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[Closed Beta] Creating a Bolt Agent Job

Learn how to create a Bolt Agent Job—choose goals, assign agents, set actions, manage approvals, and configure triggers.

Michael Stephenson avatar
Written by Michael Stephenson
Updated over a week ago

Overview

Once you understand what Bolt Agent Jobs are and when to use them, the next step is creating one. This article walks you through how to set up a job in Element451—from choosing a goal to configuring actions and assigning your Bolt Agent.

If you’re looking for an overview first, check out Getting Started with Bolt Agent Jobs.


Creating a Bolt Job

To get started creating a new Bolt Agent Job, head over to the Bolt Agents section of Element451:

  1. Navigate to Engagement > Bolt Agents.

  2. Click the Jobs tab in the left-hand menu. You’ll see a table of all existing jobs, along with key stats such as the total number of people, approvals needed, and the last action date.

  3. Select + New Job in the top-right corner.

You’re now in the job builder! Let’s walk through each section below.


General Configurations

  • Name

    • Replace the default “Untitled Job” with a descriptive name that clearly indicates the purpose of the job.

  • Active

    • Toggle the job on when you’re ready to launch it. It’s best to complete your configuration before activating.

  • Description

    • Add an internal-facing summary to help your team understand the purpose and context of the job.

  • Max Enrollments

    • Add a cap, or a maximum number of people that can be enrolled in this job. After that number is hit, it will stop.

  • Goal

    • Choose the outcome you’re asking your Bolt Agent to achieve. The job’s goal cannot be changed once created, so choose carefully.

    • Depending on your selected goal, you may be prompted to provide additional context, like choosing which application, form, or event applies.

  • Past Activities

    • Enable this to allow the agent to check if the contact has already completed the goal. If so, they will be marked as "Goal Completed." Turn this off if you want the job only to apply going forward.

  • Bolt Agent

    • Select the Bolt Agent that should own the job. Choose an agent based on its configured expertise. You can manage your Bolt Agents in the All Agents section.

  • Instructions

    • Provide high-level guidance on how the Bolt Agent should approach the job.

      • Instructions are optional, but recommended.

      • Instructions can include guidance for things like:

        • Preferred communication channels (e.g., “only email”)

        • Cadence of outreach (e.g., “no more than twice per week”)

        • Content focus based on audience (e.g., nursing students → promote clinical sites and exam pass rate)

        • Tone (casual vs. formal), urgency, or strategic focus areas

  • Segment

    • Choose the segment of contacts who will be enrolled in this job. This is your target audience. This works similarly to Workflows, where your audience is loaded once during job creation. If you want to add contacts to the job dynamically, you can use the trigger option. We discuss triggers later in this article.

  • Deadline

    • Set a date by which the job should end. After midnight on this date, the agent will stop taking action for this job.


Goals

The goal is the core outcome you want your Bolt Agent to achieve. Everything in the job revolves around it. It sets the purpose and defines what success looks like. The goal you select will determine what context the agent needs (such as a specific form, application, or event), and it helps shape the agent's strategy.

  • Important: Once a goal is selected and the job is created, it cannot be changed, so choose thoughtfully.

  • Tip: Need help choosing the right goal or designing a smart job strategy? Check out our guide on Advanced Strategies and Best Practices for Bolt Agent Jobs, which includes recommendations, use cases, and tips to align jobs with your institution’s goals.

Available Goals & Descriptions

Below are the goal types available when creating a Bolt Job, along with their intended outcomes:

Goal

Description

Inform or Notify

Deliver a message or piece of information to the contact; no action required.

Capture Leads

Collect initial interest or contact details from a new prospect.

Start Application

Get the contact to begin filling out an application.

Submit Application

Encourage the contact to complete and submit an application they’ve started.

Submit Form

Get the contact to complete and submit a specified form.

Sign Up for Event

Get the contact to register for a specific event.

Schedule Appointment

Encourage the contact to book an appointment.

Join Segment

Get the contact to meet the conditions to join a specific segment.

Leave Segment

Get the contact to meet the conditions to leave a specific segment.


