# Writing fair questions and criteria

> Write fair Tandem screening and interview questions: only about what the job needs, the same for every candidate, and easy to score.

Source: https://tandem.joveo.com/support/interviews/best-practices

In Tandem, what you control is the questions, how much each one counts, and the bar a candidate needs to move on.

## Keep every question about the job

Start from the work itself. Ask about the skills, experience and availability the role really needs, and leave out anything that isn't.

Don't ask about age, family, health, religion, nationality or anything else unrelated to the work, directly or indirectly. Tandem doesn't block questions on these topics, so read each one before you save.

## Make questions easy to answer and score

- Ask one thing per question.
- Ask for an example: "Tell me about a time you handled a late delivery" says more than "Are you organized?"
- In screening, use `Yes or no` or `One choice` for hard requirements, such as a license or shift availability.
- Use plain words. Screening runs in English, and an AI interview runs in the one language you choose.

Related: [Write interview questions that show skill](https://tandem.joveo.com/support/guides/writing-interview-questions.md)

## Set question importance

Each question has an importance of `High`, `Medium` or `Low`. Importance decides how much a question counts toward the stage's score out of 100. Keep `High` for the few things a candidate can't do the job without.

There's no separate list of scoring criteria to write. If you turn on auto-advance, the bar you set decides who moves on, and everyone else waits for you in Needs review.

Related: [Needs review](https://tandem.joveo.com/support/interviews/needs-review.md) · [Scoring and auto-advance](https://tandem.joveo.com/support/roles/scoring-criteria.md)

## Check your results

Read a few reports once candidates start finishing. If strong candidates keep landing below your bar, look at the questions and their importance before you lower the bar.

Related: [Review transcripts and reports](https://tandem.joveo.com/support/interviews/review-results.md)