Why do you think it's zero sum? I might only have one position, but I'll interview as many people as I need to until I find one that is a great fit.

Because the pool of applicants is so vast, you are far more likely to get passed over because there are so many other candidates to interview rather than being passed over because you don't hit the lowest bar acceptable for the interview.

>I might only have one position, but I'll interview as many people as I need to until I find one that is a great fit.

Yea. That is called a zero sum situation.

No it's not. Getting the job is zero sum. Getting the interview is not. And we're talking about getting the interview.