Actions

Once your job’s structure is in place—goal, audience, assigned agent—it’s time to define what your Bolt Agent is allowed to do to achieve the goal. These are called Actions.

An Action is a permission your Bolt Agent uses to engage with a contact, whether that’s sending a message, promoting a form, or scheduling a meeting. You can add multiple actions per job, and order matters: the agent will prioritize actions from top to bottom.

Important: If an action uses a feature that consumes usage credits (such as sending an SMS), the same charges apply when the agent performs it. In general, anything that costs credits when done manually will also consume credits when done by a Bolt Agent.

Adding an Action

  1. Click + Add Action button from the job configuration screen.

  2. Replace “Untitled Action” with a clear, descriptive name to help you identify what the agent is trying to do.

  3. Configure the settings in both the General and Self-Approval tabs, as explained below.

  4. Click Save in the top right corner.

  5. Repeat steps 1-4 to add more actions.

General Tab

  • Name: Give the action a descriptive name that reflects its purpose.

  • Skill Type: Choose the type of action the agent should take.

  • Context Settings: Some skill types require you to select additional context. For example, if you’re promoting an event, you'll need to select which event.

Action

Context Needed

Make Introduction

None

Promote Application

Select the application

Schedule Appointment

Select the availability

Enroll in Workflow

Select the workflow

Promote Event

Select the event

Promote Form

Select the form

Provide Information

None

  • Enabled?: Toggle on or off to determine whether the agent can use this action.

  • Instructions: Provide specific guidance for how the agent should carry out this action. This can include tone, messaging points, or behavior rules.

Self-Approval Tab

Use these settings to control when your Bolt Agent can act independently versus when it should request human approval.

  • Self-Approval Toggle: Enable this toggle if the agent should be allowed to complete this action without human review and approval.

  • Approval Guidelines: Add free-text guidance to help the agent decide when to act independently and when to ask for approval. You can add multiple guidelines and reorder them. The agent will follow them in order.

Important: Enabling self-approval means you’re allowing the agent to take action on its own, without human input. This effectively removes the “human in the loop” for this particular action. You should only enable self-approval when you’re confident the action is low-risk or you’ve provided detailed, clear approval guidelines. Proceed with caution and test thoroughly before scaling.

Action Settings

Under your list of actions, you'll see two additional settings to configure:

  • Approvers: Select internal users who should review and approve agent actions. These users will receive notifications when their review and approval are needed.

  • Urgent: For cases where the agent should send a message immediately upon enrollment. This setting also reduces time spent in the monitoring state, prompting faster action.


Triggers

In addition to enrolling people through a segment, you can also use triggers to automatically add individuals to the job based on specific actions they take.

This can be used in conjunction with your segment. For example, you might start with a segment of inquiry-stage students and also set up a trigger to enroll anyone who submits a Request for Information (RFI).

Adding a Trigger

  1. Click + Add Trigger

  2. Choose a trigger (see the list of options below)

  3. Enter a name and description

  4. Set the trigger to Active or Inactive

List of Trigger Options

  • Applications

    • Application Completed

    • Application Started

    • Application Submitted

    • Recommendation Submitted

  • Appointments

    • Appointment Attended

    • Appointment Canceled

    • Appointment No Show

    • Appointment Scheduled

    • Appointment Updated

  • Conversations

    • Conversation Started

  • Decisions

    • Decision Checklist Items

    • Decision Released

    • Decision Stage Changed

    • Decision Status Changed

  • Documents

    • Document Uploaded

  • Events

    • Event Signup

  • Forms

    • Form Submitted

  • Labels

    • User Label Added

    • User Label Removed

  • Users

    • Joined Segment

    • Joined or Left Segment

    • Left Segment

    • User Birthday

    • User Territory Changed


What’s Next

Once your job is fully configured and activated, your Bolt Agent will begin working with enrolled contacts to achieve the goal.

To learn how to track progress, review agent actions, and manage approvals, continue to: Monitoring Bolt Agent Job Progress and Managing Approvals.


note Bolt Agent Jobs is currently in closed beta, not yet available to all partners. If you have access, you may notice ongoing updates as we continue to refine the feature and improve the experience. Stay tuned—wider access is coming soon!

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