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# Knockout Criteria

Knockout criteria turn a screening question into a pass/fail gate. Use knockouts for true must-haves like work authorization, required licenses, or minimum experience. A candidate who fails a knockout never moves forward on their own — what happens next depends on the job's pipeline.

## How knockouts work

1. You mark a question as a knockout and configure its pass condition.
2. On the call, the AI agent asks the question and records the answer.
3. The answer is evaluated against your condition.
4. When the screening is complete, a candidate who failed any knockout doesn't move on to the next pipeline step automatically. Instead:
   * **If the job's pipeline has a Review step**, the candidate goes to the first Review step and shows as **Awaiting Review**, so your team makes the final call.
   * **If there's no Review step**, the candidate is rejected and shows as **Rejected**, with the **Ineligible** fit tier.

On some older jobs, a failed knockout shows as **Did Not Meet Requirements** instead.

Either way, nothing is deleted. The candidate's answers, the reason they were knocked out, and the call recording stay on their profile, so you can see exactly why. See [The Hiring Pipeline](/jobs/hiring-pipeline) for how to add a Review step.

## Marking a question as a knockout

Each question in the list has a **Regular** / **Knockout** chip. Click it to turn a question into a knockout, then click to expand the **Knockout Configuration** panel and choose the pass condition. When creating a question, you can also tick **Knockout question** — see [Screening Questions](/jobs/screening-questions).

## Condition types

Pick a **Condition Type** in the Knockout Configuration panel:

| Condition                           | Candidate passes when...                                                                  |
| ----------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Yes = Pass (strict)**             | They clearly answer "Yes".                                                                |
| **No = Pass (strict)**              | They clearly answer "No".                                                                 |
| **Yes or Unclear = Pass (lenient)** | They answer "Yes" or their answer is ambiguous — only a clear "No" fails.                 |
| **No or Unclear = Pass (lenient)**  | They answer "No" or their answer is ambiguous — only a clear "Yes" fails.                 |
| **Numeric Minimum**                 | Their number is at or above your threshold.                                               |
| **Numeric Maximum**                 | Their number is at or below your threshold.                                               |
| **Must Include Keywords**           | Their answer mentions at least one of your keywords (for example, "licensed, certified"). |
| **Must NOT Include Keywords**       | Their answer avoids your disqualifying keywords.                                          |
| **Custom Logic**                    | Their answer satisfies pass/fail logic you describe in plain language.                    |

> **Tip**
>
> The lenient yes/no modes give candidates the benefit of the doubt: an unclear or hedged answer passes, and only a clear wrong answer fails. Use them when a phone answer might reasonably be ambiguous.

## Distance is separate

Commute distance isn't a screening question. It's configured under **Distance Screening** in the job's **Screening** section: candidates who live beyond the maximum distance from the job are automatically declined before any call is made, and show as **Ineligible for Screening**. See [The Job Console](/jobs/job-console).

## Best practices

* **Keep knockouts few.** Every knockout is a hard gate. Two or three true deal-breakers is typical; if most questions are knockouts, you'll filter out candidates you'd actually want to talk to.
* **Only gate non-negotiables.** Work authorization, a legally required license, a hard schedule constraint. Preferences ("3 years preferred") belong in regular questions.
* **Add a Review step if you want a human check.** With a Review step in the pipeline, knocked-out candidates wait for your decision instead of being rejected.
* **Phrase the question unambiguously.** The agent evaluates a spoken answer, so the question must invite a clean one. "Are you legally authorized to work in the United States?" works; a compound or vague question invites ambiguous answers.
* **Match the condition to the question.** A yes/no question with a numeric condition (or the other way around) won't evaluate the way you expect.
* **Prefer lenient modes when in doubt.** Use the "or Unclear" variants for answers that can reasonably be borderline — or don't make the question a knockout at all.
* **State deal-breakers in the job posting too.** If a knockout filters out most applicants, the requirement may need to be clearer up front.