A screening process that rejects the obvious, never silently.
Start your screening process on the application form. Set knockout questions for the requirements that aren't negotiable: work permit, driving licence, on-site availability. Fail one and the application is rejected automatically, so nobody spends review time on a candidate who can't take the role. Every decision is logged with the answer and the rule that matched, and a recruiter can reverse it in one click.
Optional, Required, or Knockout: set per question.
Every screening question on the application form carries a tier. Optional: the candidate can skip it. Required: they must answer to submit, but the answer itself has no consequence. Knockout: fail it and the application is rejected the next day. Use Knockout only for the requirements that are genuinely non-negotiable, like work permit, driving licence, or on-site availability, so the recruiter's review time goes to candidates who can actually take the role.
Optional: skippable, no consequence
Required: must answer to submit, answer doesn't gate anything
Knockout: a failing answer rejects the application the next day
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Seven question types, five of them Knockout-capable.
Boolean for yes/no (work permit, on-site availability). Single-select for one choice among several (certification level: none, basic, advanced). Multi-select for coverage ('which of these tools have you used?'). Numeric for thresholds (years of experience, salary expectation). Date for timing (earliest start, notice period). All five support the Knockout tier. Text and file upload round out the set for information you want on record, but neither can be a Knockout: there's no rule to match a free-text answer or a file against.
Boolean, single-select, multi-select, numeric, and date all support Knockout
Text and file upload are Optional or Required only, never Knockout
Pick the type that fits the requirement; the tier stays independent of it
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Automatic, but never silent. Reversible, always.
A Knockout fail rejects the candidate the next day: the stage moves to Rejected and the rejection email sends automatically, no recruiter action needed. Every decision is logged on the candidate profile with the answer given and the rule that matched, so nothing is a black box. Rejected candidates aren't hidden or deleted, and a recruiter can reverse the decision with a dedicated restore action if a rule was wrong.
Knockout fail rejects and emails the candidate the next day
Every decision logged with the answer and the rule that triggered it
One-click restore reverses a wrong rejection; nothing is deleted
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Filter the obvious mismatches before review.
Seven question types
Boolean, single-select, multi-select, numeric, date, text, and file upload. Five support Knockout; text and file don't.
Optional, Required, or Knockout
Set the tier per question. Only Knockout rejects automatically; Optional and Required never do.
Per-role configuration
Screening questions attach to the job's application form, so each role asks its own. Templates make the common combinations reusable.
Auditable and reversible
Each knockout outcome logs the answer the candidate gave and the rule that triggered, and a recruiter can restore a wrong rejection. Compliance-ready, no manual record-keeping.
What customers say about Join.Recruiters and hiring managers who use it.
“The goal isn't the highest number of applications. It's the right people getting far enough through to have a real conversation”
Sophie Van SlambrouckInternational Recruitment Manager, AQUALEXRead the story
“If Join disappeared tomorrow, it would completely blow up our candidate management. We'd have no pipeline and no application flow. We'd have to start over entirely.”
“Major advantage of Join: it increases visibility and improves the way we reach out to candidates. Join really helped us find the right people.”
Deborah MoschioniHead of HR, Coffee CircleRead the story
Screening FAQ
What are the steps in a screening process?
First, write down the requirements a candidate must already meet and how you will check each one. Second, ask about the hard requirements on the application form: in Join, a knockout question rejects an application that fails one and logs the answer and the rule, and a recruiter can restore a wrong rejection. Third, review the remaining applications against the same criteria, from the CV and the answers to the screening questions. Fourth, clarify what is still open in a short call or a first interview, then record the outcome: move the candidate forward or decline. Our glossary covers what candidate screening means in more depth.
What's a knockout question?
A screening question set to the Knockout tier: if a candidate's answer fails the rule (no work permit, no driving licence, can't start on time), the application is rejected automatically, before anyone spends review time on it.
What types of knockout questions does Join support?
Boolean (yes/no), single-select (pick one), multi-select (pick several), numeric (years of experience, salary expectation), and date (earliest start, notice period) can all be set to Knockout. Text and file-upload questions exist too, but only as Optional or Required: there's no rule to match a free-text answer or a file against, so they can't reject.
Does Join auto-reject candidates who fail a knockout?
Yes, the next day: the stage moves to Rejected and the rejection email sends automatically, without waiting on a recruiter. That's the point of the Knockout tier: it removes review time on candidates who don't meet a non-negotiable requirement. It's never silent (the candidate is emailed) and never a black box (the answer and the rule are logged), and a recruiter can restore a wrong rejection in one click. Rejected candidates aren't hidden or deleted.
Is there an audit trail for knockout decisions?
Yes. Every knockout outcome is logged on the candidate profile with the answer they gave and the rule that triggered. Compliance-ready: useful for GDPR audits and for the EU AI Act human-oversight requirement on candidate-decision systems.
Do Optional and Required screening questions ever reject a candidate?
No. Only the Knockout tier can reject an application. Optional questions can be skipped with no consequence. Required questions must be answered to submit, but the answer itself never gates or flags anything: they're for information you want on file, not for filtering candidates.
