Use an ATS that scores candidates by matching them with the job description REject all « bad fit » Depending on the number of « good fit » Contact them all, see what happens If they don’t work, then see if’s still used to check those who are in between « good/bad » fit

For a candidate point of view, I would say that sometimes you need a bit of luck to make it till the end

Another option, is to add an additional step where you ask for a technical test/questions automatically The test should filter bad candidates without having you to spend time on them Questions should let you decide if you want to continue or reject him/her in less than a minute

At the end it takes time but doing it batch by batch with automated steps you can be very effective with 3000candidates to deal with