Why It’s Time to Rethink Hiring Filters
We’ve built a hiring system obsessed with shortcuts.
Whether it's CVs, keyword scanners, degree requirements, or “minimum experience,” filters have become the norm. They’re designed to speed things up — but in the process, they often screen out the very people who could thrive.
Not because they lack ability, but because they don’t fit the mold.
And now, with AI writing CVs and job seekers tailoring applications to beat the bots, the signal is getting even harder to read.
Candidates are learning to optimise for systems, not for fit. Hiring teams are forced to make fast calls based on incomplete or inflated information. It’s getting harder to tell who’s real, who’s ready, and who’s just really good at gaming the process.
Fit is more than a filter
Hiring success doesn’t come from tighter criteria. It comes from clarity — knowing what actually drives success in the role, and being able to see it.
That might be a mindset. Work ethic. Coachability. Things that rarely show up clearly on a CV, but often make all the difference.
Especially in frontline or high-volume roles, where a polished résumé isn’t a reliable predictor of real-world performance.
This isn’t just about fairness. It’s about performance.
When we lean too hard on traditional filters, we shrink the talent pool. We miss people from non-traditional paths. We reinforce bias. And we end up hiring the most visible candidates — not always the most valuable ones.
In a market where quality of hire is now a top priority, that’s a risk we can’t ignore.
LinkedIn’s 2024 report puts it plainly:
“Quality of hire is the topic shaping the future of recruiting.” Companies are redefining 'quality' to focus more on soft skills and alignment with company values. (LinkedIn Future of Recruiting 2024 Report)
Hung Lee, curator of the Recruiting Brainfood newsletter, adds:
“Quality of hire is the hiring metric that CEOs care most about.” The challenge lies in connecting data points to truly measure it.
So what do we do?
Filters have a place — they help teams stay organised and move fast. But they shouldn’t be the final decision-maker.
The risk is when we rely on filters alone, we start rejecting potential — not just unqualified candidates. We miss people who could do the job well, simply because they don’t fit the default patterns.
What we need are systems that work with filters — but also look deeper. That spot alignment, surface soft skills, and help us see beyond what’s written on paper.
That’s what we’re building at Levlr — tools that help teams spot potential, not just screen for it.
The bigger question
Because at the end of the day, hiring isn’t just about filling roles. It’s about building teams that work — people who thrive, grow, and stay.
If our first instinct is to filter people out, we risk building the kind of workforce we’ve always had… not the one we actually need.
At Levlr, we’re not here to replace filters — we’re here to help you see what they miss. By surfacing behavioral fit, values alignment, and the kind of potential that doesn’t always show up on a résumé, we give hiring teams the insight to look deeper, faster.
Because the real question isn’t “How do we get more candidates through the funnel?” It’s “How many great people are we quietly filtering out — without even knowing it?”