Candidates 101

Candidates 101

In Great Question, candidates are the people you invite to take part in your research. Every candidate has a profile where you can see their details, history, and activity across studies.

You can open a candidate’s profile by clicking on their name anywhere in Great Question. When clicking on their name, a slide out will appear displaying their information. To view their information in a larger view, click on the three dots towards the bottom of the slide out and then select View on full page.

Why Candidate Profiles Matter

Candidate profiles are the foundation of effective research recruitment. With a complete profile, you can:

• See a candidate’s full research history (screeners, interviews, studies).
• Store and manage details that help with targeting (like role, region, opt-in status).
• Understand participation patterns to invite the right people to the right studies.

Finding Candidates

There are three main ways to find candidates in your account:

1. Search bar – Type a name or email to find someone quickly.
2. Filters – Narrow candidates by attributes (e.g., “Role” or "Location").
3. Segments – Save a group of filters to reuse later.

Adding Candidates to a Study

When you’re ready to invite candidates, you can add them to a study by:

• Invite via Link – Share a study link via newsletters, intercepts, or campaigns.
• CSV Import – Bulk upload new candidates.
• Browse through existing candidates – Search or filter and shortlist them.
• Integrate through your CRM - available only on Enterprise plans.
• Add manually - enter in their detailed information.

Candidate Profile Overview

Each profile has several sections:

• About – Info like name, email, study stats, opt-in status, and attributes.
• Activity – A timeline of actions (e.g., screened, invited, shortlisted).
• Consent – Signed consent forms.
• Interviews – All interviews they’ve joined.
• Screener Q&A – Their responses to previous screener questions.
• Studies – Studies they’ve been part of.
• Assets – Files or content attached to their profile.
• Highlights – Key clips or notes created from interviews with them.
• Settings – Contact preferences, access and communication settings.

Candidate Attributes

Attributes are extra details that make profiles richer and more searchable. For example: “Job title,” “Location,” or “Tenure.”

Admins and creators can add attributes in several ways:

• Directly in a candidate profile.
• Through screener questions.
• In bulk, when importing candidates.

Admins manage attributes in Settings → Custom Attributes. Attributes can be numbers, text, booleans, or unique identifiers. Admins can also decide under Permissions whether admins or admins and creators can create new attributes.

Core Candidate Attributes (Built-in System Attributes)

• name — Text — Full name of the candidate
• opted_in — Boolean — Whether the candidate agreed to be contacted for future research
• unsubscribed_at — Date + time — Timestamp when they unsubscribed (if applicable)
• consented_at — Date + time — Timestamp when they gave consent for future research
• opt_out_url — URL (hidden) — URL the candidate can use to unsubscribe
• first_name — Free text (hidden) — First name
• last_name — Free text (hidden) — Last name
• phone_number — Text — Contact phone number
• email — Text (hidden) — Email address (also used as the unique identifier)
• timezone — Text — Auto-detected timezone at signup
• completed_participations_count — Number — Total completed studies
• invited_participations_count — Number — Total studies they were invited to
• responded_participations_count — Number — Total studies they started/applied/booked
• all_time_usd_amount_in_cents — Number — Total incentive amount earned (all time)
• current_year_usd_amount_in_cents — Number — Incentive amount earned in the current year
• average_rating — Number — Average participant rating

External / Respondent Attributes (Third-Party Recruitment)

Created when candidates respond via sources like Respondent:

• respondent_linkedin — URL — LinkedIn profile
• respondent_skills — Multiple choice — Skills
• respondent_job_title — Text — Job title
• respondent_job_functions — Multiple choice — Job functions
• respondent_company — Text — Company
• respondent_company_size — Text — Company size
• respondent_country_code — Text — Country code
• respondent_location — Text — Primary location
• respondent_gender — Text — Gender
• respondent_age — Text — Age
• respondent_education_level — Text — Education level
• respondent_ethnicity — Text — Ethnicity
• respondent_household_income — Text — Household income
• respondent_industry — Multiple choice — Industry
• respondent_seniority_level — Text — Seniority level

Default Custom Candidate Attributes

These are created automatically for each account:

• company — Text
• title — Text
• location — Text
• notes — Free text

Built-In Participation Fields (Stored on Participation Record)

Core Identification

• id — Unique participation ID
• token — Unique participation token
• status — Current status (e.g., fresh, invited, applied, shortlisted, approved, requested, booked, completed, rejected, started, no_show, opted_out, canceled)
• source — How they were added (screener, invite, shortlist, request, sidebar, direct, profile, calendly, nylas_booking, time_proposal, library, incentive)

Timestamps

• created_at — Created timestamp
• updated_at — Last updated
• requested_at — Requested
• completed_at — Completed
• applied_at — Applied
• invited_at — Invited
• rejected_at — Rejected
• booked_at — Booked
• started_at — Started
• shortlisted_at — Shortlisted
• no_show_at — Marked no-show
• opted_out_at — Opted out
• consented_at — Consented
• interview_at — Scheduled interview
• canceled_at — Canceled
• thanked_at — Thank-you sent
• reschedule_requested_at — Reschedule requested
• waitlisted_at — Waitlisted
• first_booked_at — First booking timestamp

Study-Specific Data

• incentive_in_cents — Incentive amount
• incentive_fee_in_cents — Incentive fee
• incentive_coupon — Incentive coupon code
• duration_in_minutes — Session duration
• rating — Rating given
• again — Would work with again (boolean)

Relationships

• project_id / study — Study reference
• customer_id — Candidate reference
• moderator_id — Moderator
• requester_id — Requested by
• team_id — Associated team
• external_candidates_platform_id — External platform ID
• external_identifier — External identifier

Other Fields

• consent_info — JSONB — Consent metadata
• extra_participants — JSONB — Additional participant info
• action_required — Boolean — Whether action is needed
• external_completion_url — External completion link
• in_request_batch — Boolean — Added via batch
• join_url — Join link
• external_conversation_id — External messaging ID
• external_status — External platform status
• cancelation_reason — Cancelation reason

Opt-In & Opt-Out

Candidates are always in control of whether they want to hear from you:

• Opt-in means they’ve agreed to be contacted for research.
• Opt-out can apply to one study, or all future studies, across your account.
• Admins and creators can also manually update a candidate’s opt-in status from their profile.

Use Cases

Candidate management in Great Question goes beyond a simple contact list — it’s a flexible database designed to help you segment, filter, and organize participants for all types of research. Below are key use cases that show how custom attributes and candidate segments can streamline recruiting and improve research efficiency.

Candidate profiles are your single source of truth for managing participants. With well-maintained profiles, you’ll always have the right people ready for the right study.

Troubleshooting Candidates

Have Questions?

Please reach out to us in the chat or at [email protected]!