# How to create and configure an assessment on Qualen

Creating an assessment in Qualen takes only a few minutes. You define the parameters — difficulty, specialization, and language surface — and Qualen selects appropriate codebase content and pull request material to match. Once saved, the assessment is ready to use across as many candidates as you need. 
 1 Open the Assessments Dashboard Navigate to  Assessments  in the main navigation and click  New Assessment . You’ll be taken to the assessment creation form. 2 Name Your Assessment Give the assessment a descriptive name — for example,  Senior Backend Engineer — Q3 2025  — so your team can identify it quickly in the dashboard. Names are visible only to your hiring team, not to candidates. 3 Set the Difficulty Choose from the following levels:  Intern ,  New Graduate ,  Junior ,  Mid-level ,  Senior ,  Staff , or  Principal . This calibrates the codebase complexity and the expected depth of review. A Senior assessment surfaces subtler issues and longer iteration cycles than a Junior one. 4 Choose a Specialization Select the engineering domain most relevant to the role. Options include  Frontend ,  Backend ,  Infrastructure ,  Networking ,  Core Database ,  Performance ,  Distributed Systems ,  Data Pipelines ,  Security ,  Platform ,  Systems , and  APIs . The codebase and PR content Qualen selects will reflect the domain you choose. 5 Set the Language Surface Decide which programming languages should appear in the assessment. You can restrict the codebase to one or two specific languages for depth, or allow a broader mix when hiring for generalist roles. This setting signals clear expectations to candidates before they start. 6 Review and Save Review your configuration on the summary screen. Confirm the name, difficulty, specialization, and language surface are correct, then click  Save Assessment . The assessment is now ready for candidates to be invited. 
 You can create multiple assessment configurations for different roles and reuse them across hiring cycles. For example, maintain a  Mid-level Backend — Python  configuration alongside a  Senior Infrastructure — Terraform  one and invite candidates to whichever fits the open role. 
 Assessment content — the actual pull requests and codebase — is managed by Qualen. You configure the parameters; Qualen selects appropriate material that matches your difficulty, specialization, and language choices. You do not need to provide or upload code. 
 Once your assessment is saved, the next step is inviting candidates. For advanced configuration options — including how difficulty levels are calibrated and how specializations differ — see the  Customization  guide.