Creating a pad

Last updated on August 11, 2023 • Available in French

There are two types of pads that you can create — live interview and take-home:

✅ You can rename a pad at any time. We highly recommend you come up with a standardized syntax for naming a pad. Example: {CandidateName}-{Position}-{Interviewer}-{Q1}, which would translate to Beth Q. Candydit-Jr. Dev-Vincent W.-Pig Latin 1.

1.Create a pad for a live interview

A live pad allows interviewer(s) and the candidate to write and execute code in a shared IDE environment in real-time.

To create a live pad, the fastest way

Click on the Create Pad button located on the upper right hand side of the page

The pads list displayed in the dashboard with an arrow pointing to the "create pad" button on the top right of the screen.

That’s it! Simply copy the pad URL, or pad link, for both interviewer(s) and the candidate to use to access for their live interview.

To create a live pad, with a question preloaded

Pro tip: This is useful when you want to ensure all candidates start from the same question and code prompt for their live interview.

Click on Questions from the side navigation:

The question bank is shown in the center. In the left nav menu an arrow points to the "question bank" link.

Select the question you want preloaded for your live interview:

A list of questions is shown under the "My content" tab of the question bank.

Click on Create Live Pad or Create Take-Home:

Under the my content tab a question has been selected. In the center of the screen is the question, and at the bottom the "Create live pad" and "create take-home" buttons are highlighted.

To create a pad from the sandbox

If you regularly use the sandbox to test out interview questions, you can create pads straight from there. Simply click on the Create Pad button in the bottom left hand corner of the sandbox, and a new pad window will open up giving you the ability to send the pad to candidates or coworkers and making it accessible in your Pads List.

A pad opened in the sandbox. An arrow points to the "Create pad" button in the bottom left corner of the pad.

Inviting users to the pad

Once you create your pad, it will open in a new tab.

Browser tabs are shown, one is labeled "Question Bank | CoderPad" and the other is "Java | CoderPad".

The pad contents will default to your preferred language, and with a “Hello World” example. You can change your preferred language under your personal User Settings.

A pad is shown with the "hello world" example in the code editor in the left window.

The pad URL is the link that both interviewer(s) and the candidate will use to access the pad. There are a few different ways to access this:

You can take the link directly from your browser URL bar.
Or you can click the Invite button located in the bottom left of the pad to utilize three additional options.
- Send an email invite to the pad
- Generate a temporary short link
- Copy permanent link (same as URL in URL bar)

The Invite button is shown and the pop up menu is displayed with the "send email invite", "phone-friendly temporary link", and "permanent link" options displayed.

Both the interviewer(s) and candidate have access to all features within the pad environment including changing languages, drawing mode, video calling, IDE settings and more.

The main difference in the environment between interviews and candidates are what the interviewer can do and see. Interviewers CAN:

Add a question or select another question
Access another tab next to “Program Output” called Private Interviewer Notes which allow interviewers to keep notes during the interview

Candidates CANNOT see your question bank or the private interview notes.

⚠️As the interviewer, you must be logged into your Interview account to be able to end the interview.

Using the waiting room

The waiting room is a screen that advises candidates of their pad status — interview start time and if the interviewer is in the pad — as well as helpful resources the candidate can use while they wait for the interview to start:

The waiting room screen which welcomes the candidate with a message, identifies the page as a waiting room, and gives the pad status as well as a video guide for using coderpad.

If you have the pad waiting room turned on, you’ll have to make the pad public in order for candidates and other interviewers to be able to access it.

If there is no one in the waiting room, you’ll see a black bar with an button to Open Pad To Everyone which you can click if you’d like to open the pad before the candidate or other interviewers arrive:

If there is someone in the waiting room, you’ll receive a blue banner at the top of the pad notifying you. Simply click on the Admit button to allow the candidate or other interviewer to access the pad.

✅ You can also enable or disable pad access at anytime by toggling the Waiting Room option in your pad settings.

