Test AI screening in Teamtailor without emailing candidates
Test Screened’s Teamtailor connection with one sample CV. Check the report, stage and scheduled messages before involving real candidates.
Adan Vielma · · 10 min read
You want to see how Screened reads a CV in Teamtailor. You do not want a real candidate receiving an unexpected invitation while you learn the settings.
Start with one report-only test: a CV assessment, with no stage move or candidate message. Use a CV written for testing and contact details your team controls. Before sending it, check the rules in both systems, including messages already waiting to go out.
Can you test CV screening without sending interview invitations?
Yes, but first check the rules in both products. Switching off invitations in one place may leave another trigger or a previously scheduled message active.
Agree which of these outcomes you are testing:
| Test | Success means | Leave disabled |
|---|---|---|
| Return a CV report. | The right job and test CV produce a readable assessment in the expected place. | Stage movement and invitations. |
| Move a candidate, only if needed. | One intended move occurs without triggering an unwanted message. | Interview invitations until separately tested. |
| Send an interview invitation, only if needed. | The controlled inbox receives the correct role, link and instructions once. | Any unrelated downstream actions. |
The first row is enough to test the connection for a report-only workflow. Keep the other actions manual until your team has a reason to evaluate them. A pilot should answer a defined buying question, not become a tour of every automation setting.
Check existing triggers and shared settings first
Create a clearly labelled, unadvertised test job and a CV written for the test. Use controlled contact details everywhere, including referee fields; changing a real applicant's name does not remove their email address or history.
Then check who and what can act on that test job. Keeping it off the careers page prevents public applications, but does not disable colleagues, integrations or rules copied from a template.
Ask your administrator to check two things:
The Teamtailor job's actions. Inspect stage triggers, sharing and reference requests, including anything copied from a template. An empty test inbox won't reveal a message sent to a different recipient.
Screened settings shared with other jobs. Before changing an ATS setting, check which live jobs use it. Our ATS configuration guide explains these controls (Screened sign-in required).
You can send this request:
Can you help me run a CV-only test? It should return a report without moving the application or sending a message.
We'll use a new test CV and an inbox we control. Please check the job's triggers and any Screened settings shared with live jobs before we send it.
Have the administrator save the original settings and check which jobs they affect. They can then isolate the test without disrupting another team's live invitations.
How do you send a Teamtailor test application to Screened?
Confirm that Teamtailor is connected and the matching job is in Screened. Check the job requirements, enable resume screening for the test and confirm that screening credits are available.
Keep the application link, original stage and selected Screened job together. Record the send time after the next step. Those details will help you trace a result that does not appear where expected.
In Teamtailor:
- Select the test candidate using Bulk select, then choose More → Integrations.
- Choose Get results for AI Screened, select Default activation, then select the matching Screened job.
- Click Get results to send the candidate.
Our guide to sending candidates from Teamtailor includes setup screenshots (Screened sign-in required).
Adding a job or pressing Sync does not import Teamtailor candidates. They must be sent through this integration action or a configured Teamtailor trigger.
Check the result, the stage and the inbox
Find the candidate under the correct job in Screened. Then open the assessment under AI Screened on their Teamtailor profile.
Check the report, the application stage and any messages:
| Check | What should happen |
|---|---|
| Correct job and CV | The assessment describes the test application you sent. |
| Readable assessment | A recruiter with normal access can open the result and understand its reasons. |
| No stage change | The application remains in its original stage. |
| No message to a candidate or external contact | No invitation, reminder, survey or other message has arrived or is waiting to be sent. |
Check an important statement against the CV. If it says the applicant booked interviews while their manager chose the shortlist, the report should not credit the applicant with choosing that shortlist.
A correct assessment with an unintended invitation is a failed report-only test. Check the full agreed outcome before sending another application.
Why is the screening report missing from Teamtailor?
Locate the last step you can confirm before clicking Get results again:
| What you can see | What to tell the person investigating |
|---|---|
| No application under the intended Screened job | “I sent this application, but cannot find it under the selected job in Screened.” Include both links and the send time. |
| The application is in Screened, but no completed assessment is available | “The application is in Screened, but I cannot find a completed CV assessment.” |
| The assessment is ready in Screened but missing from Teamtailor | “The CV assessment is ready in Screened, but I cannot find it in Teamtailor.” |
Include the application link and relevant activity in the support request. These observations locate the problem; they do not establish its cause. Investigate the first attempt before sending the same application again.
Where should you check for scheduled Teamtailor messages?
An empty inbox doesn't rule out a scheduled message. For trigger-generated messages, open Activity → Upcoming on the Teamtailor profile. Its trigger guide explains Cancel trigger, delays and postponing weekend actions until Monday.
Check Messages too. A message scheduled manually on the candidate card appears there; use its three-dot menu and Delete to cancel it before it sends. Teamtailor’s messaging guide distinguishes these two cancellation routes.
Check Screened's invitation rules and activity separately. Teamtailor's list tells you about Teamtailor's scheduled work, not every action in the connected products.
