Hiring glossary
What are shortlisted candidates?
Shortlisted candidates are the applicants an employer has selected from the wider pool to go forward to the next stage of hiring, usually an interview or a final assessment.
For the hiring team, the shortlist is the set of people they have decided are worth their time, judged against the criteria for the role. For an applicant, being shortlisted means you passed the first review and are being actively considered. It is a good sign, though it is not an offer: a shortlist usually holds several people for each opening, and the later stages decide between them.
If you have been told you are shortlisted, expect contact about an interview or a further task. Employers move at different speeds, so a polite follow-up after the timeline you were given is reasonable.
Example
An email that reads “You have been shortlisted for the Marketing Executive role and we would like to invite you to a 30-minute video interview” means the applicant cleared the first review and is now one of the people the team will compare.
Related terms
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