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Hire Faster: A Serious Shortlist in 48 Hours

A three-step screen that gets you to a serious shortlist in 48 hours.

By James Schramko · Updated May 2026

Three-step screening process to shortlist candidates quickly.

Cut 90% of applicants in 48 hours. Get to a shortlist of serious candidates without reading every resume.

I built a hiring filter as a general manager at a car dealership. I wrote a spec for the role first, and the application was a tick-box form, so I could tell before anyone reached an interview whether they had a chance. I measured every candidate against a minimum standard I had set beforehand, so I was not going on gut feel or hiring people who reminded me of myself. More than a hundred people applied for one job. The checklist narrowed that to a handful of interviews: seven people on a Monday, seven on a Tuesday, reference checks on Wednesday, final interviews on Thursday and a decision on Friday. That left two or three people worth hiring.

This works for any role, any volume. Contractors, employees, remote, local.

The Three Filters

Filter 1: Knockout Question

In your job ad, add a simple instruction buried in the middle of the text:

"Include the word [WAVELENGTH] in your subject line when applying"

Pick any word. Change it per role. The word itself doesn't matter.

What it does:

Tests if they actually read the ad.

Eliminates spray-and-pray applicants.

Cuts 60-70% immediately.

Anyone without the word gets binned. No exceptions. No "but their resume looks good." If they can't follow a simple instruction in an application, they won't follow instructions on the job.

Bury the instruction in the middle of the ad, not the end. People who skim to the bottom still miss it.

Filter 2: Video Response

Email remaining applicants:

Subject: Next step - quick video

Thanks for applying.

Next step: Send a 2-minute video answering this question:

[INSERT ROLE-SPECIFIC QUESTION]

Send the link within 48 hours.

[Your name]

Role-specific question examples:

Content role: "What's one piece of content you've created that you're proud of and why?"

Sales role: "Pitch me on why you're the right person for this role."

Technical role: "Walk me through how you'd approach [specific problem relevant to the role]."

Operations role: "Describe a system or process you've improved and what changed."

General: "What's an achievement from the last two years that you're proud of?"

What it filters:

Communication ability. Can they be clear and concise.

Instruction following. Two minutes, not ten.

Effort and interest. Many won't bother.

Presentation. Relevant for client-facing roles.

Cuts another 50%+ of remaining applicants.

Filter 3: AI Scorecard

For video responders, score their application using AI.

Create a project with this prompt. Edit the IDEAL CANDIDATE section for each role.

ROLE: You are screening job applications for [ROLE TITLE] at [COMPANY].

IDEAL CANDIDATE:

[Criteria 1]

[Criteria 2]

[Criteria 3]

[Criteria 4]

[Criteria 5]

FOR EACH APPLICATION, SCORE 1-5 ON:

1. Writing quality (based on cover letter/email)
2. Relevant experience
3. Attention to detail (followed instructions, errors)
4. Portfolio/evidence strength (if provided)
5. Culture fit signals (ownership language, initiative, values)

OUTPUT FORMAT:

Name

Total score (out of 25)

Top strength

Main concern

Recommend: Yes / Maybe / No

Process:

Paste applications in batches.

Ask "Screen these."

Review Yes and Maybe candidates.

Bin the rest.

Do not let AI make final decisions. Use it to surface the shortlist for human review.

When To Automate Further

This manual process handles up to around 50 applicants comfortably.

If you're hiring at volume, with multiple roles and 100+ applicants regularly, you can build more. Gmail extraction scripts, Google Sheets integration for tracking, and automated AI scoring pipelines.

That's infrastructure for recruitment operations, not one-off hiring. Build it when the volume justifies it.