Logo Resonated

For Kerri Colicchio, 48, the company’s updated logo -- a fingerprint shaped like a heart -- resonated with the mother of three.

“It was a very provocative symbol to me,” said Colicchio, who owned a construction company until last year and worked at Merck & Co. for 19 years. “It made it very real to me in terms of me having the ability to put my fingerprints on things within the company.”

After interviewing for a position with J&J she saw posted on LinkedIn Corp.’s website, Colicchio started as a manager of human resources process design at the end of May.

Not all workers have been so fortunate. Since the current economic expansion began in June 2009, the job openings rate has risen by 1.5 percentage points through June, while the hiring rate has increased 0.7 percentage point in the same period, Labor Department data show.

Applicant volume has risen by 33 percent since 2011, with a median of 40 applications per open position, according to CEB, which gets its data from surveys of its members, including companies such as Johnson & Johnson, UBS AG and EBay Inc.

Screening Candidates

The widening use of technology that uses ultra-specific criteria to screen candidates means that job-seekers with exactly the right skills are increasingly targeted by recruiters, while a candidate with some, but not all, of the required attributes may be eliminated or moved down the list.

Employers should stick to a recruitment strategy that “does as much to exclude people as it does to attract people,” said Kim Ruyle, president of Inventive Talent Consulting LLC in Coral Gables, Florida. Otherwise, “you get everybody applying and you’re overwhelmed with applications.”

The strategy may not suit companies that hire low- to no- skilled workers, such as retail or fast-food industries, given their high turnover, Ruyle said. Others are wary of being too targeted in their messaging, he said.