first2apply.com

What It Is

First 2 Apply is a desktop job discovery and application management tool for individual job seekers. Its main pitch is that it pulls new listings from 10+ job sites such as LinkedIn, Indeed, and Dice, and helps users apply earlier through real-time alerts. The site highlights compatibility with Windows, macOS, and Linux, with the goal of reducing the time spent manually browsing multiple recruiting platforms.

Key Features and Product Capabilities

The core product includes job site monitoring, instant alerts for new postings, advanced AI filtering, and application management. The AI filtering supports natural-language rules, such as excluding “remote” roles that require office attendance, hiding jobs with specific tech stacks, or only showing roles with low experience requirements. Alert frequency can be set anywhere from every 30 minutes to weekly. The app also provides tags and stage tracking, intended to replace spreadsheets for managing application progress. The Pro plan adds a company blacklist and advanced AI filtering, and reviews also mention Beta Google Search for searching ATS sites.

Pricing and Trial

Pricing is fairly straightforward: Basic costs $5/month and includes unlimited job site monitoring, instant alerts, and application organization; Pro costs $20/month and includes everything in Basic, plus a company blacklist and advanced AI filtering. The site shows support for monthly, quarterly, semiannual, and annual billing cycles, but does not disclose discounts for different billing terms. All users get a 7-day free trial with no credit card required, which lowers the barrier to trying it out.

Pros and Cons

The main advantages are cross-platform job aggregation, flexible alert frequency, and natural AI filtering syntax, making it useful for high-volume job seekers who want to save time on screening listings. Multiple user comments also emphasize that it helps increase application volume and reduce ineffective searching. The downside is that it feels more like a personal productivity tool than an enterprise SaaS product: there is no visible information on team collaboration, permissions, auditing, data security compliance, APIs, or developer support. Also, because it is a desktop app, the site does not fully explain how alerts and background operation work when the computer is turned off.

Best Fit and Access from China

It is best suited for people actively job hunting, especially candidates in tech or remote roles who rely on overseas job boards. It is not a good fit for scenarios that require enterprise-grade recruiting management, team collaboration, or compliance-oriented procurement. The main site does not provide information about access from China, and because the product depends on overseas job sources such as LinkedIn, Indeed, and Dice, real-world usability may be affected by the local network environment and access to the target sites. Payment methods are also not disclosed. For domestic Chinese roles, alternatives such as Boss直聘, 猎聘, 拉勾, and 脉脉 may be more suitable.