Knockout questions are yes/no screening gates that filter applicants on hard requirements — licence, location, work authorisation, availability — before anyone spends time interviewing. This generator turns a role's requirements into them: clear yes/no and multiple-choice gates on licence, location, work authorisation and availability, phrased so a candidate cannot misread them. Free, no signup, ATS-ready.
A question with one disqualifying answer, used to filter for requirements that are genuinely binary. "Do you hold a current RN licence in Ontario?" is a knockout. "How many years of Python do you have?" is not — it is a preference wearing a gate's clothing, and it removes candidates who could do the job.
Every knockout question removes people from your pipeline before a human ever looks. Three or four is usually the whole legitimate set: authorisation, licensure, location or shift availability, and any hard compliance requirement. Beyond that you are filtering on guesses.
Some questions are unlawful to ask as gates in some jurisdictions, and the boundaries differ between them — around age, health, criminal history and citizenship in particular. The generator flags a question that commonly crosses a line and suggests a lawful phrasing that gets at the same requirement.
Knockouts remove people who cannot legally or practically take the job. They say nothing about who is good at it. Screening criteria handle the judgement calls, and AI interviews assess capability for everyone who clears the gates.
Related: AI resume grader · Interview question generator