This process still relied on screening, including technical screens. The biggest difference is that it substituted a day of whiteboard interviews with a day of pairing, which we found to produce better results, and candidates really liked too.

Apple used to have a per team interview process(don’t know if it has changed). While the interview experience can vary a lot, there are certain pockets/teams that are spectacularly brilliant and have the freedom to maintain the bar & conduct targeted hiring.

Having 1600 applicants for a SE role is not a unique, but definitely a very niche, problem to have...

go on linkedin and message the people you think can do the job based on prior work and experience or degrees. trash the rest.