I help people with their job search, so I talk to recruiters regularly. Recently I started asking a specific question: how do you actually go through your applicant list when a role opens up? Not "what do you look for" - I mean literally, mechanically, how do you review them?

8 out of 10 said some version of the same thing: they sort by date received and start from the top.

That's it. Their ATS sorts chronologically and they work down the list until they have enough people to interview. Most of them said they stop looking after they've got 5-10 solid candidates. If your application is #247, nobody's scrolling that far.

So here's the tip: Set up alerts on all the job sites. When something good hits, apply that day. Not this weekend. That day. A solid resume submitted in hour one beats a perfect resume submitted on day four.

Anyone else noticed a difference between applying early vs late to postings?