2. Create a pad for a take-home test

From the Dashboard, click on the Question Bank button located in the sidebar
Select a take-home project that you would like to send to the candidates. If you have not created any of your own take-home project, check out this guide to help you get started. Take-home project questions can be filtered with the “View all Questions” filter.
Once you have selected a project, click on the Create Take-Homes button
Set a time limit. This makes the interview process more fair by allowing each candidate the same amount of time to complete the project. If you would like to set no time limit, that is also an option.
Input the name of the candidates (or the naming conventions your company uses) to create up to 100 take-home projects.
Once set up, click on the Create Pads button to generate the individual links that you will send to each candidate.
Send the specified link to each candidate.
When a candidate has completed the project, you will be notified via email and can also check your dashboard to review the code and move forward in your interview process.

Public take-home projects

Interview’s public take-home projects let you create a single URL that will load a specific take-home project question for any number of candidates. We only send submissions that pass 80% of the visible test cases to your team.

Why should I use a public take-home project?

The Public Take-Home gives you a wider range and more flexibility in using take-home projects, helping you attract and assess even more candidates. A public take-home lets a wide pool of candidates attempt a take-home project as the first application step. Here are some ways to use public take-home projects:

Send the public take-Home project URL directly to candidates as the first step
Embed the link directly on your Careers Page to let candidates start the application process for a specific job
Create a public take-home project for a university-specific test and send it to your university candidates
Make the link available as the first step in an online job application

How do I set up a public take-home project?

A public take-home project can only be created for projects with test cases. Click the Create Public URL button on any projects with test cases.

In the question bank a question is selected and the question menu has been opened by clicking the vertical ellipses at the far right of the question. "Create public url" is highlighted in the dropdown menu.

Once you’ve created the URL, you can come back and make changes to it by navigating to the take-home project and selecting Edit Public URL.

⚠️ Be careful editing the URL while the take-home project is open for candidate submissions, as this can mess up the submission process and prevent candidates from submitting their projects.

On the Public Take-Home URL settings page you can:

Provide a notification email
Set the appropriate time limit
Set the Allow Resubmit Solutions toggle.
Copy the Public Take-Home URL to send to your users.

Once you’ve confirmed your settings, click Update information to save.

Public take-home url settings screen. Here you can edit time limit, notification email address, the url, and allow resubmit solutions.

If the candidate successfully passes at least 80% of the visible test cases, we will send the candidate’s name, email, and a link to their completed take-home project to your notification email. If your team likes their submission, you can contact the candidate to set up the next interview stage. If the candidate does not pass enough test cases, they will not be able to submit the project, but will be prompted to keep trying. This saves time for both them and you, and your team won’t have to review unfinished attempts at the take-home project.

You can view candidate submissions on the CoderPad Submitted Public Take-Home Pads page.

The CoderPad Submitted Public Take-Home Pads page lists three tests. The first column shows the test name, the second column shows how many submissions are ready for review, the third column shows the total number of submissions and attempts, the fourth column displays a chart of the percentage of passed test cases, the last column displays the average time spent on the take home project.

Selecting the tests or clicking on the “[n] ready to review” link will display all the submissions, which you can view by scrolling to the bottom of the page:

The submissions table is shown. The columns, from left to right, are candidate name, take-home project name, number of visible test cases passed, number of hidden test cases passed, the time spent on the project, the language used, the status of the test, the submission time, who submitted the test, a review button, and a settings button.

How is this counted against my Interview pad quota?

We will only count successful candidate submissions against your plan quota.

Editing a public take-home project

You can use the “update” button to change the notification email or the time available to the candidates. “Delete” will remove this URL from the Interview system. This means any candidates with this link will no longer be able to attempt the project. Please be certain before deleting that this URL is no longer available to candidates, or they will reach an error page.

Tips for Success

Since this URL will be public, a large number of candidates may view and attempt this project. We recommend the following best practices:

Create a unique public project for each open role on your jobs page, or for each batch of University candidates
Create and use different questions public projects from the take-home projects you use for individually scheduled Take-Home interviews.
It is also a good idea to set up a new public project (and delete the URL for the first one) after you receive 100+ submissions.

Need any additional help with setup? Contact Support.