Why Small Businesses Are Drowning in Job Applications (and Still Can’t Find the Right People)
If you’ve advertised a role recently, this will sound familiar.
You post a job ad.
Within days, the applications roll in.
Within a week, you’ve got dozens—sometimes hundreds—of CVs to review.
On paper, that sounds like a win. In reality, most small business owners quickly realise something isn’t right.
Plenty of applications.
Very few suitable candidates.
And hours lost sifting through CVs that clearly aren’t a fit.
At Mornington Screening Service, this is one of the most common frustrations we hear from business owners. The problem isn’t a lack of applicants. It’s too many of the wrong ones.
More applications doesn’t mean better hiring
Online job boards have made it incredibly easy to apply for roles. With one click, candidates can submit the same CV to dozens of jobs—often without reading the ad properly.
That means small businesses end up with:
Candidates who don’t meet the core requirements
Applications from people outside the industry
CVs that look fine at a glance but don’t stack up on closer inspection
The result is noise. And noise makes hiring harder, not easier.
Instead of spending time talking to strong candidates, business owners get stuck wading through CVs, trying to work out who’s even worth a conversation.
The real cost of “just quickly skimming CVs”
Most small business owners don’t block out time for recruitment. CV screening happens late at night, early in the morning, or in between everything else.
That’s where the hidden cost creeps in.
Important details get missed
Good candidates get overlooked because fatigue sets in
Shortlists become inconsistent
Interviews drag on longer than they should
Hiring starts to feel overwhelming—not because the role is hard to fill, but because the process is exhausting.
Why CV screening is the worst use of an owner’s time
Screening CVs is necessary, but it’s not strategic. It’s admin-heavy, repetitive work that requires focus and consistency—two things business owners rarely have spare.
It’s also the part of hiring that delivers the least value for the time invested.
Your time is better spent:
Interviewing candidates who already meet your criteria
Assessing culture fit and attitude
Making confident hiring decisions
That’s exactly why many businesses choose to outsource the screening stage.
How smarter screening changes everything
When CV screening is done properly and consistently, hiring becomes clearer and faster.
A good screening process:
Filters out unsuitable applicants early
Applies the same criteria to every CV
Produces a shortlist you can trust
Reduces the number of interviews needed
This is where outsourced CV screening makes sense for small businesses.
At MSS, we don’t replace your hiring decisions—and we don’t conduct reference checks. Instead, we remove the most time-consuming part of recruitment: separating the genuinely suitable candidates from the rest.
You can learn more about how this works on our How It Works page.
Less noise. Better conversations.
When you start with a clean, qualified shortlist, interviews change. Conversations are sharper. Decisions are easier. And hiring no longer drags on for weeks.
Most importantly, you get your time back.
That’s why MSS operates on a fixed, low-fee model—no percentage-based fees, no lock-ins, and no unnecessary extras. Just practical screening support for busy business owners.
You can view our CV Screening Services here.
Stop drowning in applications
If you’re overwhelmed by applications but underwhelmed by candidates, it’s not a reflection of your business—or your role.
It’s a sign that the hiring landscape has changed.
Outsourcing CV screening won’t hire someone for you—but it will remove the noise so you can focus on choosing the right person.
If you’re ready to stop reading CVs and start interviewing qualified candidates, get in touch with MSS.