In my experience they're right at least at the junior level. As a fresh grad I knew I was as shite as everyone else so I sent several thousand applications and

In my experience they're right at least at the junior level. As a fresh grad I knew I was as shite as everyone else so I sent several thousand applications and then only put effort into the few that contacted me back. I think the more senior you get you are the one selecting and not the other way around, so it makes more sense to put the full effort in up front.