Disabling a rule or moving the application back may leave an email already queued. Inspect the scheduled action and confirm that it was cancelled.
If your test inbox receives an unwanted invitation, keep the message and the candidate's activity history. Ask:
Our test inbox received an interview invitation, although this test should only review a CV.
Please find the rule that sent it and check for other messages waiting to go out. The CV report appeared in Teamtailor as expected.
Include the unexpected email, job, application link and send time. Pause further submissions while the administrator finds the source. The activity history should show whether Teamtailor, Screened or another connected action sent the message.
Repeat the test to check that the repaired rule behaves correctly. Separately inspect the first application's pending actions and cancel any unwanted messages still queued. An invitation already delivered cannot be unsent; keep it in the test history and check that no reminders will follow.
Automatic cancellation has limits
Teamtailor documents automatic cancellation settings for Send message, Add to-do and Add comment when a candidate is rejected or moved away. Check the setting for the action you're testing. Don't assume every partner integration follows the same cancellation rules.
You can test a delayed message and its cancellation using your own inbox in an approved test setup. That confirms the behaviour of that message, not every action in both products.
Test optional stage moves and invitations separately
Skip these tests if you only need reports and will keep progression and invitations manual. Otherwise, choose one system to control the stage move before testing it.
Screened has Stage Mapping settings. Teamtailor also has a partner-trigger option called Move candidate automatically. Our sending guide recommends leaving that Teamtailor option off when Screened handles the move.
In the agreed test setup, try the stage move without enabling invitations. Check the destination stage for message triggers first. Then confirm the application moved once and no message was sent or queued. Leave live jobs' invitation settings unchanged.
Test invitations only if your team intends to use them, with the message sent to your controlled inbox. An invitation test does not require an automatic stage move. When your planned process uses both, test each separately before trying them together. Screened invitations are manual by default and can also use a rule in Settings → Automation.
Check that rule separately. Stage mapping chooses a destination; it does not tell you whether an invitation will be sent.
Test stage-trigger sending separately from the bulk send. Select Default activation and the matching Screened job, then review the options before saving. Teamtailor's Trigger label, under Additional options, can name the trigger and its returned result. Use a label that identifies this test rather than leaving two identical-looking actions in the same stage.
Test a failure before sending the first batch
A failed screen still leaves your team with work to do. Submit a test application with no usable CV and ask another recruiter to find it. They need to recognise an unfinished assessment, know how to obtain the file and understand whether it must be sent again.
Do not let the failure disappear from the pilot because no report arrived. Count the recovery work and confirm that it did not become a rejection for lacking experience.
Then test a repeated send using the same controlled application. Inspect the existing result and activity before and after. Find out whether the integration reuses an assessment, reports a duplicate or performs another action. Do not use repeated live clicks as a way of discovering that behaviour.
Additional test: automatic progression rules
Smart move and criteria-based progression need their own tests; they are not prerequisites for a report-only pilot. Check the rules you actually intend to use, including what happens to an application already waiting in the stage. Teamtailor's Smart move guide explains that feature's trigger behaviour.
For a rule accepting either of two answers, test the first alone, the second alone, both and neither. Test a missing answer where permitted. Write the expected outcome before each submission, then check the application and any message against it.
How should you run a bulk screening test?
The sending guide allows up to 250 candidate profiles per bulk action, with one role selected at a time. Start smaller. Your first batch should fit the time available to inspect every result and fix missing ones.
Keep each application link beside the intended Screened job, then match it to a report or an unresolved issue. The totals can match even when one application has two reports and another has none.
Check new messages before acting on a result. The candidate may have withdrawn, supplied a replacement CV or been offered an interview while screening ran. The list records what you sent, not everything that happened afterwards.
Select the matching Screened job again before sending a batch for a different role. The selection left over from the previous bulk action may be wrong.
Check that another recruiter can run the process
Hand a colleague the steps and test application as you would during an ordinary working day. Ask them to find the correct report, check one statement and explain what they would do next. Then show an unfinished assessment and ask how they would get help.
Add the missing instruction or support contact wherever they get stuck. Another recruiter should be able to run the process without the installer talking them through it.
Save the test results and any unresolved problems. Ask the administrator to restore settings changed only for the test and inspect pending actions before removing the test applications.
Decide whether the setup is ready for real applications
Record which agreed outcomes passed and what remains unresolved: the correct assessment, normal reviewer access, unchanged stage and message history. An unintended invitation means the report-only test failed even if the report itself is accurate.
Once the setup works, your team can consider a limited, approved pilot with real applications. That answers a different question: whether the process improves screening. Compare completed recruiter reviews, including processing failures and applications recommended for decline, not just successful reports.
Add jobs only when the recruiter can use the reports to complete a better or faster review. A correctly connected product may still leave too much checking or an important question unanswered.
The handover should state where to send applications, where to review results and how to recover a failed assessment. Mark the actions staying manual. A colleague should be able to continue from those instructions without repeating the setup investigation.
