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Be one of the first ten applicants. Every time.

Jobs First checks LinkedIn's public postings at the top of every hour and emails you only what's new, filtered to postings LinkedIn still marks under ten applicants. You apply while the queue is short, instead of discovering the posting at applicant #180.

7 days free with a card on file, then $8/month. Cancel before the trial ends and you're not charged.

This is what “early” looks like. Senior React Developer at Marlow Health: posted 1:22 PM, in your inbox at 2:00 PM. It's 2:37 PM.

38 minold when it reached you. LinkedIn's daily alert lands tomorrow.
<10applicants, by LinkedIn's own filter, at the moment we checked.
3:00 PMnext check, in 23 min, for every job search.
Jobs First <notifications@jobs-first.com>
to Derek

4 new React jobs in Austin — all still under 10 applicants

Four postings went up since the 1:00 PM check, all inside LinkedIn's under-ten-applicants filter. Newest first.

  1. 38min ago
    Senior React Developer at Marlow Health

    Austin, TX, hybrid. Early applicant

    View on LinkedIn
  2. 44min ago
    React Developer at Cedar & Pine Software

    Round Rock, TX, on-site. Early applicant

    View on LinkedIn
  3. 49min ago
    Front-end Engineer, React at Bramble Freight

    Austin, TX, remote within Texas. Early applicant

    View on LinkedIn

One more posting is in the full email. Next check at 3:00 PM.

You get email from 8 AM to 6 PM because you chose those hours. Change hours or pause this job search.

LinkedIn's alert is a recap. Jobs First is a live feed.

LinkedIn's daily email is a fine summary of yesterday. But hiring queues don't form daily — they form in the first few hours. Jobs First exists for that window.

ComparedLinkedIn job alertsJobs First
How often it checksOnce a day, or when LinkedIn decidesEvery hour, on the hour
What's in itEvery match, new or notOnly postings new since the last check, with how long ago each went up. Nothing new, no email.
Promoted and reposted listingsMixed in, usually at the topMostly filtered out. Ads aren't new jobs.
Setting one upBuild it in LinkedIn's filtersPaste the LinkedIn search you already built. Keywords, location, distance and work type fill in.
Applicant filterNoneOptional: LinkedIn's own under-10-applicants filter, applied on every check
When it arrivesWhenever the batch runsThe hours you pick
Where it landsLinkedIn notifications and emailYour inbox, or a webhook
Your LinkedIn loginNeededNot needed. It reads public postings.
PriceFree$8 a month after a 7-day trial

Jobs First is independent and not affiliated with LinkedIn. You apply on LinkedIn, as yourself.

One plan.

7 days free. Then $8 a month. Cancel any time and your searches pause — resubscribe and they pick up at the next hour, same settings, nothing lost.

Less than one missed opportunity.

A card is required to start the trial; nothing is charged until it ends. One trial per account. Resubscribing later is billed right away.

Jobs First is in beta, built and run by one person.

  • Up to 3 job searches at once during betaKeywords, city and state, distance, and work type on each. Pause one to free up a slot.
  • Set up from a LinkedIn URLPaste the search you already run on LinkedIn and the job search fills itself in.
  • A check every hour, on the hourFor every job search that's on.
  • Under-ten-applicants filter and salary floorPer job search. Turn either on or off any time.
  • Email at the hours you chooseWith "View on LinkedIn" on every posting, from Jobs First <notifications@jobs-first.com>.
  • Send to a webhookThe same postings as JSON, for Slack or a script.

Questions

Does it need my LinkedIn login?

No. Jobs First reads LinkedIn's public job postings, the same pages you can open in a private window without signing in. You never give us a LinkedIn password, and nothing is posted, messaged, or applied on your behalf. "View on LinkedIn" opens the posting in your own browser, where you apply as yourself.

Is this allowed?

We read public pages at a slow rate, keep only what you'd see in a search result, and send you to LinkedIn to apply. We don't log in, post, message, or apply for anyone. If LinkedIn changes what's public and a job search stops working, we pause it and email you rather than send stale results.

How is this different from LinkedIn's own alerts?

LinkedIn's alert is a daily summary, so by the time it arrives most postings have had applicants for hours. Jobs First checks every hour, sends only postings that are new since the last check, and can apply LinkedIn's under-ten-applicants filter. If you're not actively looking right now, the daily alert is probably enough.

Do I have to rebuild my searches from scratch?

No. Run the search on LinkedIn the way you already do, copy the address bar, and paste it into Jobs First. Keywords, location, distance, work type, and the applicant filter come across. Check them, create the job search, and the first check runs at the top of the next hour.

How many job searches can I run?

Up to three at once during the beta. A common setup is the exact title in your city, a remote version, and something adjacent you'd take. Pause one to make room for another.

What if nothing new turns up?

Then you don't get an email that hour. Your dashboard shows when the next check runs. If a job search stays quiet for a few days, the dashboard says so and suggests broader keywords, a larger distance, or turning the applicant filter off for a while.

Will this get me hired?

No tool can promise that. What Jobs First does is make sure you see new postings early enough to apply while the applicant count is still small. Interviews and offers still come down to you.

What happens when I cancel?

Your job searches pause, the emails stop, and you aren't charged again. Nothing is deleted. If you resubscribe later, they resume from the next hour with the same settings, and that subscription is billed right away.

Can I get another trial?

No. One trial per account. The trial takes a card so the switch to $8 a month is automatic, and if you cancel and come back later, billing starts right away with no second trial. Your job searches are still there, exactly as you left them.

From the person who checks it at 3 AM so you don't have to

This is the second kind of message you'd get from us. The first is the alert email above.

Derek who builds Jobs First
to you

Why this exists, and where it is

Jobs First started as a script I wrote for myself, because every job I actually wanted had 150 applicants by the time LinkedIn's daily alert showed up. The daily alert wasn't slow because LinkedIn is lazy — it's slow because a daily email is a recap, and hiring queues form in hours. Checking every hour and keeping only what LinkedIn still marks under ten applicants turned out to be the whole trick.

It's still basically that script, plus a billing page. I'm the only person building it, which is why there are no testimonials here — I'd rather earn them than write them. The trial is seven days because that's a full week of hourly checks landing in your inbox and for you to judge for yourself. And if anything's off, reply to any alert email. It comes straight to me, and I read every one.