Configure Prescreening
Prescreening lets you ask candidates the right questions upfront — helping you assess fit, validate requirements, and filter applicants before anyone reviews a single CV.
When candidates apply for a role, prescreening is the first thing they see. It's a short set of structured questions designed to give you signal about each candidate quickly — before anyone on your team spends time reviewing applications manually.
A well-configured prescreening does three things well:
- it assesses role fit early,
- validates basic requirements, and,
- filters out applicants who don't meet the criteria you care about most.
1. Choose how to build your question set
When you open prescreening setup, the first thing you'll see is the "Setup AI Prescreening" modal. This is where you choose how to generate your initial set of questions. You don't need to write everything from scratch — Senseloaf gives you five ways to get started quickly.
Here's a quick breakdown of each option to help you decide which one to use:
| Method | Best for | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Quick start from job description | Most users Recommended | Uses your job configuration to auto-generate a relevant question set. Fastest way to get a solid starting point. |
| Use prebuilt templates | Common roles (sales, support, engineering) | Browse a library of curated question sets built for typical roles. Select one and customise from there. |
| Select categories | Roles with specific skill areas to assess | Choose topics or skill areas and AI generates questions for each one. |
| Generate with AI | When you have your own questions ready | Paste in your existing questions and AI structures them into a proper prescreening format. |
| Upload sheet | Teams with a prepared spreadsheet | Upload a formatted spreadsheet and Senseloaf auto-creates the full question set from it. |
If you're setting up prescreening for the first time, go with "Quick start using your job description" — it takes one click and gives you a well-structured set to refine rather than building from nothing.
2. Review and edit your questions
Whichever method you chose, Senseloaf will generate an initial set of questions and drop you into the question editor. Review what was created, remove anything that doesn't apply, edit question wording, and add new questions if needed.
Questions come in three types — choose based on what you want to learn from each question:
a. Single choice
Candidate picks one answer. Good for yes/no questions and clear-cut requirements.
b. Multiple choice
Candidate picks one or more answers. Best for tools, skills, or situations where multiple answers apply.
c. Free text
Candidate writes their own answer. Use for behavioural questions and open-ended situations.
Here's what a question set looks like for a Customer Success Manager role:
Aim for 4–6 questions. Enough to get meaningful signal, but not so many that candidates drop off before finishing. Keep each question focused on one thing.
3. Assign scores to answers
For single choice and multiple choice questions, you can assign a score to each answer option. These scores add up across all questions to give each candidate an overall prescreening score — making it easy to prioritize who to review first.
- Higher scores for answers that show strong role fit — e.g. SaaS experience, relevant tools, senior background
- Medium scores for partial fit — some experience, transferable background
- Zero or low scores for answers that don't signal fit but aren't deal-breakers
4. Set disqualifiers
A disqualifier is an answer option that, if selected, automatically removes a candidate from the process. Use disqualifiers for non-negotiable requirements, things that would make a candidate unsuitable regardless of everything else on their profile.
To mark an answer as a disqualifier, toggle the disqualifier option next to that answer in the question builder. The candidate won't be told they've been disqualified, they'll see the standard end message instead.
Only use disqualifiers for truly non-negotiable requirements. Overusing them can accidentally filter out good candidates. When in doubt, use a low score instead of a disqualifier.
5. Customize the candidate experience
Prescreening is often the first direct interaction a candidate has with your hiring process. The messages they see, before and after the questions, shape their impression of your company. Take a moment to make them feel welcoming and set clear expectations.
- Keep the greeting short and friendly — let candidates know what to expect and roughly how long it'll take
- Name the role in the greeting so candidates know exactly what they're applying for
- Thank the candidate genuinely in the end message — it goes a long way
- Set a realistic next-step expectation — avoid vague phrases like "we'll be in touch"
6. Approve prescreening
When your questions, scores, disqualifiers, and messages are all set, click "Save and activate". From this point on, every candidate who applies for this job will go through the prescreening flow before their application reaches your team.