Shortlisting candidates is a crucial step in the recruitment process, one that directly impacts the quality of hires and the speed of decision-making. But knowing how to shortlist candidates for interviews effectively takes more than just skimming CVs.
In this article, we’ll walk you through a step-by-step approach to creating a shortlist that’s fair, efficient and focused on finding the best talent for your organisation.
Download the complete How to improve the quality of job applications you receive report for more insights and tools to help you hire smarter in 2025.
What is candidate shortlisting?
Candidate shortlisting, also known as candidate screening, is the process of reviewing job applications using predefined criteria to create a list of applicants most suited for the role. These shortlisted candidates then progress to the interview stage.
Why should recruiters shortlist candidates?
With the number of applications recruiters receive often piling up, knowing how to shortlist candidates for interview helps ensure a focused and more efficient approach. This makes it possible to better filter out unsuitable candidates early and move forward with only those who meet the agreed criteria.
Shortlisting also acts as a mirror for recruitment efforts. If roles aren’t receiving suitable applications, it could point to issues in job adverts, descriptions, sourcing methods, all of which directly affect the quality of applications.
How long should your shortlist be?
The ideal length of a candidate shortlist will vary depending on factors like:
* Volume of applications: More applicants generally means more options, but not always more quality.
* Shortlisting criteria: The most specific the criteria determined for a role, the smaller the pool of candidates will be.
* Interviewing: If your organisation prefers panel interviews or a multi-stage process, you may choose to shortlist fewer people.
* Historic hiring: Key stats from previous recruitment can help inform future hiring. For example, you might have an application-to-interview conversion rate of 20%, an interview to offer ratio of 25%, and a 50% likelihood of interviewees accepting offers. So, if you receive 100 applications, you should shortlist 20 and have 5 proceed to the interview stage.
How to shortlist candidates
Let’s look at how you can easily identify the most suitable applicants for your vacancy and create a shortlist that allows you to find the ideal candidate.
1. Ensure you have a clear job description
A precise and inclusive job description is the foundation of an effective candidate shortlist, and 64% of recruiters rely on them to improve the quality of applications. That’s because it helps to set expectations and defines that ‘qualified’ looks like. Furthermore, 69% of candidates say they found expectations in job adverts unclear in their most recent job search.
So, when crafting job descriptions, be sure to consider:
* Which skills and traits are desirable, essential, are required?
* How many years of experience are necessary?
* What are the key day-to-day responsibilities of the role?
* What benefits are on offer?
* What are your company values?
Graphic
2. Establish your criteria
Key to any shortlist is the criteria used to select candidates. This should be split between both essential and desirable criteria. Essential qualifications are ‘must-haves’ for the successful candidate, while desirable traits are there to help separate the good from the great.
Examples of essential criteria:
* Legal right to work in Ireland
* Specific qualifications or certifications
* Industry experience or critical technical skills
Examples of desirable criteria:
* Soft skills like communication or adaptability
* Familiarity with certain tools or platforms
* Additional languages or industry exposure
Using this two-tiered system ensures your shortlist includes only those with the core capabilities, while rewarding added value.
Graphic
With that in mind, lets look at the example of the essential and desirable criteria for a Financial Controller at a Healthcare Services Provider:
* Candidates must hold a professional accountancy qualification (essential)
* 5+ years post-qualification experience (desirable)
* Extensive experience in financial systems, accounting processes, and controls (essential)
* Experience running payroll processes and systems (essential)
* Excellent verbal and written communication skills (essential)
* Advanced Microsoft Excel skills (essential)
* Knowledge and experience of healthcare or related sectors (desirable)
* Experience in NetSuite and Sage Payroll (desirable)
3. Create a candidate scorecard
Scorecards are a structured way to assess each application consistently and objectively. The higher the candidate’s match, the more points they receive.
Once your criteria are defined, creating a scorecard for each candidate is easy, and this can be done anonymously to avoid bias or prejudice. You simply rate each candidate by score, with no other information, such as age, gender, or name impacting the process.
Let’s look at an example of how a scorecard system works@
* Essential criteria = 3 points
* Preferred criteria = 2 points
* Desirable criteria = 1 point
You can then review candidates and assign them points based on whether they meet each criterion.
4. Reduce bias
Bias, even unintentional, can undermine your recruitment efforts, preventing you from identifying and onboarding top talent. In fact, 23% of recruiters admit to eliminating candidates with unexplained gaps on their CV, a factor which may unfairly impact diverse candidates.
To ensure exceptional candidates aren’t overlooked, recruiters should remain objective throughout the shortlisting process, not allowing their perception of a candidate to cloud their judgement. Under the UK Equality Act 2010, eliminating candidates under a protected characteristic is forbidden. This includes:
* Age
* Disability
* Race
* Religion or belief
* Sex
* Sexual orientation
* Pregnancy and maternity
* Gender reassignment
Tip: Involving two or more experienced HR or talent acquisition specialists in the shortlisting process can help actively reduce bias.
5. Select your top performers
A more inclusive mindset results in recruiters looking for reasons to progress a candidate to the next stage rather than eliminating them.
This can be especially effective when identifying high-potential candidates. For example, some individuals may not tick every box, but offer strong transferable skills that could help them succeed in the long term.
Adopting this type of mindset can help to improve the quality of interviewees and boosts diversity.
6. Notify candidates
All applicants should be notified whether they are shortlisted or not. Timely and transparent communication helps support your employer brand and ensure a positive candidate experience.
Example emails
Best practices to streamline shortlisting
Knowing how to shortlist candidates for interview is only part of the equation. Optimising your process ensures better outcomes.
Let’s explore some best practices you can implement to take things up a level.
CV screening
A comprehensive review of each candidate’s CV allows you to determine if they meet the criteria for the role, which is why 63% of recruiters manually review applications to determine candidate-role fit.
To carry out effective CV screening in the hiring process, recruiters need to:
* Spot errors: Obvious flaws and errors can help reveal undesirable traits in a candidate. Keep equal opportunities in mind, however, as some individuals with specific learning disabilities may have affected writing skills.
* Find inconsistencies: CVs with missing information may indicate career-related issues, which should be explored further. There can be valid reasons for job hopping, for example, especially in a post-pandemic world where careers have been impacted unexpectedly.
* Identify red flags: Beware of CVs overloaded with jargon or buzzwords, as candidates can use this technique to deceive AI-based applicant tracking systems. As a result, these CVs may not accurately reflect a candidate’s true experience.
* Check references: While it’s not necessary to contract the referee of every candidate, you can search for them online or check their LinkedIn profile. While candidates are unlikely to fabricate refences, it doesn’t hurt to check.
Graphic
Blind applicant screening
Everyone has biases, but if they influence the hiring process you could be contravening the Equality Act 2010 and breaking the law on top of missing out on top talent.
Blind applicant screening removes candidates’ identifying features from their application, helping to reduce the risk of bias creeping in and ensuring candidates advance to the next stage of the hiring process purely on merit.
Open-minded applicant screening
An open-minded, competency-based screening approach can help reduce prejudice. No assumptions should be made, only the information provided should reflect how the applicant is viewed. This screening of candidates may also involve the input of more than a single hiring manager to ensure impartiality.
Psychometric testing
Psychometric testing allows employers to assess a candidate’s intelligence, potential and personality, checking whether what the candidate says on paper can be transferred to the workplace. It can measure various characteristics, from verbal reasoning to personality and situational judgement.
It can also reveal aptitudes a candidate might not be aware of. These tests are also particularly good for highlighting soft skills in high demand in many workplaces, functioning as a great additional screening method for borderline candidates whose capabilities you want to explore further.