I applied for a lot of jobs...

I know within the first two minutes of an interview if I'm going to hire someone or not.

Is that a bit of an exaggeration?

Eh, maybe for some people.

But the positions for which I'm recruiting, knowing what my clients need, and having <cough> this many years of experience under my belt, I know what I know.

If this concept worries you, though, rest assured there are things you can do to make it past my two-minute go/no-go judgement mark.

One example: don’t reply "I applied for a lot of jobs" to a standard interview first question "Why did you apply for this job?"

Why not, you ask?

‘Cuz odds are good that if you DO reply with “I applied for a lot of jobs” to such a question, there's a 99% chance I'm not going to hire you. Well, let's make it a 96% chance as there have been limited number of cases where people are able to recover and thoroughly impress me after that initial debacle of a response.

Summary point: Job applicants should know what job they are applying for. I don't give a rat's hairy backside if you've applied to 27 different jobs in the past 3 days. You darn well better know each and every one of those jobs in case a recruiter calls you to discuss your application in more detail. If you don't think you'll be able to keep everything straight, get a damn pen and paper and write down some brief notes for each position. It is a huge turn-off for a recruiter if you tell him/her you can't remember what the job is. We do. not. care.