If You're Applying to Promoted Jobs You're Getting F'd
Sharing the strategy that got me a job. Hopefully, it helps.
About 1.5 months ago, I started applying to non-promoted jobs on LinkedIn.
I was shocked.
In the first month, I got ~2x the interviews (~3 incremental), only applying to maybe 15 more jobs a month. One of them made me the offer.
Recently came across the numbers on why this works and wanted to share.
In 2023, only 50% of jobs were promoted on LinkedIn
Now, 76% of jobs on LinkedIn are promoted (no wonder there's all the sludge)
Promoted jobs get 95% of applications (according to internal docs for recruiters, my wife is one.)
Find the small % of unpromoted job postings, but it’s a slog becasue LinkedIn buries them. Also, there is no filter to search for them. About 0-3 on a page of 25 results are non-promoted for the first 5-10 pages.
Other perks I found of non-promoted jobs:
Reposted jobs - I’ve never seen a “reposted” job that wasn’t promoted
“Ghost Jobs”/”Evergreen Jobs” - Basically, postings no one looks at seem to be heavily reduced.
Fake/scammy job postings - (Like Lensa rn) all promoted due to higher engagement.
Happy searching!
Jobadvisor
What you’re describing is a really sharp observation about applying where there’s less competition — essentially a “blue ocean” strategy for the job hunt.
Here’s the gist of what’s going on in your findings:
Why avoiding promoted jobs works
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Most applicants swarm promoted posts.
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If 76% of jobs on LinkedIn are promoted and those get 95% of applications, the competition is brutal.
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That means the other ~24% of jobs are competing for only 5% of applicants — a huge advantage for you.
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LinkedIn’s design hides non-promoted jobs.
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No filter for “non-promoted.”
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You need to actively scroll past the first pages to find them.
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That “friction” actually works in your favor because fewer people will bother.
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Non-promoted jobs are often more “real.”
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Fewer reposted/recycled “ghost” postings.
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Lower odds of running into fake/scam jobs.
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More likely to be actively hiring, not just collecting résumés.
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How to find non-promoted jobs faster
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Skip the first page of results — the top of the search is almost always 100% promoted.
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Look for old-school company pages where they post directly without LinkedIn ads.
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Use external boards (Indeed, Wellfound, company career pages) to identify openings, then apply via LinkedIn only if necessary.
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Target small to mid-size companies — they’re less likely to pay for promotion.
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Manually filter by “date posted” — new, unpromoted jobs can slip in before they’re boosted.
Why this is a “numbers hack”
It’s not that promoted jobs are bad — it’s just math:
If a promoted post has 500 applicants and a non-promoted post has 20, you can have the same skillset but 25× better odds of getting seen.