How’s everyone dealing with 1000+ applicants?

Lots of bad ways, not sure about any good ones.

You guys, I’m not making this up: there are literally thousands of qualified (or reasonably qualified) people applying to a lot of job postings these days. And it’s the killer combo of:

1. AI spam apply software. Anyone can apply to hundreds of jobs in seconds.
2. Everyone is thirsty for a new role.

Case in point: a contact of mine, a VP of Engineering with strong AI and Machine Learning applied for a Director of Machine Learning role and got the amusing reply below.

Now, I have a few differing thoughts on this:

👉At least the recruiter was honest. (Probably?)

👉No one has a great solution for how to deal with 1000+ applications.

👉Why would anyone connect with you for “the next one” if you didn’t give them the time of day for this one?

👉My contact asked “were they just building their database?” It’s a valid question. But no, I think that time has passed. Because:

1. Why build a database when you can get 1000 applications at the drop of a hat and
2. If you’re on LinkedIn, there’s no need to add you to their database.

👉Is it me or does Director of Machine Learning seems like a very different job that Director of Research (mentioned in the body)?

I’ll go with “who is someone who didn’t bother to customize their rejection letters from one job to the next?”

👉At least it’s a response. Seriously.

👉Perhaps they used an AI screening tool that determined a VP title eliminates him from consideration for a Director job even though the companies are very different sizes.

Anyway. If anyone needs a good tech leader, let me know…

James Hornick

Partner at Hirewell. #3 Ranked Sarcastic Commenter on LinkedIn.