The Cost of Interviewing the Wrong Applicants

Hiring

A well-known employer in NYC posted a VP of Engineering position recently and received over 4000 applications. The TA team spent days attempting to narrow down the resumes to a reasonable number for the SVP of Engineering to interview.  Even after eliminating unqualified resumes, those remaining looked so similar that it was hard to distinguish between them.  Eventually, nine first interviews were scheduled with the SVP.  Not a single applicant made it to the second round – and it wasn’t for lack of trying. Hours spent on interviews translate to thousands of real dollars lost. 

Easy apply resume submission has simplified the process to apply to jobs. Plus, AI– based resume generators are excellent at quickly building curated resumes for a particular position. Unfortunately, this means that passive job seekers with no real intention to change careers are amongst the 4,000 resumes.

The SVP reached out to us to get some inisght about what is happening on the job market today. They can’t sift through another flood of look-alike resumes. They are bogging down the entire hiring process – for companies and real job seekers.  

It’s important to understand how Talener’s process eliminates non-serious job seekers. The key lies in building a relationship with potential hires by creating a funnel that requires increased engagement.  

Before a client interviews a candidate from Talener, they have been screened, qualified, and confirmed (and reconfirmed) their active interest to interview. At this point, the candidate has had multiple touch points with our team and several opportunities to change their mind and stop the job seeking process.  This puts us in a unique position to be very direct and open with job seekers from the get-go.  

Prior to the interview, we have: 

  • Eliminated passive candidates who may have applied “just to see”  
  • Narrowed the list by communicating the job expectations – including salary and geography 
  • Removed candidates who are unreliable / don’t follow up with our team in a timely manner 

Motivated job seekers will respond and put their best foot forward. But cutting through all the noise is tough. We are delivering a diverse pool of candidates who are committed to their job search. 

As an agency, it’s our responsibility to save our clients’ (and candidates’) time by ensuring that both sides are in the best position possible when the first interview occurs.  

View our recent case studies and gain an even greater perspective.