Candidate Assessment Bot

Following bot evaluates candidates hard skills by sending custom assessment files using Telegram API and Google Services (Drive, Sheets, Gmail).

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Overview

Test assessment is divided into two parts:

• Task preparation → managers fill a google doc with custom tasks (in a shared drive);
• Assessment → bot sends prepared docs and saves answered-files in a separate google folder per candidate with all corresponding data (answers, time spent etc);

One of the challenges was to limit candidates freedom in the bot, so candidates shouldn't be able to:

• re-enter and start the test again (if time runs out, for instance);
• reload answers after finishing the test;
• get access to other questions and so on.

Which raised another issue: how to design the process of task choosing? In the original approach bot had a menu-like architecture, where candidate could choose a section, then fall down deeper (inner modules) and finally get to assigned tasks. Given a department of multiple teams and managers with their custom tasks, menu-like model was promising.

But in this case candidates could (accidentally or purposefully) click (and access) wrong tasks. To address mentioned above frivolities, the "password" approach was chosen: managers prepare the tasks and assign to candidates specific tests (so there is no possibility of misclicks and wrong access from users). After task preparation, a temporary token is generated, giving the candidate a one-time access to take the test, which automatically limits re-entries and any other forms of cheating :)

Long story short general workflow looks like this:

1. Manager fills a new row for candidate in a google sheet: name, email, testing modes (extra excel tasks) and adds link to the main google doc with tasks.

2. Generates access-token.

3. HR sends token and @<bot_tag> to candidate.

4. Candidate can call to bot only with the token. After verification, instructions with a "start" button are sent.

5. Clicking "start", candidate receives the files, where answers should be provided.

6. When ready, candidate sends answered files back.

7. Bot:

   • registers spent time;
   • creates a separate google folder for the candidate;
   • sends email notifications to manager;
   • expires token.