I think a flip side I've seen is when the first applicant through an interview loop has basically no chance of getting an offer because (a) people know they're not calibrated and (b) "surely the odds are low that the very first person would be the right person"
This kinda means it's a waste of the candidate's time unless they're _also_ just interviewing for practice.
It really depends. A lot of teams don't want to waste their time reviewing a bunch of candidates and will pick the first person who impresses them. Not saying they won't go through with whatever other interviews they had scheduled, but if the first person knocks it out of the park and the remaining 3 candidates who make it through the interview cycle that week are less impressive, they'll just make an offer to the first person rather than continue interviewing
I just accepted an offer last week. I was told I was the first to interview and they cancelled the others because I was a perfect fit. Interviewed Friday morning, offer came Friday afternoon, I accepted that evening. /anecdata
This is likely only because the initial candidate was already thrown out of the pool, so the 15 day later candidate might as well become first in line at that point.
But the candidate usually never knows what position they are in line. Sure the person on the other side of the table could divulge, but the candidate shouldn't really trust that information.
A person that is aware enough to know they are not calibrated should also not make the mistake of attributing higher/lower odds to something that is mutually exclusive, assuming that the interviews are not systematically set up in a way to put worse qualified candidates first.
This is probably BS pseudo-science but I read a book years ago that talked about the four primary types of shoppers:
1. Tightwads - spend as little as possible (maximize savings)
2. Spendthrifts - spend everything they have (maximize pleasure)
3. Optimizers - who want the best deal possible (money for value)
4. Satisfiers - who set a bar then pick the first option that meets it (minimize decision time)
You see these behaviors in all sorts of decision-making processes as well, so if the hiring manager is a Satisfier type and the first person who walks through the door is great, they'll likely hire them.
If the hiring manager is a tightwad or an optimizer though they'll almost certainly force many candidate through to collect data before making a decision and that first candidate has little chance unless they're truly exceptional.
This kinda means it's a waste of the candidate's time unless they're _also_ just interviewing for practice.