The five-minute application filter
A senior leader texted me on a Thursday night asking if six job postings were worth her Saturday. Here's the five-minute check I told her to run on each one before touching her resume.
"Should I spend my Saturday on this?"
That was the text I got Thursday night from a senior leader I've been advising. Six job postings she wanted to apply to. The question was real. She wasn't fishing for permission. She'd been doing the math on her hours and wasn't sure the math was worth it.
I told her to spend five minutes per posting first. Not on her resume. On the posting itself and the people around it.
Here's the check.
First, when the role was posted. Anything more than 30 days old, in 2026, almost always means a finalist is being walked through final rounds and the posting is sitting open for compliance. The application is decorative. Treat the posting as a research lead, not a target.
Second, the last two or three people who held the exact title. If both came from inside the company, the role is almost always going internal again. If they came from outside, the door is actually open. If you can't find them at all, the role is too new to read.
Third, two or three people inside the company with backgrounds close to hers. If she couldn't find anyone with a similar pivot already inside, the company hasn't done the kind of hire she was asking them to make. Possible. Just much higher lift.
Fourth, the hiring manager, if she could identify them, and one thing they'd posted publicly in the last 90 days. Invisible online means she'd need a different way in. Recent post about a hiring priority means she had an angle.
And one no-thanks signal that catches the wrong applications fast: any layoff news from this company in the last 60 days. Almost always a deprioritize, even if the role is still up.
Two of her six postings passed clean. Three were old enough to be theater. One had a layoff three weeks back. She spent the saved hours on the two real ones, plus an inside-contact message for each.