What is pre-screening?
Pre-screening lets you automatically evaluate candidates before they start the AI interview. Candidates who don't meet your criteria are shown a rejection message and do not proceed to the interview. This saves interview credits and ensures only qualified candidates are screened.
TalentSprout offers two pre-screening methods that can be used independently or together:
Resume screening — AI evaluates uploaded resumes against the job requirements.
Text questionnaire screening — Candidates answer written questions that are evaluated by AI.
Setting up resume screening
To enable resume screening:
Open your interview and go to the Pre-Screening tab.
Toggle on Resume screening.
Configure the settings:
Pass rate threshold — Use the slider to set the percentage of candidates who should pass. Lower percentages are more selective. The default is 50%.
Custom screening criteria (optional) — Define specific requirements for the AI to evaluate when reviewing resumes (e.g., "Require 5+ years React experience").
Enabling resume screening automatically requires candidates to upload a resume. Supported file formats are PDF and DOCX, with a maximum file size of 5 MB.
Configuring resume upload without screening
If you want candidates to upload resumes without AI screening, configure the upload mode on the Settings tab:
Enable resume upload — Toggle on to allow candidates to upload their resume.
Make resume upload required — Check this to make resume upload mandatory before starting the interview.
Setting up text questionnaire screening
To enable questionnaire screening:
On the Pre-Screening tab, toggle on Text questionnaire screening.
Click Edit Questions to add your screening questions.
Add up to 3 text questions that candidates will answer in writing. Each question can be up to 500 characters.
Configure the Pass rate threshold — same slider as resume screening, controlling how selectively the AI evaluates responses.
Optionally add Custom screening criteria to guide the AI's evaluation of text responses.
Click Save Questions when you're done editing questions.
Questionnaire answers are evaluated by AI against the job context. Candidates who don't demonstrate sufficient qualification are filtered out.
How the screening flow works
When a candidate opens your interview link with both screening types enabled, the flow is:
Overview page and candidate info form (as usual).
Text questionnaire (if enabled) — The candidate answers the screening questions. If their answers don't meet the threshold, they see a rejection message.
Resume upload (if enabled) — The candidate uploads their resume. If screening is on, the AI evaluates it immediately. If the candidate fails, they see a rejection message.
If the candidate passes all enabled screening steps, they proceed to the device check and AI interview.
When both are enabled, the questionnaire comes first, followed by the resume upload.
Customizing the rejection message
When a candidate doesn't pass pre-screening, they see a rejection screen. You can customize this message:
On the Pre-Screening tab, find the Rejection message section (visible when at least one screening type is enabled).
Click Edit Message.
Configure the following fields:
Title — The heading of the rejection screen.
Message — The main rejection text. You can use
{position}as a placeholder for the job title.Secondary message — Additional text shown below the main message.
Button text — The call-to-action button label (leave empty to hide the button).
Button link — The URL the button links to (e.g., your careers page). Falls back to your company website if empty.
You can Preview the rejection screen before saving, and Reset to default to restore the original message.
Tips for effective pre-screening
Start with a moderate pass rate threshold (around 50%) and adjust based on results.
Keep questionnaire questions focused — you have a maximum of 3 questions, so make each one count.
Use custom screening criteria to highlight deal-breaker requirements.
Always customize the rejection message — a thoughtful rejection reflects well on your employer brand.