Recruiter guide | Updated 5 November 2026 | By Ramy Elbeitam, recruitment operations manager

How to build a candidate shortlist spreadsheet

Short answer: Use one row per candidate with columns for name, role, source, date applied, status, next step and owner, keep a short fixed list of status values, and leave out sensitive personal details the decision does not need.

Most small recruitment teams don't need an applicant tracking system to stay organized. A well-designed spreadsheet does the job for dozens of openings a year, as long as everyone uses it the same way. This guide sets out the columns that matter, a set of status values, and the habits that keep the sheet trustworthy.

One sheet per opening

Keep a separate sheet, or a separate tab, for each job code. Mixing roles in one list makes filtering harder and invites mistakes such as sending a nurse's CV to a client hiring welders. If one person applies for two roles, they get a row on each sheet, because each role is a separate decision.

Columns to include

Received – the date the application arrived. Sort by it to reply in order.
Name – as the applicant wrote it.
Email – the most reliable way to recognize the same person later. See handling duplicate applications.
Phone – only if you plan to call.
Location – city or region, if it matters for the role.
Key requirement columns – one column for each must-have in the ad, such as Licensed (Y/N) or Years in role. Keep these to three or four.
CV file – a link or path to the saved file, so nobody has to search the inbox again.
Status – one value from a fixed list (below).
Owner – who is handling this candidate next.
Last action – date of the last contact, so stale candidates stand out.
Notes – short and factual: "Available from 1 Dec", not opinions about the person.

Status values

A drop-down list (Data validation in Excel or Google Sheets) stops people inventing new labels. A set that works for most agencies:

New – received, not yet screened.
Screened – yes – meets the must-haves.
Screened – no – does not; send a polite reply.
Contacted – call or email sent, waiting for an answer.
Interview – booked or done.
Submitted – sent to the client or hiring manager, with the date.
Offer, Hired, Withdrawn, Closed.

Add a filter row and conditional formatting, for example a pale colour on any row whose Last action is more than seven days old, and the sheet starts to work like a simple tracker.

What to leave out

A shortlist is shared more often than the CVs, so keep it lean:

No passport, ID or bank numbers, even if an applicant sent them.
No date of birth, religion, marital status or photos unless the law and the role genuinely require them. Many of these invite discrimination complaints.
No free-text judgements you would not be comfortable showing the applicant. In many countries, including under the Philippine Data Privacy Act and the EU GDPR, people can ask to see the data you hold on them.

Habits that keep the sheet reliable

Update the status at the moment you act, not at the end of the day.
Never delete a row to "clean up". Set it to Closed, then delete closed openings in bulk once your retention period ends.
Share edit access only with the people working the role. Give clients a separate, filtered copy.

Getting a starting sheet automatically

Applicant Packager, a free Windows app, saves each applicant's files into folders. Its free command-line tool also writes an index.csv list of every application it exported, which opens in Excel or Google Sheets. Paste that into your shortlist template and add your status and requirement columns. Everything is created on your own computer.

Download Applicant Packager free