How to Build a Candidate Comparison Spreadsheet (Fast)
You've got 23 resumes for one open position. Each candidate has different experience, different skills, different salary expectations. Your hiring manager wants a recommendation by Friday.
How do you compare them fairly?
Most hiring managers rely on gut feeling. They remember the candidate who told a great story in the interview. They forget the quiet one with the perfect qualifications. Bias creeps in. Good candidates get overlooked.
A comparison spreadsheet fixes this. You evaluate everyone against the same criteria, score them consistently, and make decisions based on data — not memory.
This guide shows you exactly how to build one. In 15 minutes, you'll have a template that works for any role.
Need to extract candidate data from PDF resumes first? PDF Parser pulls contact info, skills, and experience into a spreadsheet format automatically.
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Why Spreadsheets Beat Gut Feeling
Hiring decisions carry real weight. A bad hire costs 30-50% of their annual salary when you factor in recruiting, training, and lost productivity. Yet most hiring processes rely on subjective impressions.
Here's what happens without a structured comparison:
A spreadsheet forces consistency. Every candidate gets evaluated on the same criteria. Every data point gets recorded. When your hiring manager asks "why this person over that person?" you have a clear answer.
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Essential Columns: What Data Points Actually Matter
Not every piece of information deserves a column. Focus on what predicts job success.
Always include:
| Column | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| Candidate Name | Obviously |
| Email / Phone | Quick contact access |
| Years of Relevant Experience | Core qualification filter |
| Key Skills Match | Do they have what you need? |
| Education Level | If required for the role |
| Salary Expectation | Budget alignment check |
| Location / Remote Status | Logistics |
| Interview Score | Standardized rating |
| Notes | Context that doesn't fit elsewhere |
| Total Score | Final ranking number |
Role-specific columns to consider:
Skip columns that don't inform your decision. "Hobbies" rarely matters. "Commute distance" might matter a lot.
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Building Your Template: Step by Step
Here's a practical template you can copy right now.
Basic structure (works for any role):
| Name | Phone | Years Exp | Key Skills (1-5) | Education | Salary Ask | Location | Interview (1-5) | Culture Fit (1-5) | Notes | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jane Smith | jane@email.com | 555-0123 | 7 | 4 | MBA | $95K | NYC | 5 | 4 | Strong leadership examples | 13 |
| John Doe | john@email.com | 555-0456 | 4 | 5 | BS | $85K | Remote | 4 | 3 | Technical depth, quieter | 12 |
Setting up the scoring columns:
- 1 = Does not meet requirements
- 2 = Partially meets requirements
- 3 = Meets requirements
- 4 = Exceeds requirements
- 5 = Exceptional
Pro tip: Add a "Knockout" column. Mark it TRUE if a candidate has a disqualifying factor (salary way over budget, missing required certification, can't start for 6 months). Filter these out when making final decisions.
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Creating a Scoring System That Works
Raw data isn't enough. You need a way to rank candidates objectively.
Simple weighted scoring:
Not all criteria matter equally. A sales role might weight communication skills higher than technical skills. An engineering role does the opposite.
Example weights for a Senior Developer position:
| Criteria | Weight | Max Weighted Score |
|---|---|---|
| Technical Skills | 3x | 15 |
| Years Experience | 2x | 10 |
| Interview Score | 2x | 10 |
| Culture Fit | 1x | 5 |
| Total Possible | 40 |
A candidate scoring 4/5 on Technical Skills gets 12 points (4 × 3). Someone scoring 5/5 on Culture Fit only gets 5 points (5 × 1).
The formula in Excel/Sheets:
`=($B23) + ($C22) + ($D22) + ($E21)`
Where B, C, D, E are your scored columns.
This approach surfaces candidates who excel where it matters most, not just those who interview well.
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Populating the Spreadsheet: The Tedious Part
Here's where most hiring managers lose time.
You've got a stack of PDF resumes. Each one needs to be opened, scanned, and manually typed into your spreadsheet. Name, email, phone number, years of experience, education — all copied by hand.
For 20 candidates, that's 45-60 minutes of pure data entry. For 50 candidates? Half a day.
The faster way:
PDF Parser extracts candidate information from resumes automatically. Upload a PDF, get structured data back: contact details, work history, skills, education. Copy-paste directly into your comparison spreadsheet.
What takes 3 minutes per resume manually takes about 30 seconds with extraction.
Try it free — upload a resume and see the extracted data in seconds. 100 credits included, no card required.
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Real Example: Comparing 5 Candidates for a Marketing Manager Role
Let's see this in action.
The role: Marketing Manager, B2B SaaS company, $90-110K budget
Weighted criteria:
The comparison:
| Candidate | B2B Exp (×3) | Digital (×2) | Leadership (×2) | Interview (×2) | Culture (×1) | Total | Salary Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sarah K. | 5 (15) | 4 (8) | 4 (8) | 5 (10) | 4 (4) | 45 | $105K |
| Mike R. | 4 (12) | 5 (10) | 3 (6) | 4 (8) | 5 (5) | 41 | $95K |
| Lisa T. | 3 (9) | 5 (10) | 5 (10) | 4 (8) | 3 (3) | 40 | $108K |
| David M. | 5 (15) | 3 (6) | 4 (8) | 3 (6) | 4 (4) | 39 | $115K |
| Amy W. | 4 (12) | 4 (8) | 3 (6) | 5 (10) | 3 (3) | 39 | $92K |
What the data shows:
Sarah scores highest overall and fits the budget. She's the clear front-runner.
Mike scores lower but costs $10K less. If budget matters, he's worth considering.
David has great B2B experience but asks for more than the budget allows. His Interview score of 3 suggests potential concerns.
Without this breakdown, you might have picked whoever interviewed most recently. With it, you have a defensible recommendation.
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When Spreadsheets Don't Work
Being honest about limitations:
500+ candidates: Spreadsheets become unwieldy. You need an ATS (Applicant Tracking System) at this scale.
Scoring subjectivity: A "4" means different things to different interviewers. Calibration meetings help, but don't eliminate the problem.
Missing qualitative context: Spreadsheets capture data, not nuance. That candidate who asked exceptional questions? The notes column can only hold so much.
Multiple hiring managers: Shared spreadsheets get messy fast. Version control becomes a nightmare.
For most small-to-medium hiring processes (under 100 candidates, 1-3 decision makers), spreadsheets work great. Beyond that, invest in proper tools.
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Start Building Your Template Today
You can build a candidate comparison spreadsheet in 15 minutes. Here's the quick version:
The hardest part is getting candidate data into the spreadsheet. Manual entry eats hours you don't have.
Skip the data entry. Upload your candidate resumes to PDF Parser and get structured data back instantly. Extract names, contact info, experience, and skills — then paste directly into your comparison template.
100 free credits. No card required. Try it now →