Getting started
After adding your job description, you'll move to the Set Role Criteria step. This is where you define what success looks like for the role by selecting the skills, background requirements, and traits you want to assess.
Architect analyzes your job description and pre-populates suggested criteria to help you get started quickly.
Understanding role criteria
Role criteria are organized into three categories:
Category | Description | Examples |
Skills & Knowledge | Specific abilities or competencies required for the role | Technical skills (e.g. Python, data analysis), soft skills (e.g. communication, problem-solving), domain expertise (e.g. financial modeling, project management) |
Background & Experience | Experience, education, or qualifications needed | Years of experience, educational requirements, certifications or licenses, industry experience |
Traits | Personality characteristics or behavioural tendencies that contribute to success | Stress tolerance, curiosity, change orientation |
Reviewing Architect's suggestions
The criteria you define here will shape your entire assessment process - from the questions candidates are asked to how they're evaluated. That's why it's important to be intentional about what you include.
A good rule of thumb: only keep the criteria you know you want to actively evaluate during the hiring process. If a criterion won't influence how you assess or compare candidates, it will add noise rather than clarity.
Here are some guiding questions to help you decide what to keep:
Will you assess this? If there's no plan to measure a criterion, consider removing it.
Is it truly required for success? Separate must-haves from nice-to-haves. Focus your criteria on what's essential for performing well in the role.
Can it be developed on the job? If a skill or trait can be learned quickly after joining, it may not need to be a selected criterion.
💡Note: Less is more. A focused set of well-chosen criteria leads to a more structured, efficient, and fair hiring process. Aim for quality over quantity.
Customising your criteria
You can adjust Architect's suggestions to better fit your role. Here's what to keep in mind for each category:
Skills & Knowledge
Skills & Knowledge are the specific competencies you want to evaluate. Architect suggests these based on your job description, and they directly influence which assessments and interview questions are recommended in the next step.
Be specific - "data analysis" is more useful than "analytical"
Include both technical and soft skills - e.g. Python, financial modelling, communication, stakeholder management
The more precise your criteria, the more targeted your assessment plan will be
Background & Experience
Background & Experience criteria define the qualifications, experience, or education that are relevant for the role. These are used in the Screening for Readiness step, where you review how well each candidate matches against them.
Add alternatives when relevant - for example, if a role would benefit from either a "degree in engineering" or a "degree in computer science", add both
You'll assess the overall match during screening - having one of several preferred criteria could still make a candidate a strong fit
Location, language, and remote status
You can also specify practical requirements for the role:
Location: Enter the city where the role is based
Languages: Select one or more languages required for the role
Remote status: Choose whether the role is on-site, remote, or hybrid
These details help candidates understand the practicalities of the role and ensure the right expectations are set from the start. Along with Background & Experience, they are also used in the Screening for Readiness step - where you'll see at a glance whether a candidate matches the requirements you've set for the role.
Adding or removing criteria
To add a criterion: Type into the text field and click Add
To remove a criterion: Click the X next to the criterion you want to remove
Personality traits and logical ability
As part of the role criteria, Architect will recommend a personality profile for the role based on your job description. The personality profile defines which personality traits to measure, and whether logical ability should be assessed.
Architect selects from Alva's research-based profiles - best practice profiles crafted from decades of published research on what generally predicts performance in different roles. We recommend using these research-based profiles as your starting point, as they reflect what the evidence says matters most for success. To learn more, read Alva's default test profiles.
💡Note: If you've developed custom test profiles with Alva, get in touch with our team so we can make them available for Architect to recommend.
Customising the personality profile:
Change the entire profile: Click Change profile to select a different profile
Add a trait: Click Select traits to add individual traits to the profile
Remove a trait: Click the X next to the trait you want to remove
Next steps
Once you've finalized your role criteria, click Next Step to move to the next step: designing your assessment plan. Architect will recommend specific assessments and interview questions based on the criteria you've defined.
➡️ Next step: Design Assessment Plan
Any Questions?
Use the chat in the bottom right corner to connect with a member of our support team.
