Prompt Guide - Find Candidates
Everything you need to know to use Rover to find candidates within your Positions or Candidate Database (CRM)
Rover can help you find the right candidates quickly, whether you're reviewing applicants for a single position or searching across your entire candidate database. This guide covers the best ways to word your prompts so Rover returns exactly the candidates you're looking for.
New to writing prompts? Start with
There are two ways to find candidates using Rover:
| Search type | Best for | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Within a position (recommended) | Reviewing applicants, narrowing a pipeline, shortlisting | "Show me all new applicants for my Front Desk Supervisor position." |
| Across your candidate database | Finding specific people, cleaning up records | "Find candidates in my database with @getleadline.com email addresses." |
Start with a position whenever you can. A position already gives Rover the context it needs: the role, its workflow stages, and the answers candidates gave on the application. That means your prompts can be shorter and your results more accurate.
Before you start: what Rover can see
Knowing what information Rover has access to helps you write prompts that work the first time.
- Candidate profiles store a candidate's name, email, and phone number.
- Application answers are available for each position. Anything you ask on a position's application form (certifications, licenses, availability, location) is information Rover can search.
- Workflow stages are the stages in your position's workflow. Stage names are set by your team, so use the exact stage names you see in Leadline.
Rover can read resumes and other files only when you upload them directly in the chat. It can’t yet read files attached to a candidate’s profile. Rover may recognize an attachment’s filename and draw conclusions from it without reading the contents. We’re aware of this limitation and are actively working to resolve it. In the meantime, upload files in the chat whenever you want Rover to review their contents. Be mindful of document size when uploading files: larger documents consume more credits for Rover to read and process.
Tip: If you want to search candidates by something like location, certifications, or years of experience, add a question about it to the position's application form. Rover can only search for information Leadline has collected.
Search Candidates within Positions
Select the position with "/" every time
Before you write a prompt about a position's candidates, attach the position to your request:
- Type / in the chat input. A menu will appear with the types of context you can apply to Rover.
- Click Position.
- Select the position you want to search.
Selecting the position is the single most important step for finding candidates within a position. It gives Rover clear context about exactly which position you mean, including its workflow stages and application answers, so Rover doesn't have to guess from the position name in your prompt. This matters most when you have several positions with similar names, such as multiple Front Desk Supervisor openings at different properties.
We recommend selecting the position every time you want to find candidates related to a position.
Refer to stages by name
The most important habit for position searches: name the stage instead of describing a status.
Phrases like "haven't been reviewed," "pending," or "still waiting" can mean different things, and Rover may interpret them differently than you intended. A stage name points Rover to exactly one group of candidates.
| Instead of this | Try this |
|---|---|
| "Show me candidates I haven't reviewed yet." | "Show me all new applicants for my Front Desk Supervisor position." |
| "Who's moving forward in my Executive Chef position?" | "Show me candidates in the Interview stage of my Executive Chef position." |
New applicants are typically perceived as candidates in the first stage of your position's workflow.
Example prompts
These example prompts worked well during testing. Adapt the position names, stage names, and other details to match your needs. For best results, select your position using the slash ("/") method described above. If you don’t select a position, identify it clearly in your prompt.
See your new applicants
Show me all new applicants for my Front Desk Supervisor position.
Show me all new applicants for my 5th Grade Teacher position, oldest applications first.
Rank and shortlist candidates
Rank the new applicants for my Senior Project Manager position based on their application answers and give me the top 5, with a one-line reason for each.
Shortlist the 3 strongest candidates in the Interview stage of my Assistant Principal position based on their application answers.
Rover ranks candidates using the information available in Leadline, such as application answers. To have Rover consider resume details, upload the resumes in the chat along with your prompt.
Search by stage
Show me candidates in the Interview stage of my Executive Chef position.
Search by application date
Show me new applicants for my Special Education Teacher position who applied in the last 7 days.
Search by application answers
Show me new applicants for my School Bus Driver position who answered Yes to having a valid CDL.
Show me new applicants for my Construction Project Manager position who answered that they hold a PMP certification.
Search by location (from application answers)
Show me new applicants for my Site Superintendent position who answered that they live in or near Orlando on the application.
Candidate profiles don't store location, so this only works when the position's application form asks candidates where they're located.
