Volume vs Precision
Both work. Choosing without noticing you chose does not.
Choose the mode per role, and know which one you are in.
Volume suits exploration
Early in a search, when you are still learning what the market wants from you, breadth gives you information. Move fast and read the responses.
Precision suits conviction
For the handful of roles you genuinely want, an hour spent on positioning and preparation changes the outcome. These are not the same activity.
Batch either way
Applications clustered in a week cluster their interviews, and clustered offers are a negotiation. Scattered offers are a series of ultimatums.
Before
Forty applications sent across six weeks, one at a time, as roles appeared.
After
Two batches of eight, two weeks apart, each reviewed before the next.
Same effort, different information. Batching lets you read what the first batch taught you before spending the second — and it puts any offers close enough together to compare.
Do this before moving on
Look at the roles you have open now. Mark each as exploration or conviction. If everything is marked conviction, you are not exploring enough; if nothing is, you are not committing to anything.
Check yourself
You have eight roles saved, one of which you badly want. How should you spend the evening?