Nirmal's Candidate Rank Board

Every interviewer scores from their phone, and the board puts all your candidates in one list, highest first.

Who this is for

Nirmal Sahu shoots weddings out of Raipur. For nine months it is just him, his wife Sneha who handles the bookings, and one editor. From November he needs six second shooters and three editors, and about forty people come through over two weeks. Last season he sat at eleven at night with eleven CVs spread on the bed and could not remember which boy had said he owned his own 24-70 lens.

How the job is done today

The CV gets a number scribbled in the top corner during the interview. Sneha keeps a separate diary with her own marks. The senior editor, who sits in for the editing candidates, sends his opinion to the family WhatsApp group hours later as a voice note. At the end of the fortnight the three of them sit down, argue from three different sources, and mostly go with whoever was interviewed last week and is still remembered. Two good people have been lost this way because nobody could find their number when the season started.

The screens, in order

1. Start a round — Names the job being filled and the three or four things every candidate will be scored on, so everyone marks the same way.
2. Candidate list — Holds the names and phone numbers as people apply, so nobody is a loose CV on a table.
3. Send for scoring — Makes one link for one candidate and one panel member, ready to send on WhatsApp before that person walks into the room.
4. The scoring page — Shows a stranger one candidate's name, the sliders, and a notes box, and is finished in under a minute.
5. The board — Puts every candidate in order by average score, highest first, so the shortlist reads itself.
6. One candidate — Opens up a single name to show who scored what and what they wrote, for when two people are a point apart.

What it keeps track of

• Hiring round — which job, which studio or shop, when it opened, the things being scored, still open or closed
• Candidate — name, phone number, who sent them, day they were interviewed, still in the running or dropped
• Score — which candidate, who scored, the mark for each thing, one line of notes, when it came in
• Scoring link — which candidate, panel member's name and number, sent or still waiting, used or unused
• Owner account — who owns this, which business, what they pay each month, paid till when

The one decision that matters

One link per panel member that shows them the whole candidate list, or one link per candidate per panel member that shows exactly one page. The first is fewer messages for Nirmal. Go with the second. The senior editor sits in on two interviews all season. He should not have to find a name in a list, work out which row is his, or wonder whether he already scored someone. He opens the message, sees Ravi Toppo's name and four sliders, drags them, taps once, and is done. Nirmal sends more messages, which costs him ninety seconds. The panel member learns nothing, which is the whole point.

What to leave out of the first version

No uploading CVs or photos. The panel member is holding the CV, and the board only has to answer one question, which is who was best. Also no weighting one score higher than another. The moment Nirmal can set portfolio to count double, he will spend the evening tuning weights instead of hiring. A plain average of four honest marks already beats three diaries and a voice note.

How you would know it worked

The car showroom owner in Bhilai who paid for it finishes his last interview at six, opens the board on his phone in the parking area, reads the top three names to his floor manager, and goes home with no CVs in his bag.

Build it

Paste this in and let it run.

I hire second shooters and editors every wedding season and I want a small site I can also sell to other shops in Raipur who hire the same way. I start a round, put in the job name and three or four things to be scored out of ten, add candidate names and numbers as they come in, and for each candidate and each person on my panel I get a separate link with a button that opens WhatsApp with the message already written. That link should open one page with just the candidate's name, the sliders and a box for one line of notes, and it must work for somebody who has never seen it and will never open it again, so no password and no signing up. On my side one page lists every candidate in order of average score, highest first, and tapping a name shows me who gave what. Let other owners pay me monthly through Razorpay to run their own rounds.