Hmmm, it's not so much that as the Knots problem -- we are playing a game, etc. Applications say the things that the employers want to hear, and employers know that, but they still have to pretend to want to hear them.

Was hired half-way through first interview last two places I've worked to a large extent the strength of the degree to which I didn't do this; have since made at least one in retrospect very wise hiring choice on similar grounds.

Some of it is doubtless luck; some being in the right field at the right time; nevertheless, if that element of burn-the-maps nerve was a net negative, I think I would have noticed.

[ "Yes, I know the person I passed on the way in was in smart office-dress. If I couldn't carry it on raw ability, I'd dress like that too." ]