The Harsh Reality: Why Companies Can't Respond to Every Application

Last year, while hiring at my previous company, I made a LinkedIn post that garnered much attention. In that post, I candidly shared insights into the overwhelming volume of applications we received for open engineering roles - a staggering 500-1000 per week for just ten positions.

The experience highlighted why most job applicants don't receive responses. This reality resonated with many people and sparked discussions around the frustrations of seemingly radio-silent black holes. If anything, today’s job market is even more competitive.

Let’s revisit and expand on those learnings to help demystify why you're not hearing back on most of your job applications.

The Numbers Don't Lie

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As I mentioned last year, with a typical 3-5% hiring rate, we could realistically proceed with phone screens for only around 300 candidates out of those 10,000+ applicants. That's a highly competitive funnel.

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The Screening Process  

To provide more context, applications go through a rigorous multi-stage screening process:

1. Initial resume screening by recruiters evaluating qualifications like education, experience, and skills.
2. A recruiter phone screen to gather further information on candidates.
3. Shortlisting by hiring managers looking for the best-fit candidates.
4. Interviews with the engineering team diving deep into technical abilities.

Even making it through multiple rounds offers no guarantees, as final decisions depend on various factors, such as the current team makeup, specific role requirements, and budget constraints.

The Volume Makes Personal Responses Impractical

I know how disheartening it can feel to expend significant effort applying without receiving a response. While companies strive for promptness, the sheer volume of applications makes it impossible to provide personalized feedback to every applicant.

My Advice For Applicants

With that hiring context in mind, here's my advice to improve your chances of securing interviews and opportunities:

1. Strategic Networking: Don't rely solely on submitting applications into the void. Dedicate significant effort to networking strategically with individuals who influence hiring decisions. Reach out to connections and proactively connect with hiring managers, engineering directors, and others at your target companies. A warm introduction can be invaluable.
2. Persistent Outreach: If you need more direct connections, send personalized outbound emails or messages expressing interest and seeking advice from relevant people. Research standard email formats and follow up persistently yet respectfully. You may get that crucial first conversation.
3. Thorough Preparation: For any interviews you secure, prepare thoroughly by researching the company, practicing coding exercises, answering system design questions, etc. If you make it past the screening process, your chances of success go from 0.1% to 10%. Invest your time accordingly.

The job search process can undoubtedly be grueling. Still, by combining strategic networking, persistent outreach, and thorough preparation, you can improve your odds of securing opportunities aligned with your aspirations.

My Advice For Companies

On the company side, evaluate how to give more applicants a fair chance at the top of the hiring funnel. The numbers indicate that over 95% of applicants are screened out before speaking to someone. While dealing with high volumes is a challenge, there could be opportunities to:

• Leverage AI/automation to conduct initial screenings more efficiently
• Expand recruiting bandwidths through contractors or staffing partners
• Explore asynchronous video interviews to streamline early rounds
• Emphasize skills-based hiring over pedigrees on resumes alone

The goal should be to ensure that you are aware of strong candidates solely due to bandwidth constraints before they can demonstrate their abilities. This is why we built Talent Llama. To give every candidate a fair chance and enable the company to hire the optimal talent.

Conclusion

Applicants may find it challenging to accept the realities of today's competitive job market. However, understanding the numbers, processes, and constraints hiring teams face provides an empathetic perspective.

For applicants, strategically networking, persistently reaching out, and thoroughly preparing remain crucial tactics. For companies, innovating your hiring practices with tools like Talent Llama to give more candidates a reasonable look can pay dividends in finding hidden gems.

We're all trying to make great matches that unlock mutual success. By having honest discussions and constantly striving to improve hiring approaches, we can end frustrating job searches and understaffed teams—an endeavor we can all celebrate.

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