Free Applicant Screening Checklist for Small Business Hiring
Feeling overwhelmed by resumes? This step-by-step checklist will help you build a repeatable screening process that eliminates unqualified candidates and saves you hours on every hire.
This checklist is part of our comprehensive guide to candidate screening. For the full strategy, read The Ultimate Guide to Candidate Screening.
The 7-Step Applicant Screening Checklist
Follow these steps to move from a cluttered inbox to a clean pipeline of interview-ready candidates.
Define Your 3-5 'Must-Have' Criteria
Before you do anything else, write down the absolute non-negotiable requirements for the role. These are your deal-breakers.
Write Your Knockout Questions
Turn your 'must-have' criteria from Step 1 into simple, objective questions. Check our guide for knockout question examples.
Build Your 5-Minute Screening Quiz
Use a tool like Sift to build a quick quiz with your knockout questions. This will act as your automated front line.
Set Your Destination URL
Decide where successful candidates should go. This is the link to your full application form (in your ATS) or the next step in your process.
Replace Your 'Apply Now' Link
On LinkedIn, Indeed, and your careers page, use your new Sift quiz link instead of the direct application link. This is the most crucial step.
Review Your Qualified Candidates
Log into your Sift dashboard (or your ATS) and review the small, pre-vetted list of candidates who passed your screen.
Engage and Interview Immediately
The best candidates are off the market in 10 days. Reach out to your qualified applicants immediately to schedule the next step.
Quick takeaway: The key is to automate steps 3-5. By using a screening quiz as your application firewall, you ensure that you only ever have to perform steps 6 and 7 on candidates who are worth your time.
Put Your Screening on Autopilot
Manually going through this checklist for every applicant is still time-consuming. The real leverage comes from automating the process. Sift is designed to handle the most tedious parts of this checklist for you, so you can focus on what matters: talking to great candidates.