Using arbitrary criteria to prune down candidates is stupid. I can see how the deposit will thin out unqualified candidates more than qualified ones, but you wi

Using arbitrary criteria to prune down candidates is stupid. I can see how the deposit will thin out unqualified candidates more than qualified ones, but you will still lose good candidates who think that the deposit is just plain dodgy. On the other hand, I can see why you wouldn't want to hire anyone who couldn't be bothered googling the company they are applying for. Depending on the position, you could also leave the job ad off your website, and expect the candidate to cold call you. That wouldn't be great for screening developers, but it would be fantastic for hiring anyone who's expected to show initiative in interacting with people. Yeah ... developers have to interact with people too, but there's a balance to strike - they might just think you're idiots who can't be bothered editing a web page.