How Many Candidates Should You Interview?

How many candidates you interview depends on two key factors: how quickly you need to fill the vacancy and the type of skillset needed for the position.

For example, if you need an admin assistant and have over 10 applications with all candidates meeting the skillset needed, we would advise you to interview a 2-4 candidates who seem like they would be a great cultural fit for the business.

However, if you’re recruiting for a more senior position, there will be many applicants and you will want to interview more candidates (we recommend 5-6) as the position will require a wider set of skills and you will need to ensure a good cultural fit, especially if they are managing a team. You will then want to carry out second interviews with 2- 3 candidates with more in-depth questions and scenarios to get the best candidate.

We advise to not spend your time interviewing too many candidates as it will be time-consuming (obviously!) and it will make it more difficult for an interview panel to come to a unanimous decision.

Ad Warrior will be able to help you with the initial screening by optimising your job application to get the type of candidates you want. You can then do a preliminary screening and rank them with our level 3 applicant tracking system.

Advertise your job vacancy today with Ad Warrior.