# Candidate discovery: working checklist

Companion to https://lunaprompts.com/blog/skills-based-candidate-discovery-guide

LunaPrompts Editorial. Original illustrative exercise.

## Define the workflow

- Role or campaign:
- Owner:
- Decision this workflow should support:
- Candidate instructions and support route:

## Worked example: Build a shortlist for an agent role

A team needs someone to maintain a tool-using workflow over business data. The recruiter and engineering manager identify Python, SQL, and failure handling as essential. Familiarity with one particular agent framework is useful but teachable.

Search the configured sources using that brief. A profile might describe a data automation project without using the current title “agent engineer.” Another might contain the right keywords but little detail about ownership. Both deserve a review based on the relevant work, not automatic conclusions from the vocabulary.

For each shortlisted person, write a short invitation rationale: the experience that appears relevant and the capability the assessment should clarify. Keep the profile source and the date of the information visible in the recruiter’s workflow. Before contacting a previously known candidate, check that the opportunity is relevant and follow the organization’s contact practices.

Use the assessment to test the hypothesis. A strong match label should not carry forward as a demonstrated skill unless the person’s work supports it. Conversely, a candidate with an unusual title may show exactly the capability the role needs. Discovery is doing its job when it expands a relevant evaluation pool and produces a clearer handoff.

## Review checklist

- [ ] Search requirement: A skill connected to actual work
  Evidence or open question:
- [ ] Profile evidence: Relevant experience and ownership
  Evidence or open question:
- [ ] Source context: Where the information came from
  Evidence or open question:
- [ ] Assessment question: What the profile cannot establish
  Evidence or open question:

## Working session

Rewrite an open-role search without using its job title. List three responsibilities and the evidence that would justify an invitation.

## Avoid this mistake

Do not promote a profile match into a skills score. The first helps decide whom to invite; the second should come from actual evaluation.

## Record the next step

- Observed evidence:
- What remains uncertain:
- Person responsible:
- Next action and date:

Keep candidate examples anonymous when sharing this worksheet.