want candidates to provide specific examples (e.g., "Tell me about your ER experience"), include that context in the job description rather than in the question itself

  • Avoid keyword stuffing - Focus on clarity over trying to game the scoring system

DO NOT manually add pay rate - Pay rate is automatically pulled from the opening when the AI Recruiter stage is added to the workflow. Having different pay rates in the template and opening-specific configuration can cause inconsistent responses

Alignment with Qualifications

The job description and job qualifications should align. If something is important in the job description, candidates will be evaluated on it even if you remove it from job qualifications.

Configure Job Qualifications

Job qualifications heavily influence candidate scoring. Anna uses these to evaluate candidate responses.

How to Configure

  1. Review auto-generated qualifications from your job description

  2. Add, edit, or remove qualifications as needed

  3. Mark critical qualifications as "must have" by clicking the star icon next to the qualification

  4. Use descriptive language to indicate priority:

    • "Must have" = Higher scoring weight

    • "Nice to have" or "Preferred" = Lower scoring weight

CEFR English Proficiency

English proficiency (CEFR - Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) is automatically assessed during the interview. If English proficiency is not relevant to the role or you feel candidates are being scored too harshly on this criterion, you can disable it in the configuration.

Configure Interview Questions

Anna will ask these questions during the interview. You can edit, add, or remove questions based on your needs.

Best Practices

  • Keep interviews around 5 minutes - Aim for approximately 7-8 questions to avoid candidate drop-off

  • Avoid Yes/No questions - These should be asked earlier in the workflow (e.g., in a Data Collection stage). Use the AI interview to gather context and depth

  • Use open-ended questions - Allow candidates to provide detailed responses (e.g., "Tell me about your schedule flexibility" vs "Can you work weekends?")

  • Avoid giving away answers in questions - Don't include specific details in the question that prompt the expected answer (e.g., instead of "Can you tell me about your approach to emotional therapy such as using CBT and DBT techniques?" ask "Can you tell me about your approach to emotional therapy?"). Add what you want Anna to listen for in the job description, not in the question itself

  • AI Recruiter works well for technical/skill-based questions - It performs particularly well on roles like maintenance, nursing, or other technical positions

Follow-up Questions

By default, Anna asks follow-up or probing questions when candidates give short or incomplete answers (mimicking human interviewer behavior). If you want Anna to ask only your specified questions without any follow-ups, add this to your "AI interviewer instructions": 

"IMPORTANT: ONLY ASK THE SPECIFIED QUESTIONS AND DO NOT ASK ANY CLARIFYING OR FOLLOW-UP QUESTIONS"

Note: Disabling follow-up questions may result in less comprehensive candidate information, but can help keep interviews shorter.

Additional Configuration Settings

Data Extraction Fields (Optional)

Data extraction fields allow you to extract structured data from candidate interviews for reporting and automation.

To configure:

  1. Click data extraction settings link in the Configuration tab

  2. Click + Create field to add a new data extraction field

  3. Define the field name, field key, and type

  4. These fields can be reused across multiple jobs

Examples: "Years of experience," "Preferred shift," "Certifications held"

NOTE: Once created, structured data can be used for reporting and workflow automation.

AI Interviewer Instructions (Optional)

Provide AI interviewer instructions for Anna to follow during the interview.

Example instructions:

  • "At the end of the interview, inform the candidate that they'll hear from the team within 5 days"

  • "IMPORTANT: ONLY ASK THE SPECIFIED QUESTIONS AND DO NOT ASK ANY CLARIFYING OR FOLLOW-UP QUESTIONS" (to disable follow-up questions)

  • Deterrence language: "The use of AI voice assistants like Siri and ChatGPT will result in automatic elimination from consideration for this role"

Note: This is an optional text field where you can guide Anna's behavior and communication style.

Resume Collection (Optional)

Enable resume collection before interviews:

Options:

  • None (default) - No resume collection

  • Optional - Candidates can choose to upload

  • Required - Candidates must upload before interviewing

How it works:

  • If enabled, candidates upload their resume when taking their interview (if not already provided)

  • Interview questions will be automatically personalized based on resume content

  • Helps Anna ask more relevant follow-up questions

Interview Language

AI Recruiter supports multiple languages. Select the language(s) for your interview:

Language options:

  • Single language (e.g., English, Spanish, French, etc.)

  • Multi-language (e.g., English + Spanish)

Voice selection: Choose the voice accent for Anna (e.g., "American accent (female)")

Translation capability:

If the interview is conducted in a language other than English, it automatically translates back to English for recruiters (assuming recruiter user settings are in English).

Best practice for roles requiring English:

For positions where English proficiency is required, use the multi-language option (e.g., English + Spanish):

  1. Start with questions in English to validate minimum English proficiency

  2. Allow candidates to switch to their preferred language for detailed questions

  3. This approach validates the English requirement while eliminating language bias on detailed responses

Note: Interview questions do not need to match the selected language. Click "Reach out to support" to access additional languages.

