From Apartment Applications to Job Offers: The Power of Being First

In 2003 we were moving from the East Bay to San Francisco and attended an open house for a cozy apartment in Noe Valley. The landlord, Van—an Alabama transplant—had a stack of paper applications from other interested renters. We arrived late in the showing, filled out our form, and added it to the stack, thinking our odds were slim.  
  
To our surprise, Van called the next day and offered us the place. It felt great, especially as newcomers to the U.S. with limited credit history. I asked him what made him choose us—was it our charm, our professions, the fact that we were Canadian?  
 
 
Van simply replied in his Alabama drawl, "You were on the top of the pile."  
 

I was reminded of this event while reading a recent Business Insider article highlighting the challenging reality job candidates face today. According to the article, "The best tool for job hunters is speed. Applying as soon as jobs are posted gives candidates a better shot than applying to hundreds of roles."  
 
 
In a perfect world, candidate quality alone would determine success. But in today’s market, recency bias (or the advantage of “first to be reviewed”) will affect the outcome—sometimes, just being at the top of the pile is a determining factor in getting an interview.