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Score candidate responses with must-have and good-to-have criteria

Automatically score candidate responses to identify top applicants based on your requirements. Hirevire's scoring system evaluates standard question responses using must-have and good-to-have criteria, then calculates a percentage score for each application.

What you can score

Scoring works only for standard questions—text fields, numbers, dates, multiple choice, checkboxes, dropdowns, and links. Video, audio, file uploads, and screenshare responses cannot be scored.

Each standard question can have one scoring rule:

  • Must-have criteria: Essential requirements. The candidate either meets the condition (100%) or doesn't (0%). Use this for dealbreakers like location, work authorization, or specific qualifications.

  • Good-to-have criteria: Desirable qualifications with tiered scoring. You can set up to 5 conditions that score 100%, 75%, 50%, 25%, or 0%. The first matching condition determines the score. Use this for preferences like years of experience or education level.

Each scoring rule awards 4 points maximum. Your overall score is calculated by averaging points across all must-have questions and all good-to-have questions separately.

Set up scoring for a job

Enable scoring

  1. Go to Jobs and select the job you want to score, or create a new job

  2. Navigate to the Questions tab and add at least one standard question (if you haven't already)

  3. Go to the Scoring tab

  4. Toggle on Enable Scoring for Standard Responses

Add must-have criteria

  1. Find the question you want to score in the list

  2. Click Edit criteria

  3. Select Must-have as the criteria type

  4. Choose an operator from the dropdown:

    • Equals / Not Equals: Exact match or exclusion

    • Greater Than / Less Than: Numeric or date comparisons

    • Greater Than or Equal / Less Than or Equal: Inclusive comparisons

    • Is Between: Range with two values (inclusive)

    • Contains / Not Contains: Text matching (case-insensitive; use commas to separate multiple terms)

    • Is Set / Is Not Set: Checks if candidate provided any response

  5. Enter the value(s) to match against

  6. Click Save

For "Contains" operators, separate multiple terms with commas. The system treats these as OR conditions—matching any term passes the criteria.

How "Contains" matching works

The Contains operator performs a literal substring match on the exact phrase you enter. This means:

  • If you enter Routing Table — show ip route, the candidate's answer must contain that exact string to score 100%

  • routing table alone won't match—nor will show ip route by itself

  • Special characters matter: Impact and Urgency won't match Impact & Urgency because the ampersand breaks the match

  • Case doesn't matter: Show IP Route matches show ip route

Use Multiple Choice Questions for definitive answers. If your question has one correct answer but candidates might phrase it many different ways, use a Multiple Choice question type instead of free-text with "Contains" scoring. This ensures fair, consistent scoring regardless of phrasing.

When to use Multiple Choice instead of text matching

Multiple Choice Questions work better than free-text + "Contains" scoring when:

  • The question has a definitive correct answer (e.g., IT certifications, technical knowledge checks)

  • Candidates might phrase the same answer differently (e.g., "Impact and Urgency" vs "Impact & Urgency" vs "Impact, Urgency")

  • You want consistent, fair scoring without having to anticipate every possible phrasing

Example: Instead of a free-text question with "Contains: Routing Table — show ip route", create a Multiple Choice question:

When troubleshooting in a Cisco routing environment where traffic is not reaching a specific destination network, which component should be verified first?

  • Routing Table (verified with show ip route) ✓ — mark as correct

  • ARP Table (verified with show arp)

  • Interface status (verified with show interfaces)

  • DNS resolution (verified with nslookup)

This guarantees exact scoring regardless of how the candidate would have worded the answer in free text.

Review candidate scores

  1. Go to Jobs and select your job

  2. Navigate to the Applications tab

  3. Sort by Score (high to low) or Score (low to high) using the dropdown

Each application card displays:

  • A green progress bar showing the must-have score percentage

  • A yellow progress bar showing the good-to-have score percentage

Click any application to see the detailed scoring breakdown for each question.

Use high must-have scores to filter for qualified candidates, then prioritize those with the highest good-to-have scores to find your best matches.

How scores are calculated

Hirevire calculates two separate scores for each application:

Must-have score: (Total points from passed must-have questions ÷ (4 × number of must-have questions)) × 100

Example: You have 3 must-have questions. A candidate passes 2 of them.

  • Passed: 2 questions × 4 points = 8 points

  • Possible: 3 questions × 4 points = 12 points

  • Must-have score: (8 ÷ 12) × 100 = 66.7%

Good-to-have score: (Total points from good-to-have questions ÷ (4 × number of good-to-have questions)) × 100

Example: You have 2 good-to-have questions. One matches the first tier (4 points), the other matches the third tier (2 points).

  • Earned: 4 + 2 = 6 points

  • Possible: 2 questions × 4 points = 8 points

  • Good-to-have score: (6 ÷ 8) × 100 = 75%

Scores update automatically when a candidate submits their application. Changing scoring criteria after applications are submitted doesn't recalculate existing scores.

Use scores to auto-disqualify applicants

Must-have scoring can also be used to automatically disqualify candidates who do not meet your required criteria. See Automatically disqualify applicants using must-have scoring for setup steps, threshold behavior, and what happens after a candidate is disqualified.

Troubleshooting

I can't save my scoring criteria Make sure all fields are filled in. Empty operator or value fields will show red borders and display "Please fill all the fields." Each condition needs both an operator and a matching value.

A candidate got 0% even though they answered Their response didn't match your criteria. Check the application details to see their exact answer. For numeric questions, make sure they entered a valid number—text entries in number fields automatically fail. For "Contains" operators, verify spelling and check that you're using commas correctly to separate terms.

The scoring toggle is grayed out You need at least one standard question in your job. Add a text field, dropdown, multiple choice, checkbox, number, date, or link question first. Video, audio, file, and screenshare questions don't support scoring.

I don't see score sorting in my applications list Scoring must be enabled and saved before candidates apply. Applications submitted before you turned on scoring won't have scores. You'll need to wait for new submissions.

A candidate answered correctly but got 0% If you're using "Contains" scoring on free-text questions, the candidate's phrasing might not include your exact match string. For example:

  • You set criteria to Impact and Urgency but the candidate wrote Impact & Urgency — the ampersand breaks the match

  • You set criteria to Routing Table — show ip route but the candidate wrote Verify the routing table first, then run #show ip route — the exact phrase isn't present

Solutions:

  • Add multiple comma-separated variations to your "Contains" value: Impact and Urgency, Impact & Urgency

  • Or better: switch to a Multiple Choice question type for questions with definitive correct answers

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