CV screening spreadsheet: template and worked example

Copy this CV screening spreadsheet template to track applicants, review evidence and keep candidate follow-ups from slipping through the cracks. It works in Excel or Google Sheets and is designed for small teams handling applications without an applicant tracking system (ATS).

Each applicant gets one row showing what you learned, the next decision, who owns it and when the candidate last heard from you. The worked example below shows how to fill in the columns without turning the tracker into an automatic scoring system.

Copy the CV screening spreadsheet columns

Use these 12 column names for the first row of your sheet. You can copy the CSV header into a plain-text file named cv_screening.csv, then import it into Excel or Google Sheets with a comma delimiter. The sheet is a work list: it does not automatically score candidates or send reminders.

Application ID, Role, Received, CV / source, Evidence against requirements, Clarification needed, Next decision / action, Reviewer, Communication owner, Last contact, Status, Next update

Start your live list with blank application rows and save it in approved storage with restricted access. The eight sample applicants show the notes and actions to enter; keep sample records out of a live hiring queue.

Keep the working version as an Excel workbook or native Google Sheet after importing. Saving back to CSV discards formatting and other workbook features.

Set up the sheet for one vacancy

The vacancy is for an operations coordinator. The person will check invoices against orders, investigate differences and leave clear handover notes. The employer will teach its accounting software.

Morgan reviews CVs; Riley sends candidate messages. They begin with a few of the same applications to check that they agree on the requirements. “Supported reconciliation”, for example, does not tell them whether the applicant investigated invoice differences or only entered figures. They agree when that needs a question.

Add one row per application. Enter its Application ID, Role, Received date and CV / source link. Name the Reviewer and put the review deadline in Next update, unless a promised candidate update is due sooner.

Set Status to Review and write “Not yet reviewed” under Evidence against requirements. After reading the CV, replace that placeholder with the relevant experience or unanswered question. Do not leave “reviewed” as the only record of the decision.

Keep the agreed job requirements beside the tracker and date them. Reviewers need to know what they are checking, including which experience is essential and which the employer will teach.

What should a CV screening spreadsheet include?

The template has 12 columns. Dates and names help you find the record; these three fields make it useful to the next person:

In CV / source, put the applicant's name beside a restricted link to the document or reply reviewed. Keep original documents in approved storage rather than pasting them into the sheet. Use the separate Application ID field to distinguish applications, including people who share a name.

Reviewer names the person assessing the application; Communication owner names the person sending candidate messages. They may be different people.

Use Next decision / action for the named task and its deadline. Put the earliest outstanding deadline in Next update, including any update promised to the candidate. Keep both dates in the action note when they differ.

Use the template's six statuses: Review, Clarify, Waiting for candidate, Ready for next stage, Closed and Withdrawn.

The distinction between Clarify and Waiting for candidate is whose turn it is. Clarify means your team must send the question. Waiting for candidate means it has been sent. Ready for next stage means the screening decision is made, but the invitation or handover still needs arranging.

After sending a question, record when to check for a reply without overwriting a promised update. If Riley owes an update on Tuesday and Morgan’s review is due Thursday, keep Tuesday in Next update. After a handover, link the next-stage record and confirm its owner has taken over.

8 applications and what happens next

The completed example shows the position on 28 September 2026: 8 applicants and 9 application emails, because Ellis sent the same CV twice.

The 6 active rows give Morgan and Riley a work list: two CVs to read, two invitations to send, one question to ask and one reply to check. The dates show which actions are due. Ben and Gus stay in the record but out of the active queue.

Find today's work without reading every row

Filter out Closed and Withdrawn, then sort the whole table by Next update, oldest first. Check overdue actions, today's actions and active rows with no date. An undated task still needs an owner and a deadline.

Morgan can filter Status to Review for the CV queue. Riley can filter Communication owner to their own name, then check Next update and the action note. That keeps a promised message visible even while Morgan is still reviewing.

The reason matters as much as the status. Chen needs a question; Ben has answered and does not meet the investigation requirement. Dina's unfamiliar software is an agreed training need, not a failed requirement.

Clarify a CV and update the screening decision

Chen's part in the invoice work could change the screening decision, so Riley asks for an example. Not every empty field needs a follow-up, only information that matters to the next step.

Hi Chen,

Your CV mentions supporting reconciliation. Could you walk us through one example and explain what you did? We're particularly interested in any invoice differences you checked and what happened next.

A short reply is fine. Please leave out customer names and confidential account details. Thanks.

The table ends on 28 September, before Chen replies. Continue the case with this answer on 29 September:

The quantity matched, but the price on the invoice was different from the order. I checked the agreed price and sent the difference to our purchasing colleague. I left the invoice pending and noted who was checking it and when I would follow up. I did not approve the payment.

Morgan now has an example of investigation and handover. The updated note reads:

Chen described checking the invoice against the agreed price and sending the difference to purchasing. They recorded who would check it and when they would follow up. This is the investigation and handover example we needed for screening.

Riley will invite Chen to the work exercise. Chen did not claim to approve the payment.

