How to Review a Pile of Resumes When You Don't Have an HR Department

You have a job to fill, twenty or fifty resumes, and nobody on staff whose title includes “HR.” Start with a one-page checklist. It will save more time than opening the first resume and hoping the right person stands out.

This process works with paper, a spreadsheet, ChatGPT, or a resume-review tool. The important part is deciding what the job requires before the applicants start changing your mind.

Make a one-page hiring sheet

Write the job title at the top. Under it, complete these four boxes.

1. The work

List the three or four tasks this person must handle in the first six months.

For an office manager, that might be:

• keep invoices, supplier records, and basic office paperwork in order;
• answer customer and supplier questions without losing track of follow-ups;
• coordinate calendars, deliveries, and recurring office tasks;
• use the software your business relies on.

“Good communicator” tells you little. “Answers customer questions and records the next action” describes work you can discuss and test.

2. The must-haves

Choose only the requirements that would stop someone from doing the job. Keep the list short.

Examples include a licence required by law, the ability to work an advertised schedule, or experience with a task the person must handle without training. Do not turn every preference into a must-have.

3. The useful extras

List two or three things that would help but should not remove an otherwise strong applicant. A familiar software package often belongs here when a capable person could learn it.

4. The questions

Write down what a resume cannot settle. Notice periods, interest in the role, the scale of previous responsibilities, and unclear dates often belong in a phone call rather than a rejection pile.

You can use the resume screening rubric if you want a fuller scorecard. For a small hiring round, this one-page version is enough.

Use three marks, not a mysterious score

Review each requirement with one of these marks:

“Not shown” means the document did not answer you. It does not prove the person lacks the skill.

Avoid decimal scores such as 7.6 or 92%. They look precise but often hide a loose opinion. If you need numbers, use a small scale with written meanings, such as 0 for not shown, 1 for possible, and 2 for shown.

Review every resume in the same order

Use two passes.

First pass: check the must-haves

Read the same parts of each resume in the same order. Look for evidence tied to your one-page sheet. Ignore the photograph, age clues, home address, and other personal details that do not belong in the decision.

Record the evidence instead of writing “good” or “bad.” These notes are more useful:

• “Managed weekly invoices for 35 suppliers.”
• “Mentions customer service; volume and channel are unclear.”
• “Required licence is not listed.”

Those notes tell another person why the application needs a closer look.

Second pass: compare the people who meet the basics

Return to the applicants who showed the must-haves or came close enough to justify a question. Compare their evidence for the actual work, then consider the useful extras.

Do not let a famous employer, polished design, or confident summary replace job evidence. A plain resume may describe the strongest work in the pile.

Copy this simple review table

Use applicant numbers while reviewing. Keep names and contact details in the original files.

Set your next-step labels before you review:

• Phone screen: enough evidence to speak with the applicant.
• Clarify: one important question could change the result.
• Hold: worth returning to after the first group.
• Close: a person reviews the notes and confirms that a written, job-related requirement is missing.

Keep a human in the final step. Software can miss context, and a resume can omit relevant experience.

Use the same questions in the first call

Prepare four or five core questions and ask them in the same order. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management recommends predetermined, job-related questions and a common rating scale for structured interviews. That approach gives each applicant a comparable chance to explain their experience.

For the office manager example, you could ask:

1. Tell me about the office records or invoices you handled. What did you own yourself?
2. Describe a customer or supplier problem you had to follow through to completion.
3. Which calendars, spreadsheets, accounting tools, or office systems did you use each week?
4. The role includes [state the schedule or other real constraint]. Would that work for you?
5. Which part of this role would require the most learning in your first month?

Write a short description of a strong, acceptable, and weak answer before the calls. You will have less room to move the goalposts after meeting someone you happen to like.

Check ability with a small piece of real work

A resume tells you what someone chose to write. A short work sample lets you see how they approach a task. OPM describes work samples as tasks that mirror work performed on the job. Its examples include an administrative applicant working with an internal memo or filing task. See the work-sample guidance.

Keep the exercise short and relevant. An office manager might organize a sample week of appointments, spot two errors in an invoice sheet, or draft a reply to a fictional supplier. Give every finalist the same instructions and scoring points. Do not use unpaid applicants to complete work your business needs to sell or deliver.

Let software handle the clerical part

ChatGPT can help review resumes against your written checklist. It can extract evidence, place it in a table, and suggest questions. You still need to check the source and make the decision.

For a few resumes, copying the text into a chat may be manageable. Use the copy-and-paste ChatGPT prompt and remove personal details first.

For a larger PDF pile, Resume Ranker can apply the same job description and extra criteria across the batch, then give you a ranked starting point with written reviews. Treat that order as a review aid. Read the evidence and decide who moves forward.

The whole process on one page

1. Write the first six months of work.
2. Separate must-haves from useful extras.
3. Mark each requirement as shown, possible, or not shown.
4. Record evidence and questions, not impressions.
5. Compare applicants only after using the same first pass.
6. Ask each shortlisted applicant the same core questions.
7. Use a short, job-shaped work sample when it adds useful evidence.
8. Keep the final decision with a person.

You do not need an HR department to run an orderly first review. You need a written standard, consistent notes, and enough patience to check what each resume supports.