Too Many Applications. Not Enough Time.
Summer is a time when many organisations pause, take stock and prepare for the months ahead. For recruitment teams, however, it’s also a good opportunity to think about the hiring challenges that autumn may bring.
One challenge, in particular, continues to grow.
Application volumes.
Let’s look at the statistics.
The UK unemployment rate currently stands at 4.9% for those aged 16 and over, representing around 1.76 million unemployed people nationwide. While the market is cooling, with experts forecasting unemployment could peak at around 5.3% this year as hiring demand remains subdued, application numbers remain exceptionally high.
Recent figures suggest that the average UK job advert now receives around 280 applications. Entry-level and graduate roles can attract up to 700 applicants, some retail vacancies receive similar numbers, while entry-level paralegal or administrative roles have reportedly attracted up to 4,000 applications. Mid-level roles might receive between 50 and 100 applicants, while senior or highly specialised positions often attract around 30 applicants. Source: Modern CV – UK Job Interview Statistics.
If those figures are anything close to reality, imagine recruiting for a graduate trainee role with 700 applicants.
Where do you even begin?
Traditionally, the CV or application form has always been used as the first sift. But even if it takes just five minutes to open and review each CV or application, that’s 3,500 minutes of someone’s time.
Or put another way…
58 hours.
Almost seven working days simply reviewing applications before a single interview has taken place.
Then there is another question worth asking.
How objective can any of us remain after reviewing hundreds of CVs?
Recruiters work incredibly hard to be fair and consistent, but we’re all human. Fatigue inevitably sets in and unconscious bias can influence our judgement. Even brief telephone screening calls consume valuable time and are often based around the same information we’ve already seen on the CV.
So perhaps it’s time to ask a different question.
Rather than spending days reviewing every application equally, would it make more sense to pre-screen applicants using an assessment tool that is scalable and designed for high-volume recruitment? A tool that can rank applicants against job-fit criteria, helping recruiters identify the candidates they should spend their valuable time with first.
One of our Talent Acquisition clients recently described the process as:
“Showing you who to spend your valuable time with first…”
I thought that was a wonderfully simple way of describing it.
As application volumes continue to rise, I suspect more organisations will start asking whether reviewing hundreds of CVs is really the best use of recruiter time. Technology should support good recruitment decisions, not replace them, but it can certainly help ensure that valuable time is spent where it will have the greatest impact.
Perhaps the challenge for recruiters over the next few years won’t be attracting more candidates.
It will be deciding who deserves their attention first.
After all, the aim isn’t to spend more time recruiting.
It’s to spend time with the right candidates.
Get in touch
If this is a challenge your organisation is beginning to experience, or you’d simply like to explore different approaches to managing high-volume recruitment, we’d be delighted to continue the conversation. > Get in touch
About the Author: Nikky Van Bommel
Nikky van Bommel is the Marketing Director for Big 5 Assessments and has worked in the Psychometric Testing industry for over 10 years. Nikky is responsible for all marketing and social media for the organisation. 
