For employers filtering candidates against must-have requirements before the interview starts.
Qualification checks are pre-interview filter questions. Work authorization, specific certifications, years of experience, and so on. Each question can be set to Informational (flag failures but let candidates through) or Required (hard knockout. Candidates who fail a Required question are blocked from completing the interview). To add qualification checks, toggle on Qualification checks on Step 2 of position setup, then add and configure the questions on Step 3.
How to add qualification checks
To add qualification checks to a position, turn on the component on Step 2 and add questions on Step 3.
On Step 2: Build interview, toggle on Qualification checks.
Click Next: Configure interview.
On Step 3, open the Qualification Checks section.
Click + Add question, or click Generate with AI to have Truffle suggest qualifications based on your position description.
Pick the question type (below), write the prompt, and set the passing condition.
Toggle Required on if a failure should block the candidate. Leave it off for Informational.
Repeat for as many checks as you need.
Informational vs. Required
Every qualification question has a Required toggle. It controls what happens when a candidate fails.
Informational (toggle off). The default. A failing answer flags the candidate but doesn't block them. They complete the full interview. You see a pass/fail indicator on their profile; you decide whether to keep or reject them.
Required (toggle on). A failing answer is a hard knockout. The candidate is shown a "Thanks for your interest — unfortunately you don't meet the requirements for this role" message and can't continue to the video interview or assessments. Their application is automatically set to Not qualified (a terminal status) in your dashboard.
Use Required for true dealbreakers. Legal work authorization, licenses without which the role can't be performed. Use Informational for soft criteria. Years of experience, specific tool familiarity. Where you might still want to evaluate a close-but-below-threshold candidate.
The four question types
Pick the type that matches the shape of the answer you need.
Yes/No. Binary requirements. "Do you have authorization to work in the US?" or "Do you have a valid commercial driver's license?"
Numeric. Anything countable, with a pass threshold. "How many years of experience do you have with React?" You set a minimum (or maximum); candidates outside the range fail.
Select list. Multi-option answers. "Which shifts are you available for?" with options like Weekdays only, Weekends only, Both. You mark which options are acceptable; everything else fails.
Free-form. Short text answers. Informational only. Free-form questions can't be set to Required, since there's no automatic way to grade open-ended text. Use these to collect context you want to read (for example, "What's your notice period?").
What candidates see
Every qualification question is mandatory for candidates to answer. There are no optional ones. Candidates work through them one at a time as part of the pre-interview flow, before the video interview and before any assessments.
If a candidate fails a Required question, they're shown the knockout message immediately and can't continue. If they fail only Informational questions, they proceed through the rest of the interview as normal. They don't see which questions were Required and which were Informational.
Where flagged and knocked-out candidates show up
Candidates are routed based on how they finished.
Completed the interview, all qualifications passed. Appear in the For Review tab as normal.
Completed the interview, failed one or more Informational checks. Appear in For Review with a red qualification-failed indicator on their row. Their profile's Profile tab shows pass/fail per question.
Failed a Required check and got knocked out. Appear in For Review with status Not qualified (terminal). They're not in the Incomplete tab; they're not sent reminder emails. You can still open their profile to see what they answered, but there's nothing to review.
Related
Where do I see candidates for a position?. The Candidate list shows qualification-failed and Not-qualified candidates.