Adding custom Q&A topics

Updated at August 20th, 2026

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Table of Contents

Use cases Add custom Q&A topics with Contextual AI Manage conflicts Add custom Q&A topics without Contextual AI FAQs

The following guide outlines the process to add custom content to Standard Candidate Q&A.

Use cases

Teams who are getting multiple candidates asking about a topic(s) that is outside our standard Candidate Q&A knowledge base.
Teams who have a specific topic(s) that is unique to their organization that does not interfere with intents we currently support within our standard knowledge base.

Add custom Q&A topics with Contextual AI

When Contextual AI is enabled in the Contextual AI section of Client Setup, then Company/Account Admins or other users who have been granted permission can autonomously add custom topics by following the below steps.

Select All Apps in the top left corner of the header and then CMS from its drop-down menu.
Within the CMS, select the Candidate Q&A section to open the Candidate Q&A Response list view.
In the top right corner, select the settings icon and then + Add Custom Topics.
In the Add Custom Topics slide-out drawer that opens, enter the following details into the fields:
- Sample Question – Provide an example question a candidate may ask to trigger the topic.
- Sample Response – Create an appropriate answer that your client's AI Assistant would respond with. You can use text editing tools for bold, italics, underline, as well as creating numbered lists, bulleted lists, and hyperlinks within the response window.
Select the Create button.
Publish the CMS.

Manage conflicts

If you add a custom topic with a response that conflicts with already existing responses, you’ll need to manage conflicts and select which response you want to keep. Learn more about managing conflicts here.

Add custom Q&A topics without Contextual AI

If you do not have Contextual AI enabled for your account, you cannot manually add custom topics to the CMS. Instead, these topics have to be added with the help of your CS Representative/System Implementor.

FAQs

What qualifies as a worthwhile custom topic?

Content that is related to unique attributes, processes, information, etc. that is exclusive to your company AND the candidates that are engaging with it.
- Some examples may include:
  - Stand-out programs your customers have that they want to highlight.
  - Questions that might come through from candidates asking customer support questions (like tracking questions related to an order they placed).
The topics need to make sense for the company’s Candidate Q&A use case.
- Custom topics must relate to the hiring processes the company has (i.e., hiring process, talent acquisition, recruitment operations).

What issues can arise from adding custom content?

The custom content has not been trained as frequently and consistently as the topics included in our standard Candidate Q&A knowledge base.
- This imbalances the system where your AI Assistant is matching queries with responses, which could result in them giving the custom topic responses more often than they should.
The custom topic competes with other previously trained topics and can be matched at inappropriate times.
- This is why custom builds need to be supported by candidate usage data AND to ensure it does not interfere with existing intents.

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