Early career talent assessment: see who can code_

Codility Screen gives every entry-level applicant a realistic coding assessment sized for a junior role. Your reviewers then compare applicants by the code each one submitted, including candidates without a computer science degree.

verified1,300+ validated engineering tasks, designed by assessment engineers and reviewed by occupational psychologists.

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New grad software engineer

Jordan Lee

Time used

34 / 40 min

Score

82%

solution.py

def merge_slots(slots):

slots.sort(key=lambda s: s[0])

out = [slots[0]]

for s in slots[1:]:

if s[0] <= out[-1][1]:

out[-1][1] = max(…)

return out

Test cases

check_circleExample input

check_circleOverlapping slots

check_circleSingle slot

cancelLarge input, 10^5 slots

check_circleUnsorted input

12 of 14 passed

Recognized by G2, Fall 2026

Codility is rated 4.6 of 5 on G2 and ranked #1 for Enterprise Skills Screening. Rankings come from verified customer reviews.

Today’s failing approach: early career hiring on resumes and generic online tests

description

Challenge 1: Resume screening

Most early career applicants have limited formal work experience. A resume gives your recruiters little evidence to compare. Your team can then miss candidates who would perform well in the role. A resume screen can also favor candidates with the most traditional backgrounds.

function

Challenge 2: Academic coding problems

A test built on theoretical algorithms can miss the skills a new engineer uses in the first 90 days. Those skills can include debugging existing code. When your team recruits from bootcamps and self-taught communities, overly academic problems can disadvantage those candidates.

help

Challenge 3: Unfamiliar test formats

Many early career candidates are unfamiliar with online coding assessments. Anxiety about the format can lower performance or lead candidates to drop out. Early career candidates may also be less likely than experienced engineers to ask about an unclear instruction.

smart_toy

Challenge 4: Unclear AI rules

Early career developers widely use AI coding tools, including ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot. Without a clear policy in the assessment, candidates may use those tools by default. Your reviewers then have no rule to judge a result against.

Together, these gaps can keep skilled candidates from nontraditional backgrounds out of early career hiring.

An early careers assessment platform for entry-level engineering roles_

Codility Screen is an early careers assessment platform for software engineering roles, including new grad and internship hiring. Candidates complete work simulations in a realistic coding environment. Your reviewers see each candidate’s score beside the code that candidate submitted.

Assess every entry-level applicant at the same junior level

Codility Screen sends applicants for the role an assessment with the same time limit and task criteria. Your team can choose tasks from the Codility library by difficulty level to fit a junior role. Your team can also randomize tasks to limit answer sharing. Candidates may then receive different tasks from the selected pool.

For an early career assessment, Codility recommends one or two tasks and 30 to 45 minutes. Codility automatically scores submissions for selected tasks against the task’s test cases.

The difference: Your recruiters shortlist entry-level candidates on the code each one submitted.

New grad software engineer 2 tasks · Easy · 40 min

CandidateTask 1Task 2TotalTime

Priya Shah 95% 88% 92% 36 min

Jordan Lee 90% 74% 82% 34 min

Sam Okafor 80% 70% 75% 40 min

Mia Novak 85% 60% 73% 29 min

Leo Ramos 60% 55% 58% 40 min

Priya Shah · Task 1 · 95% def first_unique(s): counts = Counter(s) return next((i for i, c in enumerate(s) …

Let every candidate practice the format before the scored test

Codility offers each candidate a demo test first. Candidates use the demo test to get familiar with the Codility platform, then start the assessment when they feel ready.

Your team can also edit the assessment invitation. The invitation can state the number of tasks, the time required and the programming languages allowed.

The difference: Candidates new to online coding assessments start the scored test already familiar with the Codility platform.

mailAssessment invitation

Your coding assessment for the new grad software engineer role

checklist2 tasks timer40 minutes python · java · javascript

arrow_downward

Demo test Not scored

Return the sum of all numbers in a list.

def solution(nums):

return sum(nums)

Run tests I’m ready to start

Set the AI rules for each assessment and review the evidence

Codility lets your team enable or disable the AI Assistant for each assessment. When the AI Assistant is on, Codility captures every candidate interaction as reviewable AI activity. The assessment invitation can list the permitted AI tools.

Codility Screen can also collect integrity signals. Integrity signals show your reviewers which parts of a session they may want to examine. Signals include paste events, tab switches and matches with other submissions. The Code Evolution Chart places paste events and tab switches on a timeline of how the candidate’s code changed.

The difference: Your reviewers can examine the evidence behind each integrity signal before you decide who advances.

Code Evolution Chart · Task 2 scheduleAwaiting reviewer decision

Paste event

Tab switch

0 min20 min40 min

AI activity

06:12 Asked the AI Assistant to explain a test failure

15:40 Requested an example of dictionary iteration

27:05 Asked for edge cases to test

Candidate ratings of the Codility assessment

From Codility’s post-assessment candidate survey.

91%

of candidates rate the assessment content fair. That figure comes from 45,925 responses to the fairness question.

83%+

Across every group surveyed, fairness ratings stay above 83%.

60%

Among candidates who estimated their own score at 50% or below, 60% rate their overall experience Good or Excellent.

Questions about early career talent assessment

Which assessment platform supports early career hiring of software engineers?

Codility Screen supports early talent recruitment for software engineering roles, including new grad hiring and internship programs. Candidates complete work simulations sized for a junior role in a realistic coding environment. Your reviewers see each score beside the submitted code.

What makes a technical screening tool work for entry-level roles rather than senior engineers?

How do you assess bootcamp, self-taught and computer science candidates fairly on one test?

Your team applies the same job-related assessment plan and conditions to every candidate, then checks the results by group.

Test the work of the role. Your team chooses work simulations that reflect entry-level engineering work and avoids overly academic problems. Your engineers can also build a custom Codility task from a job description with Build with MCP. Build with MCP runs inside your engineers’ own AI coding assistant.
Hold the conditions equal. In practice, every candidate receives the same instructions, time limit and AI Assistant setting.
Offer practice to everyone. A demo test lets every candidate get familiar with the Codility platform before the scored assessment.
Score the output the same way. Codility gives the same submission the same score every time, whatever the candidate’s background.
Check results by group. As part of its professional services, Codility conducts adverse impact analyses aligned with EEOC guidance. An adverse impact analysis checks whether any demographic group passes at a disproportionately lower rate. Demographic groups include sex and ethnic groups. The methods include the four-fifths rule and statistical testing.

Codility Lab also covers early career hiring at volume in How do you run early careers hiring at scale without losing the signal?

Does Codility decide which candidates advance?

Does Codility work with our early talent acquisition software?

Yes, through your applicant tracking system (ATS). Codility Screen adds the technical assessment step to early careers recruitment. Codility connects with 21 major platforms, including Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, Workday and SmartRecruiters.

To see how Codility fits alongside campus recruiting platforms, read Codility’s campus recruiting software page. For bulk invitations and completion tracking across a large applicant pool, see Codility’s high volume hiring platform.

Start your next new grad hiring round on realistic tasks_

You can start with one entry-level engineering role before your next early career recruiting season. Your team sets up the assessment with Codility and reviews the results.

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