Apologies for just seeing this thread now! There is some confusion over how rolling applications work exactly and I believe that it differs by firm. A brief summary of the possible meaning of 'rolling' applications are as follows:
- There are some firms which read applications as they receive them and wait to progress people after a certain date, whilst there are others which notify candidates that they have been progressed as and when they receive their application.
- Then, there are some firms which not only progress candidates on a rolling basis, but actually hold the next stage of the recruitment process on a rolling basis (ie they will be holding ACs whilst they are still receiving written applications).
- Further, some will do all the early rounds (reading applications and reviewing video interviews or written exercises) before holding final-round interviews in a given recruitment window and making offers all together.
- Some firms, on the other hand, will make VS or TC offers on a rolling basis. Most will leave spots for all applicants, but it is not unheard of for firms to fill up all of their places before the application deadline closes.
- Finally, for firms which hold vacation schemes, most will consider candidates for training contracts on a rolling basis - as in, they will make offers after each vac scheme and not wait until the end of the process. That said, I have come across at least one firm which waits until the end of all its vac schemes before making TC offers.
So...
...the answer is that there is really no standard, although I am confident that for the majority of firms rolling applications does not mean that you will be disadvantaged if you apply later.
The only other reason I can think of as to why there may be more unsuccessful applications towards the end of a firm's application window is that people apply to their first-choice firms (and by extension the firms they are better suited for) early in the cycle.
The reason I think candidates sometimes assume they will be disadvantaged if they apply later is that there will be less room available to progress if other candidates have already progressed. For a firm that does not hold its interviews/ACs until after the application deadline, however, I cannot see why a candidate would be disadvantaged by applying later. Even for firms which have a strict limit on how many Training Contract offers they can make, there is not going to be a strict limit on the number of people they can progress to a psychometric test, video interview or assessment centre.
Firms know the standard that they are expecting at each stage of the process and they will progress everyone who meets their standard - they will not start raising the benchmark towards the end of an application window.
As I mentioned before, there
are some firms that do hold interviews whilst their application window is still open. Even then, most of those firms will leave space to conceivably interview everyone who applies. There are only a few firms I have come across who wrap up their ACs by a pre-determined date and tell candidates that they no longer have interview spaces available.
I sincerely believe that
for the majority of firms which recruit on a rolling basis, it will not make a difference whether you apply on the application deadline or three months in advance.
