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Candidate qualification questions

Qualification questions help you spot obvious mismatches before you even hit play on a screening video. Here's how they work.

Updated over 2 months ago

Each answer is captured as structured data—yes/no, a number, or a single pick—that sharpens Truffle’s matching, filters your pipeline, and saves reviewers hours.


What you’ll learn

  • How the Hiring Brain auto‑generates a draft set of qualifiers

  • Best practices for yes/no, numeric, and select‑list questions

  • Setting pass criteria and quick filters

  • When to use—or skip—qualification questions


Where this happens

Create or edit a job → Candidate qualifications panel (between Intake and Screening). You’ll see an AI‑Recommended label on the first pass plus a blue link When should I use qualifications? for quick tips.


How Truffle drafts your questions

  1. Parse the job description + intake bullets for hard requirements (e.g., shift work, travel %, licence).

  2. Search the role library for common deal‑breakers (e.g., remote eligibility, visa status).

  3. Return up to seven suggestions you can accept, edit, or delete.

Heads‑up: Qualifiers do not auto‑reject candidates. Instead, answers feed analysis and let you understand quickly who meets the basic requirements with one click.


Question types & examples

Type

When to use it

Candidate experience

Example

Pass criteria

Yes / No

Simple must‑have or must‑not

One tap

“Are you legally authorised to work in Canada?”

Yes = Meets, No = Flag

Numeric

Years of experience, speed, quota

Entry field

“How many direct reports have you managed?”

≥ 3

Select list

Limited set of options

Dropdown

“Select your highest Salesforce certification”

Pick = Administrator, Developer, Architect

Pro tips

  • Keep it factual (licences, location, availability) to avoid bias.

  • Limit to 3–5 questions; extra noise slows review.

  • Phrase so Yes is usually the desirable answer—easier to scan.


Setting pass criteria

  1. Click the filter icon beside each question.

  2. Choose Meets, Doesn’t meet, or set a numeric minimum/maximum.

  3. These rules power the Quick filter chips on your Candidates tab.

Example: Years of B2B SaaS support experience ≥ 2. Candidates under the bar show a red "Below min" tag.


When to skip qualification questions

  • Ultra‑small talent pools (e.g., niche researchers) where every application deserves a look.

  • Campus or early‑career roles where hard requirements are minimal.

  • Internal moves when HR already validated eligibility.


Editing after go‑live

  • You can add, remove, or tweak qualifiers anytime.

  • New applicants will see the updated set.

  • Existing candidates retain their original answers; the grid shows a grey Out‑of‑date tag so you know the rule changed.


FAQs

Do qualifiers impact match scores?
Yes. The Hiring Brain weights answers in the overall score but never auto‑rejects so humans stay in control.

Can candidates edit their answers?
No. They’d need to withdraw and reapply; keeps the data clean.


Next steps

  1. Review the AI‑recommended qualifiers—keep what’s useful, delete what’s noise.

  2. Head to Screening questions to craft prompts that dig deeper into the traits you listed in Intake.

  3. Preview the candidate flow to ensure wording is clear and bias‑free.

Need a sanity check? Pop the chat bubble and share your draft; we’ll review it live.

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