How to Set Up and Manage Custom Recruiter Pools

Overview

Custom Recruiter Pools let you route prospective students to the right recruiter automatically, based on rules you configure — rather than relying on manual assignment for every new prospect. A pool can match prospects by their student Attributes (like program interest or location), by Name Rules (like first-letter ranges), by both, or by neither if you want a pool anyone can be manually added to.

Any prospect who doesn't match a Custom Pool falls through to the Default Recruitment Pool, so every new prospect always ends up with a recruiter assigned.

At a Glance

Assignment methods: Attribute-based, Name Rules only, or both together
Match type logic: Any Of or All Of — controls how multiple Attributes combine within a pool
Optional pipeline status limit: restrict a pool to only run for prospects at a specific stage (see the dedicated article below)
Custom Pools and the Default Pool are mutually exclusive — a prospect is assigned from one or the other, never both
Test before you commit: the Test Pools preview shows exactly how a real or hypothetical student would route, with no data changes

Creating a Custom Recruiter Pool

Navigate to Recruitment Center > Manage Recruiter Pools.
Click Add Custom Pool.
Name the pool.
Choose an assignment method (see below).
Assign one or more recruiters to the pool.
Save the pool.

The Default Recruitment Pool is shown at the bottom of the Manage Recruiter Pools page (the page heading reads "Recruitment Pool Options"), below your Custom Pools, so your active pool configuration stays front and center.

Choosing an Assignment Method

Each Custom Pool uses one of the following assignment methods:

Attribute-Based: Select one or more Student Attributes at the pool level. Prospects who match are routed into the pool, then assigned to a recruiter associated with the matching attribute(s).
Name Rules Only: Select "Use name rules only (no attribute required)" to route prospects entirely by name pattern (starts with, ends with, contains, or letter range) — no attribute configuration needed.
Both: A pool can use Attributes and Name Rules together for more precise routing.

Setting Match Type Logic for Attributes

When a pool uses two or more Attributes, choose how they combine:

Any Of: a prospect matches the pool if they have at least one of the selected Attributes.
All Of: a prospect matches only if they have every selected Attribute.
"None Of" is not currently available at the pool level — pool configuration supports Any Of and All Of. "None Of" exists as a filter option on the All Prospective Students, My Prospective Students, Unassigned Prospective Students, My Recruitment Tasks, and All Recruitment Tasks pages only.

Please note: If a pool is set to "Use name rules only," the Attribute Match Type selector is hidden, since there are no Attributes to combine.

Limiting a Pool to a Specific Pipeline Status

You can restrict a Custom Pool so it only assigns recruiters when a prospect is at a specific pipeline status (for example, Interested or Applied). Pools left at "None (any status)" continue to run at every stage. See How to Configure Pipeline Status Filters for Custom Recruiter Pools for full configuration steps.

Reviewing Pool Details with the Hover Card

Hover over any pool on the Manage Recruiter Pools page to see its details without opening it: assigned recruiters (or "None assigned" if the pool is empty), and — for pools using Name Rules — the specific rule configuration (starts with, ends with, contains, or letter range).

Testing Assignment Logic Before It Runs

Use Test Pools on the Manage Recruiter Pools page to preview how a student would be routed, without creating any real assignment or changing any student data:

Click Test Pools.
Choose Existing user to test against a real student's current name and attributes, or Hypothetical prospect to enter a fictional name and any combination of attributes.
Click Run Preview.
Review the results table: which pool(s) the student matches, the pool's attributes and match conditions, the assignment method (for example, round robin or lowest workload), and the possible recruiter(s) who could be assigned.

If no pool matches, the preview shows that the student would fall through to the Default Pool. If a pool has a status restriction configured, pools that don't match the prospect's status appear in a "Skipped (required prospect status)" section below the results rather than as an eligible match, and hypothetical prospects get a Prospect status selector so you can test status-based routing directly.

Viewing Recruiter Pool Assignment History

Every time a prospect is processed through a recruiter pool, a log entry is recorded on the Prospective Student Details page showing the pool name, the assigned recruiter, the assignment source, and a timestamp. Entries are never overwritten and display in reverse chronological order — this is the fastest way to troubleshoot an assignment that doesn't look right.

Assignment source is one of: Form Submission, Attribute Added, Cohort Added, Pipeline Stage Change, Name-Only Pool, Pipelines Manual Add, Pipelines Spreadsheet Upload, Pipelines Mass Assign By Attribute, Student Lookup, Segments Spreadsheet Upload, Manual Pool Assign, or Bulk Pool Assign. Note that "manual" assignment can come from two distinct sources — Manual Pool Assign and Pipelines Manual Add — depending on where the assignment was made.

Bulk Adding Prospects to a Pool

From the Unassigned Prospective Students or All Prospective Students page, select the prospects you want to add.
Click Bulk Add to Pool and choose the target pool.

Please note: Manually adding a prospect to a pool (individually or in bulk) overrides Attribute-based pool entry — the prospect is added to the pool even if they don't meet its Attribute criteria.

How Custom Pools and the Default Pool Interact

Every new prospect is assigned to a recruiter from either a matching Custom Recruiter Pool or the Default Recruitment Pool — never both. This applies everywhere prospects are created (registration forms, bulk actions, Audience Segments, FTP import, and manual entry), so assignment behavior stays predictable and there's no overlapping ownership to clean up.

Things to Know

A Recruiter Pool Guide is also available directly on the Manage Recruiter Pool page.
Auto-assignment strictly respects Pipeline Stage Settings — a prospect will only be assigned from pools configured for their current stage, and attribute-based pools will only match prospects whose attributes align with the pool's configuration.
FTP-imported prospects are correctly evaluated against Custom Pools regardless of the pipeline status they enter at (for example, Admitted, Accepted, Applied, or Enrolled) — not just Interested.