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Post the job again. Boost it. Widen the funnel.

It feels like progress. But in the trades, more applicants rarely solve the problem. Most of the time, they just create more noise—and push the real decision further down the road.

Why Volume Feels Like the Fix

When work is backing up and roles stay open, volume feels like control.

More applicants create the sense that something is happening. There are names to look at, inboxes filling up, and the comfort of choice. But if nothing about the screening process changes, volume doesn’t improve outcomes. It just delays them.

Instead of clarity, employers end up with more decisions to make and less confidence in any of them.

How Volume Quietly Wastes Time

Every applicant takes time, even the ones you never intend to hire.

Time disappears into reviewing résumés that don’t tell you much, following up with people who never respond, and scheduling conversations that don’t happen. When no-shows pile up, the process restarts, and the clock resets.

That time has to come from somewhere. For most operators, it comes directly out of evenings, weekends, or focus that should be spent keeping jobs moving. This is where hiring tradespeople starts competing with running the business itself.

The Real Cost of “More Applicants”

High volume almost always comes with higher costs.

Job boards get extended. Posts get boosted. Crews work overtime to cover gaps while hiring drags on. Productivity slips as teams wait for help that never quite arrives.

In markets dealing with a shortage of skilled labor, volume doesn’t make hiring cheaper. It makes it more expensive. You’re paying more money to sift through people who were never a realistic fit to begin with.

What It Does to the Crew

This is the cost most employers don’t plan for.

When hiring turns into constant churn, frustration builds. Crews get tired of covering open roles. No-shows stop being surprising and start being expected. Standards quietly slip just to keep work moving.

Over time, even your most reliable workers lose confidence in the process. Hiring starts to feel reactive instead of intentional, and morale takes a hit that’s hard to undo.

Why Volume Doesn’t Work in Trades Hiring

Most hiring platforms are designed to maximize applications.

They reward speed, quantity, and keywords. That approach might work for desk jobs, but it breaks down quickly when you’re hiring blue collar workers, where reliability and communication matter more than anything written on a résumé.

More applicants don’t help if you still can’t tell who will show up on Monday.

What Works Better Than Chasing Volume

The employers seeing better results aren’t widening the funnel.

They’re tightening it.

They focus on clarity up front—pay, schedule, location, and expectations—so fewer people apply, but the right people do. They look for ways to understand reliability and communication before interviews happen, instead of after time has already been wasted.

That shift leads to faster decisions, fewer no-shows, and better long-term fits. It’s a better way to hire trades, because it reflects how hiring actually works on the ground.

The Takeaway for Employers

More applicants don’t fix hiring problems.

They often create new ones.

When hiring tools prioritize volume, employers pay the price in time, money, and morale. The solution isn’t casting a wider net. It’s using tools built for hiring tradespeople, where clarity and reliability matter more than application count.

If you’re looking for a better way to hire trades, download the Collars app and connect with applicants who are actually ready to work.

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