Some tips I learned from a few hundred applications

Nov 28, 2025

This economy is hard. I applied to over 200 job applications, mostly through LinkedIn. Now I know that LinkedIn is quite crap, but it is the one I used the most, and I had some luck before, mostly with unpaid internship or volunteer (I wouldn't take it, though. I already have experience). I also tried out Indeed, Glassdoor. Even Y Combinator for startups. I learned a fair bit about applying for jobs. Of course these are what I find useful for now, you may disagree:

  • It is best to submit as soon as the job post hits the board. Apply as soon as possible. Now, I didn't figure it out until late, but you can sort by date by finding this part under "All filters". However, I find this not very useful, since it just gives you any job that is the latest, sometimes not even relevant to your search.

  • As in this Reddit post, you can manipulate the search parameter on your address so that it narrows the time window. For example:
https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/search/?currentJobId=4339810337
&distance=25&f_TPR=r3600&geoId=103644278&keywords=software%20developer
&origin=JOB_SEARCH_PAGE_JOB_FILTER&refresh=true
&start=25

with:

  • distance=25: Controls the job search radius in miles. Example: If you want to search within 50 miles, change it to distance=50.
  • f_TPR=r3600: Filters job postings by recency. r3600 means jobs posted within the last hour.
    Common values:
    • r86400 (Last 24 hours)
    • r604800 (Last week)
    • r2592000 (Last month)
  • geoId=103644278: Specifies the geographic location.
  • keywords=software%20developer: Determines the job title or keywords being searched. %20 represents spaces, so this query searches for Software Developer”
  • location=United%20States: Defines the search location. Example: Searching in Florida? Change it to location=Florida.
  • sortBy=R: Sorts results by relevance (R). Options:
    • DD (Date posted)
    • R (Relevance)
  • LinkedIn count the number of people clicked apply based on the number of clicks on the post. It does not care whether you finish the application or not. This number, and the number of applicants for Easy Apply, are rollovered to the reposted post.

Happy hunting.