The Most Powerful LinkedIn FIlter You're Overlooking

LinkedIn used to feel like a community; now it feels like a mall.

Every job you see first in your feed is there because someone paid for it to be("Sponsored Post").

The algorithm prioritizes sponsored posts, large employers, and engagement loops that keep you scrolling. For job seekers, that means you’re competing with hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of applicants for the same over-exposed listings.

But buried beneath all that noise is one of the most valuable little filters LinkedIn still gives you: “Under 10 applicants.” It’s a small tag, easy to miss, but it’s the closest thing the platform has to early access.

This screenshot shows ~2500 HRBP jobs and all of the first 3 pages say "promoted" and most already have huge candidate pools and applicants, even with roles posted within the last 24 hours. On the right it shows the "Under 10 Applicants" filter all the way at the bottom of their "All Filters" section 

Jobs marked under 10 applicants are the ones the algorithm hasn’t pushed yet. They’re newer, quieter, and often overlooked because they haven’t hit the engagement threshold that triggers mass visibility. Or that a company that used to pay for role visibility has stopped. When you apply to one of these, you significantly improve your chances that a recruiter might actually see your name instead of scanning through applicant #312.

A client of mine - a Director of Insights and Research for a creative tool platform, stopped applying to anything with more than 100 applicants. For one week, she filtered only for Under 10 applicants. Within ten days, she had two interviews from companies that hadn't paid for the promotion views. Naturally some of the posts were a little sketchy, far lower level than she was, but many were solid opportunities from reputable companies. 

When you’re job searching, spend fifteen minutes a day scrolling only through the “Under 10 applicants” filter. Focus on roles that have been live fewer than three days. Save them, read them, and if they make sense for you, apply right then. The window between quiet listing and algorithmic frenzy is short - but it’s the window where real people are still reviewing real applications.

This is how you regain an edge on a platform designed to make everyone feel late to the party. The early window belongs to people who pay attention, not people who pay for promotion.

Page one is crowded. Page ten is where opportunity lives.