Provided herein are methods for selecting a population of cells expressing a target polypeptide. In some aspects, the disclosure provides methods for sorting and selecting populations of transfected host cells based on their early expression of a selectable polypeptide. In certain embodiments, the sorting is performed using fluorescence-activated cell sorting or magnetic-activated cell sorting based on the selectable polypeptide. Such selection methods can be further utilized to generate clonal populations of producer cells, e.g. for large-scale manufacturing of a target polypeptide of interest.