// Knowledge base
3x more applications per vacancy
By Mitchel van Luit
2 min read
Many candidates drop out as soon as you ask for a cover letter. Here you will discover how scrapping that requirement resulted in 3x more applications, and how you can still filter out the best candidates using screening questions and short telephone rounds.
In short
✔ Remove the cover letter from your job vacancy: that generated 3x more applicants every time.
✔ Replace CV and cover letter with screening questions, so you compare candidates in the same format.
✔ Call the best applicants for 10 minutes and only invite them for an in-person interview afterwards.
✔ The more applicants, the greater the chance of finding the right candidate.
With one change we received three times as many applications for an open vacancy: we scrapped the cover letter.
Why the cover letter costs so many candidates
Most candidates who see your vacancy already have a job and a busy life. Tailoring a cover letter to your vacancy takes time, and that time has to come from somewhere: an evening, a weekend, a moment that isn't really there.
The result is a filter that selects the wrong candidates. You are left not with the most motivated candidates, but with the candidates with the most time. For various vacancies we removed that requirement, and each time we saw three times as many applicants.
“But how do I know if someone is suitable?”
That is a fair question, and we have developed the following for that.
- Ask anyone interested to answer a number of screening questions, instead of a CV and cover letter.
- Compare the answers side by side. Because everyone replies in the same format, you can pick out the best candidates faster than from a pile of different letters. What's more, you don't have to read through all the CVs and you don't use up any credits in your ATS.
- Call the candidates who answered the questions correctly for ten minutes. You use that interview to select further and invite the best ones.
- Only ask for a CV after that, if your recruitment process requires that.
What a good selection question does
A selection question is not a disguised knowledge test. It must differentiate between candidates who fit and candidates who do not, and that is best achieved by asking about situations rather than traits.
“Are you stress-resistant?” yields the exact same answer from everyone. “Describe a moment when you had two deadlines at the same time, and what you dropped first as a result” yields answers that differ from one another. That difference is precisely what you select on.
Keep it to a handful of questions that can be answered in a few minutes. As soon as filling it in takes half an hour again, you've reinvented the cover letter.
What it yields you
This approach saves you time and generates significantly more applicants. And the more suitable applicants you have, the greater the chance of finding the right candidate. That works especially well if your vacancy is also seen by enough people; this article is about that.
marketing psychology
The summary at the top (the “in short” block) lowers the barrier to entry: anyone who sees the core message first is subsequently more likely to read the whole article.
// Frequently asked questions
Questions about this subject.
Does dropping the cover letter really result in more job applications?
With us, it certainly does: for several vacancies we saw three times as many applicants after removing that requirement. The explanation is that a cover letter doesn't select for motivation, but for available time, and candidates who already have a job have the least amount of that time.
How do you assess candidates without a CV and cover letter?
Using screening questions that everyone answers in the same format, followed by a ten-minute interview with the candidates who stand out positively. You can still request a CV afterwards if your process requires it.
What does a good selection question look like?
A question about a situation rather than a trait. "Are you resilient to stress?" yields the same answer from everyone; a question about a concrete moment when someone had to choose yields answers that differ from one another.
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