Resume screening criteria are the written standard — applied before anyone reads a name — that decides who advances, who needs a closer look, and who does not qualify. This builder turns a role into that three-tier checklist: what auto-advances a candidate, what needs a human look, and what genuinely disqualifies. Enter your must-haves, nice-to-haves and deal-breakers, and get criteria your team can apply the same way every time. Free, no signup.
Without them, screening is whoever is reading the pile that afternoon. Two recruiters shown the same 50 resumes routinely produce different shortlists, and neither can explain the difference afterwards. Written criteria make the standard explicit before anyone sees a name.
Auto-advance covers the requirements that, if met, mean a candidate deserves an interview regardless of what else is thin. Evaluate covers everything genuinely judgement-based. Auto-reject is reserved for hard gates only — work authorisation, licensure, a location the role cannot accommodate — and should be short, because most rejections at this stage are guesses.
Every criterion added to auto-reject removes candidates nobody will ever look at. Years of experience, a degree requirement and a specific tool are the three that most often remove the strongest applicant in the pile.
Criteria decide who gets interviewed; they do not assess anyone. Live AI interviews take the advanced group and evaluate what they can actually do, against the same rubric for every candidate.
Related: AI resume grader · Knockout questions · Rubric generator