Resume screen against requirements prompt: free ChatGPT template
Updated · By Robert Breen
Use this when a stack of applications has come in and you want a consistent first pass on each one before you decide who gets a phone screen. The prompt reads one resume against the must-haves you set for the role and marks each one Met, Partly met or Not shown, with the exact line from the resume that supports the mark. It ignores personal details and gives no ranking or yes or no.
You make the call. A resume that says little is not proof someone can't do the job, so treat "Not shown" as a question for the phone screen, not a rejection.
Have a professional review it. This prompt helps you draft, not decide. Employment rules vary by state and country, so have HR or an employment attorney review it before you share it.
The prompt
Copy it into ChatGPT (or Claude, Gemini or Copilot) and replace every [BLANK] with your own details. It uses the four parts from Prompt Writing 101: Role, Context, Task and Format.
Role: You are a careful recruiting assistant at [COMPANY] doing a first-pass resume check for a person who will make the decision. Context: The role is [ROLE]. The must-have requirements are: [MUST HAVES]. Ignore the candidate's name, photo, age, graduation years, address, gaps in dates, and anything that suggests race, sex, religion, national origin, disability, health or family status. Use only what the resume says. Task: For each must-have, mark it Met, Partly met or Not shown, and quote the exact resume line that supports the mark. If nothing supports it, write "No line in the resume" instead of guessing. Finish with three questions a phone screen should ask to fill the biggest gaps. Do not rank the candidate, recommend a decision or comment on personal details. Format: A table with the columns: Must-have, Mark, Evidence from resume. Then a numbered list called "Phone screen questions". Plain wording, no emoji. Here is the resume: [RESUME TEXT]
Fill in the blanks
[COMPANY]- Your organization's name.
[ROLE]- The job title as posted.
[MUST HAVES]- The few requirements the job truly needs on day one, copied from your job description. Keep the list short and job-related.
[RESUME TEXT]- The resume copied as text. Delete the name, contact details and photo first if you can.
Example, filled in
A made-up example from the free lesson Turn an Interview Debrief into a Scorecard and a Candidate Follow-Up (Recruiting & HR). Willow Bend Physical Therapy is the made-up clinic from the Interview Debrief to Scorecard lesson. Before the panel ever met Kira Delgado, Hannah, the HR manager, screened applications for Front Desk Lead against the same four must-haves. This resume, from a second made-up applicant, has the name and contact lines removed.
Role: You are a careful recruiting assistant at Willow Bend Physical Therapy doing a first-pass resume check for a person who will make the decision. Context: The role is Front Desk Lead. The must-have requirements are: two or more years running a front desk, insurance verification, calming upset patients, and training other staff. Ignore the candidate's name, photo, age, graduation years, address, gaps in dates, and anything that suggests race, sex, religion, national origin, disability, health or family status. Use only what the resume says. Task: For each must-have, mark it Met, Partly met or Not shown, and quote the exact resume line that supports the mark. If nothing supports it, write "No line in the resume" instead of guessing. Finish with three questions a phone screen should ask to fill the biggest gaps. Do not rank the candidate, recommend a decision or comment on personal details. Format: A table with the columns: Must-have, Mark, Evidence from resume. Then a numbered list called "Phone screen questions". Plain wording, no emoji. Here is the resume: Front Desk Coordinator, family medicine office, 2022 to now. Check in about forty patients a day for two providers. Verify insurance eligibility before each appointment and handle prior authorization requests. Showed two new hires how to use the scheduling system. Receptionist, veterinary clinic, 2020 to 2022. Answered phones and booked follow-up visits.
What a good answer looks like
- Four rows: front desk Met, insurance Met, upset patients Not shown with "No line in the resume", training staff Partly met.
- Each mark sits next to a quote you can find in the resume word for word, such as "handle prior authorization requests".
- No overall score, no ranking and nothing about dates, age or the person behind the resume.
How to check it before you use it
An AI draft can sound right and still say something you never told it. Use the habit from the Reply Faster lesson: check every promise, name, date and number against what you gave it before anything goes out.
- Search the resume for each quote. If you can't find it, the AI made it up, so fix the row before you trust it.
- Read the "Not shown" rows as questions, not as a no. Put them into the phone screen.
- Run every applicant for the role through the same must-haves, in the same words, so the comparison is fair.
- Never let this replace a person's decision. If you use AI screening at scale, check your local rules and have HR review the process.
Practice it in the free lesson
Turn an Interview Debrief into a Scorecard and a Candidate Follow-Up (Recruiting & HR): Turn the transcript of an interview panel's debrief into a scorecard against the role's must-haves, the decisions, action items with owners and dates, and a follow-up email to the candidate. You do every step yourself in a practice copy of ChatGPT, and nothing touches your real accounts.
Also useful: Prompt Writing 101: Role, Context, Task, Format
Terms used here
Related prompts
- Phone screen summary prompt: Turn rushed phone screen notes into a clean summary: each requirement marked Meets, Doesn't meet or Unclear, logistics, and…
- Interview scorecard prompt: Turn interview notes or a debrief transcript into a scorecard: each must-have rated with a quote as evidence, gaps marked Not…
- Internal job posting prompt: Write a job opening for current staff only: what the role is, who can apply, how to apply quietly and what happens to their…
- Offer negotiation reply prompt: Reply to a candidate's counteroffer inside the range you were approved to offer: warm, clear about what's possible, and with a…
More hiring and hr prompts
- Shift schedule announcement prompt: Announce a new or changed shift schedule clearly: what changes, for whom, from when, a schedule table, what stays the same, and…
- Staff AI training plan prompt: Plan short AI training for your staff around tasks they already do each week: who learns what, practice on masked examples, and…
- Staff AI use policy prompt: Draft a short staff policy for AI tools at work: approved tools, what never goes in, what a person must check and who to ask…