Teamtailor’s Request missing info: when a form is enough

By Screened · Product documentation checked 5 October 2026

Finding out when someone can start usually needs a short question, not another interview. Understanding what they mean by “handled customer escalations” may take an example and a follow-up.

Teamtailor’s Request missing info feature can collect missing details and written replies. Whether you still need an interview depends on what those replies tell you, not simply whether the form is complete.

For support hiring, decide when a written answer is enough, when a conversation adds something useful and how to avoid asking candidates the same questions twice.

What can Teamtailor ask candidates to supply?

At the configured stage, Co-pilot sends a questionnaire to collect the missing information you selected. It can request unanswered application questions, information needed to assess screening criteria, missing profile details and empty custom fields with Automatic updates enabled.

Replies are saved to the profile and can trigger another screening evaluation. A Company Admin must enable the required features. Feature setup

That can save you from chasing missing answers one email at a time. First, decide which answers matter. For a support vacancy, the next step depends on what you need to learn:

The last row is a different assessment task, not simply another blank field to fill. Collecting a description of someone’s work and asking them to do that work answer different questions.

Before requesting more details, check the requirement with the hiring manager. If your team teaches its ticketing software, a missing brand name need not delay an otherwise relevant application. OPM’s interview-design guidance makes the same distinction between skills needed on entry and skills learned on the job. Choosing interview content

Check that the important question made it into the form

Teamtailor applies one question limit across the selected sections. It requests a missing resume first, then works through the sections in the documented order until it reaches that limit. Question limits and ordering

A completed form can therefore leave the hiring question unanswered. The earlier requests may have used the available space.

For this support vacancy, you need an example of investigating a customer problem. Inspect the questionnaire sent to a test profile. If it asks only for a CV and routine application details, the reply will not tell you how the person investigates problems.

Remove requests you do not need at this stage before increasing the limit. The aim is to get enough information for the next decision, not to fill every field on the profile.

Read the reply before deciding on an interview

Ask a support applicant:

Tell us about a customer problem you investigated. How did you work out what had happened?

A reply such as this still needs clarification:

I owned the escalation and made sure the customer was happy.

The applicant says they were involved, but has not described any checks. A useful follow-up is:

What did you check before deciding what to do next?

Compare that with a more specific reply:

The tracking page said the parcel had arrived, but the customer could not find it. The order and carrier record both gave the address as number 16. The delivery photo showed the front door of number 18. I sent those details to the carrier and asked it to investigate. My manager approved a replacement.

You can now see what the applicant checked and what they found. You can also see who approved the replacement: their manager.

That may be enough for the first review. Do not make the applicant repeat the whole account in an AI interview just because an interview is available. Decide what remains worth asking.

For this answer, “What did you tell the customer while the carrier investigated?” would add information. “Tell me about your support experience” would start the conversation again.

One further written question may be sufficient. A conversation becomes useful when you need to explore several connected details or when a series of messages would be slower and harder for both sides.

Agree what the answers need to show before the interview. For this role, that might be checking relevant records, explaining the finding and knowing when another person must decide. OPM’s structured-interview guidance supports job-related questions and consistent evaluation standards; it does not establish the quality of a particular AI interviewer. Structured interview evidence

Writing exercise: update a customer about a replacement

The delivery account describes past work. It does not show the customer message the applicant would write now.

When writing matters to the role, supply the facts and ask for a response:

The carrier has not replied. A replacement has been approved but has not yet been dispatched, so you cannot confirm a delivery date. Your team will check again tomorrow afternoon and update the customer then. Write the message you would send now.

A useful response could be:

We’ve approved a replacement, but it hasn’t been dispatched yet, so I can’t confirm its delivery date. We’re also waiting for the carrier’s reply about the original parcel. We’ll check again tomorrow afternoon and update you then, even if we’re still waiting.

The customer can tell what has been approved, what has not happened and when they will hear back. “Your replacement will arrive tomorrow” would instead turn the promised update into an unsupported delivery promise. Keep the sample reply in the reviewer’s guide, not in the candidate’s task.

Assess whether the message preserves the facts, explains what happens next and gives the customer a useful update time. Different wording can do that equally well. Set the preparation time and permitted tools, including AI assistance, before giving the task, and arrange any agreed adjustments.

This exercise earns its place if you need to assess writing. It should not become a compulsory extra stage merely because the questionnaire and interview have already been added. Keep the questions that serve the job; remove repetition.

