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Every 30 minutes

Screen applicants in a sheet and email each one

Every new applicant in your sheet is scored against the job, the score is written back, and they get the right email.

Runs
Every 30 minutes
Apps
Google Sheets, SendGrid
AI
Yes, uses the built-in AI allowance
Access
sheet edit; SendGrid Mail Send

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: check my Applicants sheet every hour. Score each new applicant against the job description, write the score in the row, and send them our next-steps or thank-you email through SendGrid.

Paste it into your assistant. It tells you what it will send or change before it runs live.

First time? Adding ClickRuntime to your assistant takes about two minutes.

Why use it

Why teams use this automation

A small company hiring for one role gets eighty applications through a form that feeds a sheet. The founder reads them at night, applicants wait a week to hear anything, and the strongest ones accept other offers in the meantime.

Each new row is now read against the job description within the hour. The score and a one-line reason go into the sheet, strong candidates get an invitation to the next step, and everyone else gets a polite reply instead of silence.

What you get out of it

  • Every applicant hears back

    A prompt reply, even a no, is the courtesy most applicants never get, and it reflects well on your company.

  • Strong candidates move first

    The best matches get next-step emails the same day, before another offer reaches them.

  • Scores you can sort

    A score and reason in each row let you sort the sheet and read the top ten first.

  • Your judgment stays in charge

    The score is a first pass. You can change any row's status before the email goes out if you prefer to review first.

How it works

What happens, step by step

  1. Every hour, ClickRuntime reads your applicants sheet and picks out rows without a score.

  2. AI compares each applicant with your job description and gives a score and a one-line reason.

  3. The score and reason are written back into the row, which also stops it being handled twice.

  4. Each applicant gets your next-steps or thank-you email through SendGrid, depending on the score.

Before it runs live

  • Connect your Google Sheets account and pick the spreadsheets it may use
  • Connect SendGrid

What you get

RunsEvery 30 minutes
Screen applicants in a sheet and email each onetoday, 9:00Succeeded
Google Sheets · ApplicantsRow 42: Dana R., score 8, five years in SaaS support, EU-based. Next-steps email sent.

Build your own

Need it to work differently?

This template is a starting point. Copy the prompt and change it, or describe a different automation from scratch, with your own conditions, more apps or an AI step. Your assistant writes it, tests it and runs it on ClickRuntime.
  • Your own rules

    Conditions, thresholds, filters and exceptions, written the way you'd explain them to a colleague.

  • Any number of apps

    One automation can read from one app and update several others. Over 248 apps are ready, and anything with an API works too.

  • AI where it helps

    Summaries, classification, extraction and drafts use ClickRuntime's built-in AI, with no extra key.

  • On a schedule or on each event

    Runs as often as every 5 minutes, or the moment an app sends an event, and keeps track of what it already handled.

Changes you can ask for

  • Act only on the items that match your own rules, and skip the rest
  • Change what the AI looks for, or how it writes the result
  • Add another app, for example also send it to Slack
  • Combine it with other Google Sheets and SendGrid steps into one automation

Under the hood

The code that runs this automation

This is the Python script that runs each time the automation starts. Your AI assistant writes it for you when you send the prompt, and you allow each step in your assistant. To change how the automation works, describe the change to your assistant and it updates the script for you. For every function it can use, see the script reference.
screen_candidates_and_email_results.pyexample
from google.oauth2.credentials import Credentials
from googleapiclient.discovery import build
from clickruntime import on_trigger, credentials, http, ai, report_fetched

SHEET_ID = "your-spreadsheet-id"
JOB = "Customer success manager, B2B SaaS, 3+ years, remote in EU."

@on_trigger
def run(event):
    values = build("sheets", "v4", credentials=Credentials(credentials.connection("google", "work")), cache_discovery=False).spreadsheets().values()
    rows = values.get(spreadsheetId=SHEET_ID, range="Applicants!A2:E").execute().get("values", [])
    new = [(i + 2, r) for i, r in enumerate(rows) if len(r) >= 3 and len(r) < 4]
    report_fetched(len(new))
    if not new:
        return {"summary": "No new applicants"}
    key = credentials.secret("SENDGRID_API_KEY")
    for row_num, (name, email, answers, *_) in new:
        result = ai.generate(f"Job: {JOB}\nApplicant answers: {answers[:2000]}", max_output_tokens=80,
                             json_schema={"type": "object", "properties": {"score": {"type": "integer"}, "reason": {"type": "string"}}}).json
        values.update(spreadsheetId=SHEET_ID, range=f"Applicants!D{row_num}:E{row_num}", valueInputOption="RAW",
                      body={"values": [[result["score"], result["reason"]]]}).execute()
        template = "d-nextsteps" if result["score"] >= 7 else "d-thankyou"
        http.post("https://api.sendgrid.com/v3/mail/send", headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {key}"},
                  json={"from": {"email": "jobs@northwind.example"}, "template_id": template,
                        "personalizations": [{"to": [{"email": email}], "dynamic_template_data": {"name": name}}]})
    return {"scored": len(new)}

FAQ

Common questions

What does the score look at?
The applicant's answers and CV text compared with the requirements in your job description, such as skills, experience and location. It gives a score out of 10 and a short reason.
Can I review before rejection emails go out?
Yes. Ask for only invitations to be sent automatically, and for rejections to wait until you mark the row as approved.
What if an applicant applies twice?
Rows with an email address that already has a score are skipped, so the same person is not scored or emailed again.
What permissions does it need?
sheet edit; SendGrid Mail Send. Nothing else in your accounts is used.
Does it need AI?
Yes. It uses ClickRuntime's built-in AI, so you don't need an OpenAI or Anthropic key. Every plan includes a monthly AI allowance.
How many runs does it use?
One run each time it checks. Checks that find nothing new and stop right away aren't counted.
Can I change how it works?
Yes. Describe the change to your AI assistant, for example a different schedule, channel or filter. It updates the automation, tests it and tells you what changed.

Set up “Screen applicants in a sheet and email each one” from your assistant

Copy the prompt above, or connect your assistant first. Free plan, no credit card.