How many candidates do you interview in the first round? (applying, application)
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For those of you involved in hiring, I'm wondering how many candidates do you prefer to interview in the first round? The second round? I know this can vary a lot depending on the company and job level, but I'm interested in hearing different views on this. How many is too many? Too few?
I'm a candidate, not a hiring manager, so I'm just curious about this process. The positions I'm applying for are probably one step above entry-level (I have a few years experience), though I'm considering some entry-level jobs if I really want to get my foot in the door at an exciting company or move into a different field. How many people do you interview for a position at this level?
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Quote:
Originally Posted by STT Resident
I really don't mean to sound facetious but my answer would be "as many as it takes"!
Exactly. My newest hire starts Monday, and the whole process began in November. We interviewed 3 in December, opened it back up and took 98 more applications. Then we interviewed 7 more before making a decision.
If we hadn't found some better candidates in that group we would have kept trying. We don't "settle" for the best applicant that applies, we keep looking until we find someone really prepared to do the work. This is for a $50k job
a step above entry level.
Oh I definitely understand that companies will keep looking if they haven't found the right person yet, sorry I wasn't too clear about that! I guess my main question was how many people do you start with? In your example you started with 3, which is what I was trying to ask.
Depends on what resumes we get. If we only get a couple of decent ones, then that is what we start with. If we get a lot of quality resumes we start with more.
Well obviously you interview as many as it takes to find the right person for the job.
But to answer the question OP is asking.....I typically select 7-10 applicants from the pile of resumes, to call in for first-round interviews. It doesn't matter how many people send me resumes, 10 is about the max number of interviews I can handle before all the candidates start to get fuzzy in my mind.
It's never happened, but if none of the applicants seemed worthy of a second interview, I probably woudn't go back to the pile of resumes to try again. Because, to me, the situation would be an indication that I need to either rethink what I am looking for in an applicant, or rewrite the ad so that it better expresses what I am looking for (or both). It would seem to me more worthwhile to re-advertise and start fresh, than to just keep repeating the same steps hoping to get different results.
After first round, I typically select two or three candidates for a second interview. After that, I usually have a top choice and a second choice if the top declines.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,550 posts, read 81,103,317 times
Reputation: 57750
In the first round when we interviewed 3, we had a bunch more applicants but none that met the requirements. We would have interviewed more if there had been more that we liked. There is no set number.
For the last interview I did we got about 70 applications, 10 of them were actually remotely qualified for the job, we interviewed two and kept the other eight resumes as backups.
Exactly. My newest hire starts Monday, and the whole process began in November. We interviewed 3 in December, opened it back up and took 98 more applications. Then we interviewed 7 more before making a decision.
If we hadn't found some better candidates in that group we would have kept trying. We don't "settle" for the best applicant that applies, we keep looking until we find someone really prepared to do the work. This is for a $50k job
a step above entry level.
Being a hiring manager, or if anyone else can help out....can you please unlock these certain key phrases/words that stuck out with my interview last week, as it is really driving me insane. I am trying to figure it out if I even have the slightest chance...My interviewer's choices; "Hopefully you will be in the 2nd interview," "I am very impressed by your resume...,"
Sent a thank you letter via email regarding the interview that same day, no response.
Then called today just to check-in if he had made any decision; the response was; "I will be making one at the end of the week..." <---My question is; should I still hold my breath, or is this a nice way of saying, we are looking for someone else that's a better fit for this position...?
Being a hiring manager, or if anyone else can help out....can you please unlock these certain key phrases/words that stuck out with my interview last week, as it is really driving me insane. I am trying to figure it out if I even have the slightest chance...My interviewer's choices; "Hopefully you will be in the 2nd interview," "I am very impressed by your resume...,"
Sent a thank you letter via email regarding the interview that same day, no response.
Then called today just to check-in if he had made any decision; the response was; "I will be making one at the end of the week..." <---My question is; should I still hold my breath, or is this a nice way of saying, we are looking for someone else that's a better fit for this position...?
In a society as litigious as ours, any hiring manager is terrified of a discrimination lawsuit when hiring someone new. That is typically why you get such vague answers. If you promise something to a woman and she doesn't end up getting it, you could be sued for gender discrimination. If you promise someone who is latino they are in the top 2 candidates and they don't get it, that can go to court for racial discrimination, etc...
I know that isn't the answer you are looking for, but that is why hiring managers are so vague.
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