Check Smart move rules for unknown screening results

Teamtailor distinguishes positive, negative and unknown screening evaluations. The candidate-card preview shows positive and negative evaluations; the full breakdown includes unknowns. Open that breakdown before assuming every requirement has been assessed. Reading screening evaluations

For the vague escalation reply, “unknown” should send you back to the unanswered question. It does not establish whether the applicant has the experience.

Check the automation as well as the assessment. Teamtailor’s Smart move supports conditions for meets, does not meet and unknown. An unknown result can move an application when a matching rule is configured. Smart move conditions

Choose where applications should wait for clarification. A stage called “Interview” is not a suitable holding area if entering it also sends an invitation. Give a named recruiter responsibility for the unanswered question before the next step begins.

A screening-based Smart move can affect the backlog already in the stage. Teamtailor’s screening-specific instructions say the rule runs for existing candidates and can run again after changes to the rule or screening evaluation. The same page’s general rules describe different behaviour, so confirm the screening-specific setup with your administrator rather than assuming only new arrivals will move. Screening-specific Smart move behaviour

Test with made-up applications and team-owned inboxes, with downstream invitations disabled. Do not enable the rule on a live backlog until its effect is clear.

Check the answer the hiring manager actually receives

Use a separate test job, made-up applications and inboxes your team controls. Have the administrator check shared settings and connected triggers before starting.

Follow the questionnaire through to the manager’s review:

From the hiring manager’s usual account, open the candidate card’s Questions section, where Teamtailor saves the questionnaire and replies. Ask who approved the replacement and what the manager would ask next. They should be able to point to the answer without an administrator guiding them. Where replies are saved

Check structured fields against the original reply too. Teamtailor says Co-pilot matches answers to the options available in a custom field and records its updates in the audit log. Test a qualified answer such as “I can probably start on 2 November, but my release date is not confirmed.” A stored date alone loses that condition. Check the original reply and the logged change, then keep the uncertainty visible to the person planning the offer. Custom-field updates

Keep your expected test answers outside the candidate record. Co-pilot can read job-linked comments, tags and non-private custom fields, and changes can prompt re-evaluation. A comment saying “this applicant meets the requirement” may become part of the next assessment’s input. Screening inputs

That does not mean withholding corrections in live hiring. It means keeping the original test result, recording a correction, and recognising that the corrected record is a different input for the next run.

Explain the data use before sending the request

Co-pilot reads existing candidate information to generate the questionnaire. Teamtailor lists resume text, non-private answers, profile information and screening evaluations among the inputs. For certain basic fields it sends only whether the information is missing, rather than the field’s value. Its guidance also says candidates cannot opt out of Request missing info processing. Feature-specific privacy guidance

Not answering the questionnaire does not prevent the processing that already generated it. And sending a “phone number missing” flag does not mean the other inputs contain no personal information.

Before enabling the feature, ask the colleague responsible for privacy to check the purpose, notice and handling of candidate requests. The email accompanying the questionnaire should explain what you need, why it matters to the vacancy and whom the candidate can contact for help.

Give a request not to use AI to that colleague to resolve, including whether an alternative route is needed. Do not close the case merely because the product lacks an opt-out setting, or treat the request as another unanswered form.

Count the questions resolved, not just the replies

During a trial, record what was missing, what the candidate supplied and whether the recruiter could make the next decision. An answer can resolve a question even when it shows that a requirement is not met; “resolved” does not mean “recommended for interview.”

With 24 delivered requests and 18 replies, the response rate is 75%. If 12 replies answer the intended question, half of the 24 cases are resolved, not three-quarters. Six replies still need follow-up, and six requests have no reply at the reporting date.

Keep failed deliveries outside those 24 visible in the record too. Check whether response windows are still open and whether anyone needs help. Include reading and follow-up time when comparing the questionnaire with your existing process.

For the delivery example, the manager’s brief can be direct:

The applicant checked the order address, carrier record and delivery photo, then raised the mismatch with the carrier. Their manager approved the replacement. Please ask how the applicant kept the customer informed while waiting. We will assess their written response in the customer exercise.

Any next interview, with a recruiter or a tool such as Screened, should build on that brief rather than collect the story again. Check that the interviewer actually receives it.

The form has done its job when the team can make the next decision, not simply when every box is filled.