The Workable Agent uses one credit each time it screens a candidate against your ideal candidate profile. Because spend is driven by how many candidates the Agent screens, the way to control credits is to control how many candidates reach it. This article covers the practical levers: tightening your requirements and application form, using knock-out questions, unpublishing jobs, and turning the Agent on only where you need it.
How credits are consumed
The Agent charges one credit per candidate it screens (matching against your ideal candidate profile, plus any outreach, chat, and re-evaluation for that candidate). A few cases use no credits:
- Candidates auto-disqualified by an application form knock-out question, because matching is skipped entirely.
- Candidates you have blocked.
- Candidates created while the Agent is switched off on the job.
So the levers that actually reduce spend are the ones that reduce how many candidates the Agent screens.
Note: Disqualifying criteria in your ideal candidate profile are different from application form knock-out questions. A candidate disqualified by an ideal-candidate-profile criterion is still matched first, so it uses one credit. A candidate knocked out by an application form question is never matched, so it uses none.
Reduce the number of candidates the Agent screens
Most credit use comes from applicant volume, so the biggest savings come before the Agent ever runs:
- Define clear requirements: a well-scoped ideal candidate profile and an accurate job description attract fewer, more relevant applicants
- Use a focused application form: a tighter application form discourages low-fit applicants from applying
- Add knock-out questions: set auto-disqualify application form questions for your true must-haves so unqualified applicants are knocked out before the Agent screens them
Tip: Knock-out questions are the most direct way to cap spend on applied candidates. A candidate who fails a knock-out question is disqualified at the point of applying and uses no credit.
Unpublish a job once you have enough applicants
When a role has attracted a strong enough pool, change its status so new applicants stop entering the pipeline. See managing job statuses for how to unpublish a job.
Turn the Agent on only where you need it
The Agent only consumes credits on jobs where it is switched on. To keep spend predictable:
- Enable the Agent only for the jobs that genuinely need automated sourcing and screening.
- Switch the Agent off on a job once you already have a good talent pool, so no further candidates are screened there.
Candidates created while the Agent is off on a job are not processed and use no credits.
Manage autosourcing
When sourcing is enabled, the Sourcing Agent adds qualified passive candidates to the Sourced stage, and each passive candidate it adds is screened and uses one credit. The Sourcing Agent works toward a target of roughly 10 interested candidates per job, but it may need to reach out to many passive candidates to get there, so sourcing is not a fixed cap on credits. If you want to limit this, switch off the Source passive candidates action for the job once you have enough candidates in the pipeline.
Pause or switch off the Agent
You can stop the Agent on a single job at any time, for example while you adjust your setup or when a role is on hold. While the Agent is stopped on a job:
- All Agent operations halt, including matching candidates against your ideal candidate profile.
- Candidates created during this time are not processed and are not scored, so they use no credits.
- Follow-up messages stop, and any chat links already sent to candidates stop working.
When you switch the Agent back on, it reprocesses your eligible recent candidates from the last 7 days. Older candidates from the stopped period are not reprocessed automatically, but you can start screening them on demand if you have credits available.
To stop all AI across the account, an admin can switch off AI features in settings. One control covers all of Workable's AI, including the Agent and scoring.
FAQs
- Can I set a daily or weekly limit on how many candidates the Agent contacts?
No. There is no daily or weekly contact cap. You control spend by reducing applicant volume (clear requirements, a focused application form, and knock-out questions), unpublishing jobs once you have enough candidates, and switching the Agent off on jobs that no longer need it.
- Can I set a limit on how many credits the Agent can use per job?
No. There is no per-job or per-account credit cap, and the Agent keeps screening candidates as long as account credits are available.
- If I stop the Agent mid-process, what happens to candidates already in a chat?
The Agent stops taking new actions and stops sending follow-ups. Chat links that were already sent stop working, so a candidate cannot resume a conversation once you have stopped the Agent for that candidate or job. The credit that was consumed to start screening the candidate is not refunded.
- How do I stop the Agent completely?
Switch the Agent off on the job, or have an admin switch off AI features for the whole account in settings.