Strategies for Dealing with too Many Applications

Have you advertised a role recently and found you’ve got double, triple or maybe even quadruple the number of applications you used to get? While it’s encouraging to get lots of interest, there’s a point when the sheer volume means you’re actually at risk of missing the top talent altogether, and shortlisting becomes an overwhelming task. Here we look at why the volume is increasing and some strategies for dealing with too many applications.

Why are there so many applicants for jobs these days?

A recruiter-led market

Firstly, we’re very much in a recruiter-led market. Similarly to other sectors, many charities have been feeling the strain from the various financial challenges they’ve faced over the past five years, and so have been more cautious about hiring, or, sadly, have even had to make redundancies. This means there’s fewer roles available and more candidates competing for them, which is driving the volume of applications up.

The rise of AI

The second factor is AI, which is rapidly reshaping recruitment. You may well have noticed that among your increased numbers are a lot of AI-generated applications. The rise of generative AI, in the forms of Large Language Models like ChatGPT, means that candidates can use it to write an entire application in just a few clicks. This ease means they can apply for hundreds of jobs per day, even ones where they don’t fully match the requirements. With so little investment, they have nothing to lose.

So, what does this mean for your recruitment? Not only might you be receiving too many applications, but a lot of them might be similar—as they’ve been written by AI—and not match your requirements. If this is true for you, then you can probably discard the vast majority of them, but you can’t be sure of that until you check them. So the key question still remains: how can you possibly find the time to assess hundreds of applications?

Unfortunately there isn’t one easy answer, but there are some strategies you can put in place to help you manage the volume, and to try to reduce it next time.

Strategies for dealing with too many applications

1. Provide guidance for candidates on acceptable AI usage

Candidates are also trying to navigate this new recruitment world that we all find ourselves in. They aren’t always sure whether they should or shouldn’t be submitting AI-generated applications. The answer might seem obvious, but they don’t want to get left behind by ignoring AI altogether. If you’re happy for it to be used to enhance applications, but not to write them from scratch, then you’ll need to tell candidates this. Similarly, if you’d prefer they limited their use to just a spell-check, then make this clear. You could publish some brief guidance on your website (HMRC has a good example of this) and mention it in your job ad.

2. Use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)

To help you manage an increased volume of candidates, you need a good ATS. And if you post a job using CharityJob Apply, then you can use ours for free! With lots of useful tools such as screening questions, one click rating systems, easy drag-and-drop to move candidates through the pipeline and email templates for replying to applicants in bulk, it’s essential for managing large volumes of candidates.

3. Enable screening questions

Screening questions are short questions you can require candidates to answer as part of the application process. These can have yes/no answers and so be used to rule candidates out (e.g. do you have the right to work in the UK? Or do you have experience of organising fundraising events?) or short answers to tell you more about their experience. You can even use them to provide brief work samples, such as: write a short marketing email to promote a new fundraising event.

Screening questions can be a game-changer when you have too many applications. And to make it even quicker and easier to find and shortlist top talent, we’ve recently added some template screening questions into our ATS for you to select, or you can still choose to write your own.

You also now have the ability to filter applicants on the answers to yes/no questions. This means that in just a few clicks you’ll have a shortlist of candidates that are a good match for your requirements.

4. Be smart with your own use of AI

Candidates aren’t the only ones who can use AI, but we advise you to use it in a considered way. While it can be very helpful, it can also introduce new issues, such as bias and GDPR compliance. So tread very carefully if you’re considering using it to screen CVs. And, tempting as it may be, we don’t recommend using it to detect AI-generated applications, as research has shown it isn’t very effective in doing this.

Instead, think about how you can use AI to streamline your recruitment process in areas such as interview scheduling, or sending initial receipt of application emails, freeing up your time for reviewing CVs. Find out more about how to do this in our new guide Navigating AI in Recruitment: Guidance for Recruiters and Candidates.

If you do choose to use AI for any part of your recruitment process, then be upfront with candidates about it, to retain their trust.

4.      Monitor your recruitment progress

So you’ve got too many applications, but who exactly are you attracting? The easy way to find out is to switch on free equal opportunities monitoring in our ATS. Then, once you meet the relevant thresholds, you can generate personalised reports on the diversity of your candidates and hires. Then you can assess whether you’re attracting the right candidates or if you might need to make tweaks to your job ad next time.

You can also set your own recruitment KPIs to monitor your success and the effectiveness of any AI tools you’ve used.

Don’t forget to respond to every single applicant

When you have an overwhelming amount of applications, it can be tempting not to bother following up with the unsuccessful ones due to sheer lack of time. But this is a big mistake for your brand reputation. Even in a recruiter-led market, the candidate experience is still very important—the market won’t stay recruiter-led forever! And did you know that 79% of candidates wouldn’t apply to an organisation that had ignored their application in the past?

The good news is that bulk email templates within CharityJob’s ATS mean that you only need to send one email, no matter how many candidates you have to reject.

Find the best talent

Finding yourself with too many applications for a job can feel overwhelming, but by guiding candidates on AI usage, using our ATS and leveraging smart tools like screening questions, and being transparent and responsive, you can streamline your recruitment process without compromising the candidate experience. Don’t let the number of applications distract you from your goal: to find the best talent. With the right strategies in place, you’ll be well-equipped for this, no matter how many applications you get.

Get access to our FREE ATS when you post a job using CharityJob Apply. View applications, shortlist candidates and send bulk replies all in one place.

Need more guidance on AI in charity recruitment? Download our new guide, Navigating AI in Recruitment: Guidance for Recruiters and Candidates now.