What is a screening question? Knockout questions, examples and how they are applied (2026)
A screening question is a short question asked on the application form to check a hard requirement before anyone reads the resume. What a knockout question is, examples, and how ofper applies them.
Last updated 3 September 2026. Competitor pricing and plan limits are re-verified against each vendor’s own pages.
What makes a good screening question?
A screening question should have one correct answer for the role and be impossible to misread. It checks a requirement the employer would reject a candidate for anyway, so that both sides find out at the start rather than after an interview.
- Do you hold a valid two-wheeler licence? (yes/no)
- Are you able to work from the Pune office five days a week? (yes/no)
- How many years have you worked as a chartered accountant? (number, minimum 3)
- What is your notice period in days? (number, maximum 30)
- Are you legally eligible to work in India without sponsorship? (yes/no)
What happens when a candidate fails a knockout question?
On ofper the application is filed into the Screened out stage of the pipeline instead of Pool. It is never deleted: the employer can see it, read the answers, and move the candidate back into the pipeline if the knockout was too strict. A rejection email is sent automatically from the company's own mailbox, so the candidate is not left waiting.
The answer is evaluated once, at the moment the application is submitted. Changing the questions later does not re-screen existing applicants, and questions become read-only once the first application has arrived, so every applicant to a job was asked the same thing.
Why only yes/no and number questions?
Free-text answers cannot be checked automatically, and reading them takes as long as reading the resume they were meant to save. Limiting questions to yes/no and numbers keeps screening fast for the candidate, fair across applicants and free of storage costs. Anything that needs a paragraph belongs in the interview.
Questions, answered straight
How many screening questions should a job have?
As few as possible; five is the maximum on ofper. Each extra question costs applicants, so ask only about requirements you would actually reject on.
Is a screening question the same as an assessment?
No. A screening question checks a stated fact in seconds. An assessment tests skill and takes time. ofper supports screening questions and has no assessment feature.
Does a knockout question use AI?
No. A knockout compares the candidate's answer with the value the employer set: yes or no, or a number against a minimum or maximum. There is no scoring model involved.