Since you can become "senior" on paper with a few weekend courses, I'm not surprised. Maybe require actual years of working experience instead and ask applicant

Since you can become "senior" on paper with a few weekend courses, I'm not surprised. Maybe require actual years of working experience instead and ask applicants to name the company where they gained that experience. That said, when I got my first team lead position, I had no experience actually working, but only a lot of hobby projects. So make sure not to discard the "senior" overmotivated hobbyists.