Again, it depends on the company's size and hiring stage, but I've never been at a company where we've wanted to hire exactly one applicant from a pool. Whenev

Again, it depends on the company's size and hiring stage, but I've never been at a company where we've wanted to hire exactly one applicant from a pool. Whenever I've done interviews, we've been perfectly willing to hire zero (if none meet our standards), or 3 (if we find that many who are great). So I've never cared about how one candidate compares to another. It's not a zero-sum game. If you're going to have a positive impact on the company (and its bottom line), then I want 3 of you. If you're going to have a negative impact, then I want 0 of you. Obviously, there are also many situation where the opposite is true, e.g., if you're building a baseball team you want the best roster even if some of the positions aren't ideal.