The Advantage of Being Early

A few years ago, my wife and I were trying to buy our first home in Denver. It was spring of 2022, which meant the market was hot and interest rates were still relatively low. Houses moved quickly, but we still believed that if we were patient and deliberate, things would work out.

Over several months, we’d find a place we liked, tour it, talk through the numbers, and put together a strong, responsible offer right around asking price. Each time we submitted, we felt good about the decision. It seemed competitive. It seemed fair. It seemed reasonable.

And each time, we lost.

Our relator would break the news, and each time it was the same. We were losing because someone else had moved earlier with a competitive offer. Understandably, the sellers chose to move forward rather than wait. They weren’t trying to squeeze out every possible dollar. They were choosing certainty.

Our offers weren’t wrong. They were just arriving after the emotional decision had already been made.

We eventually bought a home when we happened to be early and decisive. It was competitive, clear, and timely enough for the sellers to say yes and move on. The timing mattered more than a perfect offer.

Why Early Matters

There’s a statistic that floats around LinkedIn that roughly 90% of candidates who get interviews applied within the first 24 hours of a role being posted. Whether the number is exactly right isn’t the point. The implications are hard to ignore.

Early applicants are disproportionately represented.

Hiring managers, in their defense, aren't careless or dismissive. Most teams genuinely want to be fair and thorough. I know I did when I was hiring. But they’re also human. When applications first start coming in, attention and excitement is high. The first few candidates naturally become a reference point, even if no one intends that to happen.

As more resumes arrive, the dynamic shifts. Cognitive load increases. Fatigue creeps in. The question shifts from curiosity to justification. At some point, the process stops being about discovery and starts being about confirmation.

None of this is malicious. It’s just how people make decisions when volume increases.

When “Perfect” Costs You Consideration

You’re told to tailor your resume carefully. To refine bullet points with keywords. To make sure past experience is as aligned as possible with the role. And that guidance isn’t wrong... but optimization often sacrifices speed.

Perfection takes time. Time increases the pool of applicants.

A strong resume submitted early is evaluated differently than the same resume submitted later, not because the work changed, but because the reviewer did. By the time later applications arrive, attention is shorter and the bar has been set.

This is why speed influences your consideration.

It means having a resume that represents you honestly and clearly, without requiring full customization before it feels acceptable to send. Because unfortunately, like when we were home shopping, you can’t be compared favorably if you’re never really considered.

The Bottom Line

Job searches operate under the same weight.

This is the mindset I’d encourage you to carry into your job search routine. Your goal isn’t to win on perfection. It’s to be considered while decisions are still forming.

Sometimes better really is best. There are moments when deeper tailoring and slower work make sense. But there are also moments when faster is the difference between being seen and being buried. The hard part is accepting that those moments show up more often than we’d like.

If you find yourself hesitating, refining, or waiting for everything to feel just right before applying, it’s worth asking whether the extra effort is increasing your odds or removing you from contention.