Knockout Questions in Kula (Auto-Rejection Rules)

When a job posting receives hundreds of applications, recruiters spend significant time screening profiles that are often irrelevant.
With Knockout Questions (Auto-Rejection Rules) in Kula, recruiters can automatically filter out unqualified candidates based on predefined criteria.

This helps:

• Remove irrelevant applications early.

• Improve recruiter productivity.

• Shorten time-to-hire without compromising on quality.

👤 Who Can Use This?

• Recruiters assigned to the job

• Job creators

• Users with “Manage all jobs” permission

⚙ How Knockout Questions Work

Knockout questions are configured as Auto-Rejection Rules at the job level.
When candidates apply through the job form, their answers are evaluated against the rules.

If conditions are met:

• The candidate is marked as Rejected (by Auto-Rejection Rule).

• A rejection email (custom or template) is triggered or scheduled.

• Activity is logged in the candidate profile for full visibility.

If conditions are not met:

• The candidate continues in the pipeline as usual.

📝 Step 1: Create an Auto-Rejection Rule

You can create rules from:

• Job Post Page → under job settings.

• Application Form Settings → alongside the application form configuration.

Supported Conditions:

• Custom Field – Single Select: Is / Is Not

• Custom Field – Multi Select: Includes Any / Includes All

• Custom Field – Yes/No: Yes or No

• Custom Field – Numeric: Greater than / Lesser than / Equals

• Custom Field – Date: Greater than / Lesser than / Equals

🔑 Multiple conditions can be combined (always AND logic).

📝 Step 2: Configure the Rejection Flow

Once conditions are defined, set up what happens when a candidate is rejected:

1. Select a rejection reason (from your rejection reasons library)..

2. Send a rejection email:

   • Use a template or write a custom email.

   • Choose the sender email ID.

   • Schedule it for “X weekdays after rejection.” (Weekdays = Mon–Fri).

3. Track Activity: Candidate activity feed will show:

   • Which auto-rejection rule rejected them.

   • When the email is scheduled/sent.

Recruiters can later edit rejection details (change reason, update template, reschedule email).

📝 Step 3: Manage Multiple Rules

• Recruiters can create multiple auto-rejection rules per job.

• Rules run in the order defined (stack-ranking).

• Once a candidate matches a rule, they are rejected, and no further rules are applied.

📊 Reporting & Metrics

Kula tracks the following to help recruiters optimise: You get the data from Pipeline and Rejection Reports

Pipeline Report

• Number of auto-rejection rules per job.

• Most-used conditions.

• Execution counts per job and overall.

• Failures/skipped executions.

• Avg. time to configure a rule.

• Avg. time to execute per candidate.

🎯 Benefits of Knockout Questions

• Save time by removing unqualified candidates instantly.

• Ensure fair and consistent application screening.

• Improve candidate experience with timely, automated rejections.

• Give recruiters more time to focus on qualified talent.

💡 Best Practices

• Use mandatory fields (e.g., experience, location) to avoid “missing data” skips.

• Be transparent in your application forms—let candidates know certain responses may disqualify them.

• Keep rejection emails polite, professional, and branded.

• Review metrics regularly to refine your knockout strategy.

❓ FAQs

Q: Can rejected candidates reapply?
Yes, but rules won’t re-run on the same candidate for the same job.

Q: Can I override a rejection?
Yes. Recruiters can reactivate a candidate manually at any stage.

Q: How do I know which rule rejected a candidate?
The candidate activity feed will show the exact auto-rejection rule.