So many job applicants, so little time

Question: We’re a fairly large organization and we have a very good reputation among jobseekers. Because of that, we get far too many applicants for many of our positions. How do we whittle down the number of applicants to a more manageable number, and how can we ensure we are shortlisting and interviewing only the top applicants?

Answer: Every organization has an employer brand. If the employer brand is good, people could literally be lined up outside the door to apply for a job with the organization. While that is a good thing, it does present challenges — particularly if the job market isn’t great and a large number of people are looking for work.

Entry-level positions, in particular, may draw a large number of applicants. This is especially problematic in this day and age given that candidates can now apply for vacancies from anywhere, so most applicants aren’t qualified for the jobs they’re applying for.

Auditing the employer brand

From an employer branding perspective, it might make sense in such a situation to complete an audit of the organization’s employer brand to determine if you’re getting the right people applying for positions.

As is the case with the product market, you should complete a segmentation exercise and identify the appropriate target markets for applicants based on the results (although it is important not to discriminate against anyone and maintain a diverse pool of candidates).

While your employer brand should be able to attract quality candidates, it should be targeted and avoid trying to appeal to everyone. After all, not everyone is going to be a good fit.

In particular, you should examine the wording and the general content, tone and style of the corporate careers site and any recruitment advertising. It is also important to look at how and where you advertise, and evaluate the candidate sourcing channels. Job advertising should ideally be targeted and discourage unqualified candidates from applying.

Using an ATS

If you aren’t using an applicant tracking system (ATS), I would recommend looking into one. Such tools can really reduce the workload of recruiters by automating the recruitment process to a certain extent, screening resumés using keyword searches and possibly asking candidates online prescreening questions to determine suitability.

While care should be taken to avoid overreliance on technology, an ATS can help identify suitable candidates. Such tools can also help track where candidates are in the process and facilitate online communications with applicants through automated email messages. They can also make posting to the organization’s website and job boards much easier.

Selecting appropriate candidates

Of course, when you’re deliberately narrowing the candidate pool or rejecting a significant portion of applicants without having a human being review the resumés, there is an increased chance top candidates may fall through the cracks and not be shortlisted for interviews. This can be a problem, particularly when using an ATS.

So it’s important to ensure the algorithms used to search for keywords are appropriate and not unduly restrictive. It may be necessary to expand the search using synonyms or alternate search terms that yield better results.

In the case of critical vacancies or difficult-to-fill positions, it becomes important to review all or most applicants — not just the top candidates as selected by the ATS. Human intervention becomes critical.

It might also be good to look at your interviewing and selection techniques and determine what works in terms of selecting suitable candidates. For example, you may find that interviewing based on your organization’s competency framework, using psychometric tests, employing behavioural interviewing techniques, having panel interviews and providing realistic job previews help you build a quality shortlist of candidates.

You should periodically audit the candidates selected for shortlisting to determine if suitable candidates are being rejected. It is also important to track meaningful recruitment metrics and continue to monitor the quality of new hires over time.

Other tips and strategies

Beyond re-evaluating and possibly tweaking your employer branding strategy, reviewing candidate sourcing techniques, introducing new technology and auditing interviewing and selection techniques, the following are some additional tips and suggestions that can help narrow down the pool of candidates:

• Determine critical requirements with respect to education and experience, and narrow down the pool of applicants based on those criteria.

• Conduct brief telephone prescreening conversations to determine suitability, interest, geographical area, candidate availability and salary requirements before calling candidates in for interviews.

• Consider including salary ranges in job postings, particularly if you think a large number of applicants with very high salary requirements would otherwise apply.

• Work with the hiring manager to develop candidate profiles that look beyond the job postings and include all of the job requirements and assets.

• Consider leaving job postings up only for a relatively short period of time — particularly in the case of junior or entry-level roles that regularly generate a large volume of applicants.

• Include closing dates on postings and adhere to them.

• Search your candidate database before posting a job to determine suitability of existing candidates or previous applicants.

• Adopt a policy whereby internal applicants and employee referrals are given an opportunity to apply for vacancies before external candidates.

• Consider job applicants for more than one vacancy at a time, especially where candidates might be a better fit for another posting.

• Consider advertising on niche job sites or through professional associations, rather than using generic job boards.