Accelerate Package Administrator Feature:
Fountain's Candidate AI Agent is available as a premium feature. Please contact your Fountain Customer Success contact if you're interested in this feature. Additionally, this feature is only accessible to Admins on the account.
Your recruiters spend hours responding to applicant questions; Fountain can help them reclaim that time with Candidate AI Agent (CAI). Candidate AI Agent is an AI-powered feature that sits on top of your career site, Job Directory website, or the Fountain Applicant Portal in the form of a chat widget. It is designed to help save a recruiter's time and unblock applicants by responding to the most common applicant questions.
Fountain’s Candidate AI Agent, or CAI for short, is an AI-powered chat widget that sits on top of your career website, Jobs Directory, or within the Fountain Applicant Portal. It is designed to help save recruiters’ time and unblock stuck applicants by responding to the most common applicant questions.
Important Note:
You cannot use legacy FAI with CAI.
AI Agent Setup
There are three components to setting up your AI Agent - personalizing the AI agent, setting the AI agent functions, and training the AI agent. To set up your widget, follow the steps below:
Navigate to Company Settings by clicking on your initial icon in the top right corner of any Fountain page. Then click Company Settings in the dropdown.
Click Candidate AI Agent in the toolbar on the left.
Click Set up AI agent. Please note, a preview of the widget will be visible on the right as you customize the options throughout the next steps.
Type a name for the AI Agent. Fountain recommends choosing a name that represents your company and adds a personal touch to interactions. Some examples are “Stephanie” or “AI Recruiter Rex”.
Choose whether you are creating the widget for all brands under your company’s account or an individual brand. If you choose an individual brand you must select the brand in the dropdown. With the individual brand option, you will also have the ability to create additional AI Agents for other brands in your account.
Customize the AI Agent functions. You have two options:
Help candidates find a job and answer question: With this option, you will choose to either show jobs by location, show all available jobs, or show only one job. Fountain recommends showing by location if you have more than 20 active Openings and use show all available jobs if you have less than 20 active Openings.
Answer candidate questions only: With this option, the AI Agent will only answer questions and the applicant will not be able to apply for a job via the widget.
Click Save and Next.
Select your AI Agent visibility. This will identify which platforms the AI Agent will assist applicants on. You can choose one, two, or all three options below:
Fountain website: included on the Jobs Directory and Applicant Portal.
SMS/WhatsApp: included in SMS or WhatsApp communications per the applicant’s communication preferences. Please note, you will need to work with your Fountain Customer Success contact or [email protected] to enable the Chat Apply feature.
Custom Website: Included on a website domain of your choice. When checking this box you will have the ability to copy the embedded code and add a website domain address. Click Save when finished.
Choose the Default Language in cases where the AI agent cannot detect the candidate's device language. This language will also be used to initiate the conversation.
Choose the Fallback Contact. If the AI agent cannot answer a question due to missing information in the Knowledge Base, adding an option in this section will ensure that the applicant can contact someone for human assistance. You can add an email, phone number, or website as the fallback.
Enter a Jobs Directory or Career site link for applicants if they want to apply for a new job Opening using the AI agent when in the Applicant Portal.
Click Save and Next.
Choose to create your Knowledge Base via help from an AI Assistant or manually be CSV file. Learn more about creating your Knowledge Base by reviewing this Help Center article.
Click Publish to finish AI Agent creation.
Important Notes:
Fountain recommends testing your widget by interacting as both a job seeker and an applicant to ensure your Knowledge Base is appropriately tailored for both audiences. Test your AI Agent by clicking Test AI Agent on the Candidate AI Agent landing page.
You may set up one AI Agent per brand. If you configure an AI Agent for All brands you cannot add separate AI Agents for an individual brand. The option will be disabled. To re-enable the individual brand option, either delete the All Brands AI Agent or switch it to an Individual brand.
Edit the AI Agent
To edit, update, or change any information in your AI Agent Knowledge Base, follow the steps below:
Navigate to Company Settings by clicking your initial icon in the top right corner of any Fountain page. Then click Company Settings in the dropdown.
Click Candidate AI Agent in the toolbar on the left.
