Using Questionnaires

ApplicantStack™ has a robust Questions module that enables you to present a specific set(s) of questions to the applicant as part of the online application process. Using questionnaires can help you collect data on candidates that will allow you to sort through candidates more efficiently.

Internal users will find the Questions module helpful as it provides them the ability to give feedback on candidates throughout the application process.

There is no limit on how many questionnaires can be created and associated with jobs or used for candidate feedback.

Adding Questionnaires to a Job

When a candidate applies for a job, they will generally fill out some basic demographic information and possibly attach a resume or cover letter. You can collect more detailed information from a candidate by attaching one or more questionnaires.

Adding a questionnaire to a job can be accomplished by navigating to the desired job’s detail view and then by selecting New Questionnaire or Add From Library from the Questions Tab.

If you wish to create a new questionnaire, please refer to Questionnaires

When selecting Add from Library, you are presented with a list of existing questionnaires from the Library. A questionnaire can be added by clicking on or highlighting the name of the questionnaire. To select more than one at a time, hold down the CTRL key and click each desired questionnaire.

In the drop down choose Share if you want to use the questionnaire as is from the library and not make any modifications to the questionnaire. If you want to make modifications to the questionnaire for this specific job, choose Copy. This will make a copy of the questionnaire and associate it with this job only. Any changes you make will not modify this questionnaire in the library or this questionnaire that is attached to another job. When you have selected your questionnaire(s), click Submit to commit your selections or Cancel to discard your selections.

Viewing Questionnaires submitted by Candidates

You can access any questionnaires submitted by a candidate by clicking on the candidate’s name, then clicking the Answers Tab. From the Answers Tab, you can access answers that candidates have provided to Questionnaires as well as edit them and submit new ones on their behalf.

For more information see User Guide: Candidates.

Submitting Questionnaires as Feedback

Clicking the Feedback Tab allows you to access questionnaire answers that other users have submitted regarding the candidate. Questionnaires can be attached to emails (see Email), as well as tasks and events (see Tasks and Events).

The questionnaires can be sent to multiple managers/reviewers to collect responses and each response set indicates the user who provided the answers.

You can edit the feedback submission by clicking the edit icon in the feedback name bar. This will open another screen allowing you to make your modifications and commit your changes. Clicking the trashcan icon will delete the questionnaire.

Scoring Rules

You can set up scoring rules for all the candidates for a specific job. This is a valuable tool that can help you sort candidates in a more meaningful way. These rules can help you decide whether a candidate is unqualified for the position or a top prospect.

A Candidate’s score is displayed in the Candidate Grid and can be sorted by score. Knockout scores are displayed as KO. If no rules triggered for the candidate (i.e. there are no scoring rules for the job/questionnaire), the score will not display.

A filter can be applied to only show Candidates that have a score (or no score) or have a knockout indicator (or have not been knocked out). Score is also available as a data element for Reporting. See Reports for more information.

You can create and view scoring rules in two places. The first is on the Job details page under the Scoring Tab.

Creating rules here will only apply to the selected job and will override any rules that you may have on an existing questionnaire. You will notice two buttons on the right side of the screen. The first is Create Rule. This is used to create a scoring rule for any given questionnaire or for words/phrases contained in resumes. The second button is Run Rules. Anytime an Online application is submitted to the system, the rules run and the candidate’s scoring is calculated. Rules can also be run manually from the Job Scoring tab by selecting Run Rules, which is especially useful if you have changed any of the scoring rules for a questionnaire as it will recalculate all candidates’ scores.

You can also create rules for questionnaires under the Library Tab. These rules will apply to every instance of the questionnaire no matter the job. For example, if the General Questions questionnaire had scoring rules attached and the questionnaire was attached to six jobs, all six jobs would use the same scoring rules unless overridden by creating rules for the particular job described above.

To learn more about how to create these rules, please see Questions and Forms.