The new Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list just came out.  In case you are wondering, it’s the February 4, 2008 edition.  As a geeky researcher I love to put numbers together, take them apart, and then put them together another way.  As I continue to review the list, there was one metric that jumped off the page:  Applicants per Job Opening.  “Job Openings” are comprised of jobs created in the past year, and available positions as a result of voluntary turnover.

The “best” 100 companies averaged 70 applicants per job opening.  Yes, you read that right.  S-E-V-E-N-T-Y.  Three and a half score (a shout-out to honest Abe).  Nearly half a gross.  Two bushels (if you are counting in liters). 

Given the quality of companies on the list, it makes sense some of these are from non-qualified applicants applying for non-existent jobs.  Let’s go crazy and figure half of them are non-qualified based on their application, dropping the number down to a paltry 35 applicants for every job. 

Oh the humanity… Having to select the top 3% to fill a job. 

A couple of other details I found interesting when ranking by Applicants per Job Opening:

• The top 10 “best” companies averaged 162 applicants per job opening.
• The number of AJO’s (I love acronyms) dropped by nearly 50% for companies ranked 11-25 (down to only 90:1).
• AJO’s dropped by about 50% to 54:1 for companies ranked 26-50.
• AJO’s dropped to 33:1 for companies ranked 51-75, and to 12:1 for companies ranked 76-100.

I know a ton of companies that would love to have a 12:1 ratio of applicants to open positions, even if half aren’t qualified for the position. 

Taking six people through a selection process, including pre-employment testing/assessment, structured interviewing, and work samples when appropriate, will help ensure there is a good fit between the skills/interests of the applicant and the job they are applying for.

It’s good to be selective in hiring decisions.  That’s how you got your job, isn’t it?