This is a real problem in the profession now. Due to the sheer size of the job seeker pool, one's probability of getting any particular offer is only epsilon. To be reasonably confident of landing a job, one must apply to O(1/epsilon) positions. In the limit as epsilon --> 0, it becomes impractical to spend much time on most of the applications. (Unfortunately, that also makes epsilon smaller, causing more of a time/effort crunch!)
The current system is very inefficient, as it basically wastes a lot of productive-astronomer time every two or three years as applicants have to jump through all these hoops for various hiring committees. While I understand that it's not easy to look through 200 applications, far less time is wasted reading applications than writing them. I don't claim to have an immediate answer as to how the entire job application system could be more efficiently reformed, but the current system is only barely tenable (and not scalable).
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The current system is very inefficient, as it basically wastes a lot of productive-astronomer time every two or three years as applicants have to jump through all these hoops for various hiring committees. While I understand that it's not easy to look through 200 applications, far less time is wasted reading applications than writing them. I don't claim to have an immediate answer as to how the entire job application system could be more efficiently reformed, but the current system is only barely tenable (and not scalable).