Click the 3 dots button to the right of the Candidate AI agent you want to update and then Edit in the menu.
Make any adjustments in the Personalize AI Agent and Set AI Agent Functionalities screens. If no changes are needed, simply click Save and Next to get to the Train AI Agent screen.
You will now update the Knowledge Base:
If you used the AI Assistant to originally create the Knowledge Base, you will be brought back to the conversation where you can ask the AI Assistant to change any previous information.
You can also click the View Knowledge Base button to manually edit or add new topics.
Click Publish to finalize the updates.
If you created the Knowledge Base via manual CSV file, you will be brought to the CSV creation screen.
Click Download to replace the current Knowledge Base with updated information.
Update the information directly in the CSV file. The CSV file you download will have a new column called “uuid”. It is important not to make changes to that column as it is used by the AI Agent when updating. Make changes only to other columns.
Click Reupload. A success message will appear at the top of the screen.
Click Publish to finalize the changes.
Important Note:
When manually updating a CSV file, re-uploading the file will overwrite any previously submitted Knowledge Base CSV file. For this reason, it is important to ensure any information you want the AI Agent to retain is left in the CSV file. Do not upload a CSV with just changes. Instead, add any new questions and answers to the bottom of the existing file that you download.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below is a list of common questions and answers related to CAI:
Can applicants complete the application via the AI Agent?
Yes! If you have chosen Help candidates find a job and answer question when customizing the AI Agent functions, it will help applicants apply.
The AI Agent will help applicants complete the application form via Chat Apply on SMS, WhatsApp or within the Widget. Once the application is created, the AI Agent can send a link to the applicant portal. The AI Agent will not help the applicant complete any stages in the workflow.
If the applicant is interacting with the AI Agent via SMS or WhatsApp and using Chat Apply, File Upload, Date Picker, and Work Availability questions are not supported. Additionally, the SMS/WhatsApp Chat Apply will only direct the applicant to one Opening.
Can the AI Agent send a keyword for applicants to apply via SMS or WhatsApp?
Yes! The keyword is defined per Opening. There will be one phone number provided per keyword.
Is Chat Apply the same as Fountain’s Text to Apply?
No. Although similar, Text to Apply is a different Fountain feature. Text to Apply uses a general 464646 keyword. Chat Apply uses phone numbers within the company account and different keywords per Opening.
How does the AI Agent handle remote jobs if I’ve selected Show jobs by location when customizing the AI Agent functions?
Location search is limited to accounts where Openings include a full address or at the very least a city name. Openings with only a state listed will be limited to a search radius of 100 miles.
Remote jobs will not be shown to an applicant if the location search option was selected. Fountain recommends choosing the Show all available jobs option if you have remote Openings.
Can I customize which Openings are included in the AI Agent?
Yes! This is done in the Advanced Settings under your Job Details screen. Ensure the Visible on CAI is toggled on. Only active Openings will this toggle on will show in the AI Agent. Please note, this toggle is set to on by default.
Does the AI Agent communication override automated messages set up in Fountain Hire?
Nope! These communications will be sent in addition to any communication with the AI Agent.
Does the AI Agent support multi-language?
Yes! If the AI Agent auto-detects the applicant’s device language is Spanish, French, German, or Italian, the entire widget will update into that language including any disclaimers, buttons, and the Agent’s first greeting message.
Additionally, if the applicant asks a question in a different language (CAI can recognize more than 80 languages) it will respond in that language. However, the disclaimer, buttons, and greeting message will remain in English.
If the applicant asks about pay, the AI Agent will respond with the pay type in the Job Description. It cannot translate the pay into the pay type of the language chatted by the applicant.
Can the AI Agent reschedule interviews?
Yes! It will provide relevant portal links to the Applicant Portal where the applicant can book, reschedule, or cancel a booked slot.
The AI Agent will not be able to conversationally book or reschedule via SMS, WhatsApp, or within the widget.
Can I only have the AI Agent visible on a specific stage in my hiring workflow?
Unfortunately, no. If you choose Fountain Website as a location to display the widget, it will be visible in all stages of your hiring workflow.
Does CAI support human handoff?
Unfortunately, not at this time. However, this may be a future enhancement.