When you have an important position to fill, it’s tempting to shout that job posting from the rooftops. You want to post it on all the job boards, tell your friends and family and put out an ad on LinkedIn.
After all, more is better, right?
Unfortunately, as many of us have learned the hard way, more applicants aren’t always better.
In this post, we’re going to explore how a large number of job applicants actually make hiring more difficult.
Searching for a Needle in a Haystack
For most jobs, even yours, there are many qualified applicants. In some specialty niches, you may find a smaller pool of candidates, but they are out there.
When you cast a wide net, you’re inevitably going to end up with many candidates who aren’t qualified for the job. And that just wastes your time, money and effort. Let’s not forget that there’s a cost associated with recruiting efforts.
When you have to hire someone to process, sort and review hundreds of resumes, you’re probably just wasting time that could be allocated to something more productive.
With a smaller and more targeted pool, you’ll get to those qualified applicants much faster.
More interviews
No one really likes interviews. Not the interviewer and certainly not the interviewee. But when you have a large number of applicants, it only stands to reason that you’ll have to conduct more interviews. With a smaller and more manageable list, you may find one or two qualified candidates. And when you double the number of job applicants, you may also double the number of interviews.
And this naturally makes the final decision harder. If you have multiple qualified candidates, you’ll likely want to interview each of them more than once. And you’ll want others in the company to get the chance to interview them as well. Again, this equates to wasted time and money, and it can also make the decision a lot more confusing. Let’s say after a few rounds of interviews, you love Candidate A and your colleague is endorsing Candidate B. Now you have to spend more time debating the merits of each potential hire.
Sometimes, this is a valuable exercise, but it becomes less productive with each candidate you add to the mix. You could end up in a situation that’s akin to analysis paralysis where you can’t even make the call. It’s usually best to keep your options narrow and targeted.
You May Be Casting Too Wide a Net
If you’re getting too many applications, you may be casting too wide a net. Most employers find that a tiered approach to recruiting works well to avoid this. First, you may look internally to see if anyone is a good fit for the position. Then, you can start asking around and/or posting on industry job boards and forums. Some employers even rely on specialized recruiters to fill the position by word-of-mouth instead of posting on general job boards.
You will get a lot more applicants when you post on a general job board, but you can expect to up the quantity without upping the quality of applicants. This is a good choice for entry-level jobs that don’t require specialized experience. But more specialized jobs lend themselves to a different, more targeted, approach.
When you’re looking for the perfect fit, it’s about more than just what you see on paper. The ideal candidate will have a combination of hard skills and soft skills that help them complete the job, work together as a team and get along with the rest of the team.
If you cast too wide a net and receive too many applications, it’s going to take more time and effort to narrow down the pool of candidates to find people to interview. And in the process, you may find that you find too many qualified candidates and make your job more difficult in that way.
When you’re hiring for a new position, consider a phased approach to advertising the position. This will keep the number of applicants down to a manageable level. And with any luck, you will also get more qualified applicants for your position.
