How to Write Effective Custom Questions in Testlify

What Are Custom Questions?

Custom questions let you add role-specific questions to any Testlify assessment — covering skills, experiences, and values that the pre-built test library does not include.

• Filter and rank candidates against criteria unique to your role
• Assess niche skills not covered by standard tests
• Gauge culture fit by asking how candidates align with your company's mission and values

Before you begin

• You have an active Testlify account with permission to create or edit assessments.
• You have identified the role and the key competencies you want to measure.

6 Guidelines for Writing Effective Custom Questions

Follow these guidelines to collect meaningful, comparable responses from every candidate.

1. Write clear, unambiguous questions. Each question should have one obvious interpretation. Vague phrasing produces inconsistent answers that are difficult to evaluate fairly.

2. Choose the right question type. Testlify supports multiple choice, free text, video response, and file upload formats. Select the type that best captures what you need to measure. For a full overview, see Types of Custom Questions.

3. Tailor every question to the specific role. Custom questions work best for niche competencies not covered by pre-built tests. Pair them with relevant Testlify tests rather than replacing those tests.

4. Reflect your company's mission and values. Ask candidates how they align with your organization's culture. This lets you assess cultural fit early — before the interview stage.

5. Keep questions professional and bias-free. Every question must be directly relevant to the role. Never reference — directly or indirectly — age, gender, race, religion, or any other protected characteristic. Biased questions create legal risk and damage your employer brand.

6. Focus on job-specific skills and experience. The strongest custom questions ask candidates to demonstrate or describe abilities the role requires. Competency-based and situational questions deliver the clearest hiring signals.

Tip: Combine Pre-Built Tests with Custom Questions

For specialized roles, start with Testlify's pre-built test library to cover core competencies, then layer in custom questions for role-specific skills or culture fit the library does not address.

Example: For a Sales Manager role, use a pre-built Negotiation Skills test, then add custom questions asking candidates to describe their pipeline management approach and how they handled a lost deal.

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