Anti-Fraud and Cheating Options

Fullscreen Mode

  • Checkbox: "Force the interview to be conducted in a full-screen browser window to help prevent possible cheating"

  • Candidates that exit fullscreen mode will be flagged

  • Not supported on mobile devices

Record Video

  • Checkbox: "Record video during the interview"

  • Requires desktop and webcam access

  • Candidates will be required to provide webcam access and conduct their interview on a desktop computer

Un-natural Pauses Detection

  • Flags candidates with "Possible cheating risks" when they take too long to answer

  • Trigger: 3 or more pauses of 5 seconds or more during the interview

  • This feature is opt-in and must be enabled by Fountain support for your account

AI Assistant Detection:

Currently, there is no technical way to detect or prevent use of AI voice assistants (Siri, ChatGPT Voice). You can use deterrence language in your AI Interviewer Instructions:

"The use of AI voice assistants like Siri and ChatGPT will result in automatic elimination from consideration for this role.

Logo and Background Color

Customize the visual appearance of the interview interface to match your brand:

  • Add a logo and background color in organization settings

  • These settings apply across all AI Interviewers in your organization

Redirect URL (Optional)

Specify a URL where candidates will be redirected after completing their interview.

Example use cases:

  • Redirect to your careers page

  • Redirect to a thank you page

  • Redirect to additional application steps

Field: Enter the full URL (e.g., "https://example.com")

Welcome and Outro Message

Customize the messages candidates see at the beginning and end of their interview:

  • Add messages in organization settings (applies to all interviewers)

  • OR customize the message for this job opening (applies only to this specific opening)

Welcome message: Custom greeting shown to candidates before they start (up to 800 characters)
​Outro message: Custom message shown after candidates complete their interview (up to 800 characters)

Auto-Advance Candidates

Control whether candidates are automatically moved to the next stage based on their interview score.

Options:

  • Disabled (recommended) - All candidates require recruiter review

  • Enabled with score threshold - Candidates meeting or exceeding a specific score are auto-advanced

NOTE: AI Recruiter should not make final hiring decisions. We recommend keeping this disabled and routing candidates to review stages where human recruiters make final decisions.

Description shown: "Candidates that meet or exceed this score will be automatically advanced. Other candidates will require recruiter review."

Job Opening Details

These fields are automatically pulled from the opening in Fountain Hire when you create a Job Opening:

Location

  • Example: "Folsom: 411 Stafford St, Folsom, CA 95630, USA"

  • Used to provide location-specific context during interviews

Pay

  • Example: "e.g. $18 per hour or $80,000 - $100,000 per year"

  • Anna can reference pay information when candidates ask

Hours

  • Example: "e.g. Full-time, 40 hours per week"

  • Helps Anna answer questions about schedule and availability

NOTE: Do not manually add pay rate to your job description - it's automatically pulled from the opening. Having different pay rates in the job description and opening configuration can cause inconsistent responses.

Pre-Interview Form (Optional)

Collect additional information from candidates before they begin their interview.

How to use:

  1. Create forms in settings (link provided)

  2. Select a form from this dropdown

  3. Candidates will complete the form before starting their AI interview

Restrict Interview Link Access (Not Recommended)

Checkbox: "Only allow pre-registered candidates to interview (not recommended)"

When enabled:

  • You'll need to upload candidates in advance

  • Unrecognized candidates will be prevented from interviewing

Note: This is not recommended for most use cases as it creates friction in the candidate experience.

Messaging Automation

Configure automated messages sent at key stages of the interview process.

Advancement message:

  • Select a message template to send when candidates are advanced to the next stage

Rejection message:

  • Select a message template to send when candidates are rejected

How to configure: Manage your message templates in settings (link provided in the interface)

Notifications

Configure who receives notifications when interviews are completed.

Email notifications:

  • Send to all teammates in your organization - All team members receive notifications

  • Send to Job Opening owners - Only opening owners are notified (default)

  • Send only to recipients specified below - Send to specific email addresses

Additional recipients: Add specific email addresses Frequency: Choose notification frequency (e.g., "Instant")

Slack integration:

  • Click Enable Slack integration to send notifications to Slack channels

Attach AI Interviewer to Workflow Stage

Once you've created an AI Interviewer (Job Type), attach it to your AI Interview stage:

  1. Go to your workflow editor

  2. Navigate to the AI Interview stage

  3. In the Stage Option Type dropdown, select your AI Interviewer

  4. Click Save Changes

Reuse AI Interviewers

You can use the same AI Interviewer (Job Type) across multiple openings. When you do, AI Recruiter automatically creates opening-specific versions (Job Openings) that pull in location, pay, and hours from each specific opening.

Configure Stage Portal Instructions

Provide clear instructions to candidates on the AI Interview stage. Best practices:

Key Elements to Include:

  • Disclosure that the interview will be conducted by Anna, Fountain's AI Recruiter

  • Expected interview duration (approximately 5 minutes)

  • Instructions for accessing the interview (click link or dial number)

  • Reminder to find a quiet location

  • Reassurance that they can call back if disconnected

Related Articles
Fountain's Candidate AI Agent (CAI)
AI Recruiter Overview
Testlify Assessments
Workflow Configuration for AI Recruiter
Understand AI Interview Results
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