Link the reply, date Morgan's review and change Status to Ready for next stage. Put Riley's invitation in Next decision / action and its due date in Next update. A colleague can now see both the new decision and what changed it.

How to handle duplicate applications and revised CVs

Check the sender, vacancy and document before combining a repeated email with an existing application. Ellis resent the same CV for the same job, so both emails belong with one row. A matching name alone would not establish that.

For a revised CV, retain the application row and identify the new document version. Review any information that could change the decision. Keep the original received date so an update does not make the person look like a later applicant.

A second application to another job needs its own row and decision. Link the rows where useful, but keep each job's assessment separate. Before removing anything that looks duplicated, check for a new message or updated document.

Keep the tracker current when you contact candidates

Riley sends messages and Morgan records assessment decisions. That division avoids two people sending invitations independently. If Riley is away, name the colleague covering the messages and update the affected rows before they contact applicants.

Before sending, check the latest reply and the row's next action. Afterwards, update Last contact, Status, Next decision / action and Next update. Make that part of sending the message, rather than trying to remember every contact at the end of the week.

For Farah, an overdue date means “check the conversation”, not “reject”. Her answer may already have arrived, the email may have bounced or she may have requested more time. Read the latest messages before deciding what to send.

Gus has withdrawn, so his unfinished review is no longer an active task. Filter by the current status before sending reminders, not simply by whether an assessment cell is blank.

Keep imported application IDs exactly as they were

Check imported IDs before using them to match records. Excel can remove leading zeros and store only 15 significant digits in a numeric value. The reference 00127 can become 127, and a long numeric ID can lose its final digits even when the file opens without an error.

Use text references such as SUP-241 where your process allows. When importing numeric IDs from another system, use Data → From Text/CSV and set the ID column to Text before loading. Remove or replace any step that converts those IDs to numbers. Keep review dates as dates so they sort correctly.

Compare several imported IDs with the original export before matching records or sending updates. If digits have already been lost, changing the cell format afterwards will not recover them. Reimport the untouched source with the correct type. Do not guess the missing digits from a similar applicant's name.

Import candidate answers as text, not formulas

When bringing answers in from an external form or export, check how the spreadsheet handles free-text fields. A value beginning with = can be interpreted as a formula rather than an applicant’s answer. OWASP explains this CSV-injection risk.

Have the administrator confirm a safe text-import route for those fields, and keep security warnings enabled. Do not enable external content just to make an unfamiliar export work. This is a file-handling check, not evidence that a particular applicant intended harm.

Sort whole rows, not just names

Keep each applicant's name, notes and decision together when sorting. Sorting only the names column can put Ana's notes beside Ben's name. Microsoft warns about this when sorting part of a larger range. Turn the full range into an Excel table and sort from its headers.

In Google Sheets, filter views let Morgan see CVs to read while Riley sees messages due. On a computer, use Data → Create filter view, apply the filters and save the view. It changes what you see, not the information other authorised users can access.

Use full dates such as “29 September 2026”, not “next Tuesday”. Store them as dates so sorting works. Where a candidate's reply deadline differs from your internal follow-up date, put the reply deadline in the action note and the follow-up date in Next update.

Don't send private notes with the shortlist

If you later add private notes, for example, salary discussions, leave them out of any shortlist sent to someone who should not see them. Hiding the column does not remove its contents from the file. Excel's Hide and Unhide commands change the display, not the file's contents.

Keep one working tracker for the recruiting team. To share a limited shortlist, start with an empty file and copy only the details the recipient needs. Open that file and check its contents and links before sending. Copying the whole tracker and hiding columns leaves the private information inside it.

Date the shared shortlist. Keep the working tracker current, but remember that changing it does not update a copy already sent. Send the recipient a correction when a decision changes.

Locking cells helps prevent accidental edits. It is not a substitute for restricting access to the file. Microsoft explains that distinction here.

Check the CV links as well: each document should be accessible only to the colleagues who need it. A restricted spreadsheet can still contain links to publicly accessible documents. The UK ICO's security guidance covers these access controls.

Decide how long to keep the tracker and source records

Follow your retention policy for the sheet, messages and CVs, and name the person responsible for each review or deletion. In Singapore, PDPC’s retention limitation obligation requires organisations to stop retaining personal data when it no longer serves a business or legal purpose. A row marked Closed is not, by itself, an instruction to delete it immediately. Our Singapore candidate retention guide breaks this down by record type.

Set periods for your actual records and obligations rather than copying a deadline from the template. For UK recruitment, the ICO’s retention guidance likewise does not prescribe one period for every kind of personal data.

When is it time for an ATS?

Look for problems the team keeps repeating despite maintaining the sheet. Are two recruiters contacting the same person? Do managers need different access to applicant information? Does reporting require hours of searching inboxes?

Use those failures as your shortlist of requirements for an ATS. Ask the supplier to show how it prevents duplicate contact, limits access or records the message history. More features will not help if they do not solve the problem taking up your time.

Test one application row before adding the rest

Before filling the tracker, complete one application row and ask a colleague to use it. They should be able to open the right CV, understand the reason for the next step and see who will act by which date. Fix anything they have to ask you to explain, then use that pattern for the rest.