Know who deserves your attention—and why.
SortTheStack evaluates every applicant against the requirements you approve, surfaces the evidence, and helps your team decide who moves forward.
No ATS required. Every recommendation shows its evidence. You make the decision.
The pile
You posted a job. The internet showed up.
Hiring used to have a sourcing problem. Plenty of teams now have a screening problem.
A good role can pull hundreds or thousands of applicants in hours. Somewhere in that pile are people you would hire. There are also mismatches, mass applications, keyword-stuffed resumes, people who did not read the job description, and a growing number of applications that all look suspiciously similar.
Someone still has to sort it out. That someone should not have to read 800 resumes.
How it works
One role, from requirements to decision.
Follow a single search, for a Senior Accountant at a fictional CPA firm, through six steps. AI does the reading underneath: it reads each resume, structures what it finds, checks it against your requirements and summarises the evidence. You set the rules and make the calls.
01 · Define requirements
You decide what matters before anyone is evaluated.
Requirements are suggested from your job description. You edit them, add the ones it missed, remove the ones that do not matter, and choose how each one counts.
- Knockout rule
- A screening question with an answer that excludes the applicant. Applied automatically, exactly as you set it. No AI involved. The applicant shows as Requirements not met, with the rule as the reason, and you can override it.
- Must have
- Evidence the resume needs to show. If it does not, the outcome is Requirements not met, with the missing item named.
- Nice to have
- Weighed in the recommendation. Never excludes anyone on its own.
02 · Review applicants
Every applicant, checked against the same requirements.
Each applicant gets an outcome and a one-line reason, like the list at the top of this page, so you can see who to look at first without opening a single resume.
- Recommended
- Every must-have shown in the resume.
- Possible
- Close, but something important is unclear. Worth a closer look.
- Requirements not met
- A must-have is missing, and the missing item is named.
From job post to shortlist in one workflow.
Publish the role on a careers page carrying your own branding, or add the applicants you already have. The posting tells applicants that AI helps screen and that a person makes the final decision.
03 · See the evidence
Every recommendation comes with evidence.
Open a candidate and every requirement is listed with its status and the line from the resume that shows it. What is missing is marked as missing.
04 · Investigate uncertainty
Spot what deserves a second look, without jumping to conclusions.
When the evidence is unclear, SortTheStack tells you instead of pretending to know.
- Possible
- Tomás Herrera shows most must-haves, but not clear ownership of a month-end close. He is marked Possible, not Recommended, and the gap is named.
- Profile consistency
- Two of his roles overlap by about 27 months. Both entries are quoted, and the note suggests a fair question to ask rather than a verdict.
05 · Compare finalists
Compare finalists on the things that actually differ.
Put finalists side by side and the rows where they differ are marked. The question is not who scored highest. It is which trade-off you would rather make.
06 · Make the decision
AI does the first-pass reading. Your team makes the hiring decision.
Every candidate page says it plainly: our recommendation, from the evidence below. You make the decision.
- Your decision
- Stages change when someone on your team changes them. A recommendation is not a decision.
- Every action is yours, and logged
- Interview invitations, requests for information and rejections go out only when someone on your team sends them, and each is logged. The only automatic emails are routine notices: a receipt when they apply, a request to answer your screening questions, and a neutral update when a role they interviewed for is filled.
- A record you can stand behind
- Every candidate is checked against the same approved requirements, and the evidence behind each decision can be exported.
Where things stand
Spend less time on first-pass resume reading.
With the first pass done, what is left is the part that needs you: the candidates worth a closer look, and the decisions waiting on your team.
No ATS required
Bring us the pile. Leave with the shortlist.
You do not need to roll out a recruiting platform because one job attracted 700 applicants. Applications come from wherever they came from. Use the shortlist however your team already works.
- Inbox
- Spreadsheet
- Job board
- Drive folder
- Referrals
SortTheStack
No ATS required
- Ranked shortlist
- Evidence per candidate
- Gaps to probe
Questions
The obvious ones.
What is AI resume screening software?
Resume screening software reads a batch of applications and sorts them against the requirements you set for a role. Instead of opening every resume yourself, you define what matters, screen the batch, and review a shortlist. You still make every hiring decision.
Is this an applicant tracking system?
No. An ATS manages your whole hiring process: postings, pipelines, stages, offers. This does one job. It takes a pile of applicants and gives you back a shortlist with the evidence behind it. If you already have an ATS, keep it.
Do I need an ATS to use this?
No. Create a role, add your applicants, get your shortlist. Plenty of teams run hiring out of an inbox, a spreadsheet, and a job board. That works fine here.
Does the software automatically reject candidates?
No rejection is ever sent automatically. Applicants are only set aside automatically by rules you choose: a knockout rule, such as a required answer to a screening question, checked exactly as you configured it with no AI involved, and, only if you switch it on for a job, marking clear mismatches. Either way the reason is recorded and you can override it. Nothing is final until you decide, and no one is sent a rejection unless someone on your team sends it.
Does it replace recruiters?
No. It removes the repetitive first pass so recruiters and hiring managers spend their time on evaluation and conversations instead of skimming. Screening is the part worth automating. Judgement is not.
Can small businesses use it?
Yes. It is built for teams without a recruiting operation as much as for teams with one. There is no implementation project and no recruiting stack to adopt first.
Bring us the pile.
Turn your applicants into a shortlist worth reviewing. The 847 resumes are not going to read themselves.