Separate must-haves from nice-to-haves
Show me new applicants for my Assistant Project Manager position who answered Yes to having OSHA 30 certification. Prioritize those who said they have Procore experience.
Telling Rover which criteria are required and which are preferred keeps strong candidates from being filtered out over a "nice-to-have."
Search by source
Show me new applicants for my Line Cook position who applied through Indeed.
Search Candidates within Your Database
Database searches work best for finding specific people and keeping your records clean. Because candidate profiles store name, email, and phone number, database prompts should focus on those details.
Example prompts
These example prompts worked well during testing. These are a few use cases that were used during data identification and clean up.
Find candidates by email domain
Find candidates in my database with @lincolnusd.org email addresses.
Find a specific candidate
Find a candidate named Maria Lopez in my database.
Find candidates with missing information
Find candidates in my database with no phone number on file.
Find candidates who applied to more than one position
Show me candidates who have applied to more than one position.
Show me candidates who applied to both my Banquet Manager and Catering Manager positions.
Identify possible duplicate candidates
Identify possible duplicate candidates in my database.
Leadline uses a candidate's email address as their unique identifier. When a phone number is included with a submission, the email and phone number are used together. This means the same person can appear twice if they applied with a slightly different email address, most often because of a typo or a single character difference (for example, jsmith@gmail.com and jsmtih@gmail.com).
Rover will flag candidates that look like possible duplicates so you can review them. Merging candidate profiles isn't available at this time.
Using Rover to Check for Spam/Fraud Candidates
If you receive applications that look suspicious, Rover can review the resumes and estimate how likely each one is to be spam or fraudulent.
How to do it:
- Upload the resumes you want reviewed directly in the chat.
- Name the position the candidates applied for, so Rover has something to compare each resume against.
- Ask for a confidence score and the reasons behind it.
For best results, upload resumes from candidates who applied to the same position. This gives Rover a shared job description and requirements to reference when reviewing each resume and helps it compare candidates efficiently and consistently.
Example prompt
I've attached 6 resumes from applicants to my Hotel Operations Manager position that I think may be spam or fraudulent. Compare each resume to the position's job description and give me a confidence score from 0% to 100% for how likely each one is spam or fraudulent. For each resume, list the specific reasons behind the score, such as copied job description text, inconsistent dates, unrealistic experience, or contact details that don't match.
Best practices
- Always ask for the reasons, not just the score. The reasons let you judge for yourself whether Rover's concerns are valid.
- Treat the score as a starting point. Rover can be wrong. Review each flagged resume yourself before rejecting a candidate.
Getting the Results you Want
Finding candidates is often the first step. Tell Rover how you want results delivered and what you'd like to do next.
Choose the format
List them in a table with name, email, stage, and application date.
Get a count
How many candidates are in the Offer stage of my Paraprofessional position?
Understand why candidates matched
For each candidate, tell me which requirements they met and which they didn't, based on their application answers.
Take action on your results
Once you've found the right candidates, Rover can help with next steps, such as:
- Moving candidates to a new stage: "Move these candidates to the Interview stage."
- Emailing candidates: "Email these candidates to invite them to schedule a phone screen."
- Creating notes: "Add a note to each of these candidates saying they're on the shortlist for the Hiring Manager review."
Rover will always show you a preview before taking any action, so you can review and approve it first.
Use fair, job-related criteria
Search and rank candidates using criteria that relate to the job, such as certifications, licenses, experience, availability, and application answers.
Never ask Rover to filter, rank, or exclude candidates based on age, gender, race, religion, disability, national origin, or any other protected characteristic. Rover is a tool to keep you better informed about your hiring decisions, and every decision should be reviewed by a person on your team.
Quick checklist
Before you send a Find Candidates prompt, ask yourself:
- Did I name the position, or make it clear I'm searching my whole database?
- Did I use the exact stage name instead of describing a status?
- Am I searching for information Leadline actually has (application answers, name, email, phone)?
- If I need Rover to consider resume details, did I upload the resumes in the chat?
- Did I say how I want the results delivered?
Need help or have feedback?
Use the like and dislike buttons on each of Rover's responses to let us know what's working and what isn't. For anything that needs more detail, submit a support ticket
Found a prompt that works great? Send it to support@getleadline.com along with the action you used it for and the result. The best submissions may be added to the Rover Prompt Library with credit to the author.
Last Updated: October 22, 2026