The hirer is the one filing out the 1099, and interviewing 40+ candidates a year is easy. That said, you should only need to file a 1099 when the pay is $600+.
I think the OP was talking about interviewing at 40 companies per year, not interviewing 40 candidates at their company.
Also hey man! Are you still doing work for Fusion?
How's it going? I am still doing some work for them, though I've had to scale back my freelancing as things have improved substantially at my main role.
Going well here. Glad to hear that things are picking up!