I would say yes and no.

A key goal of the job board is to allow candidates to see which companies are hiring and which positions are open. This is the most important thing to start with.

What strategy a person use to apply would vary. An experience individual would reach out to their contacts who work in those companies for a referral or find ways to reach out the hiring recruiter or manager to increase their odds of success/interview for reasons you said due to high competitions and candidate pools. On the other hand, for companies actively hiring and with many openings, e.g. Coinbase at the moment, a simple cold apply works just fine to get you to the door of interview.

> On the other hand, for companies actively hiring and with many openings, e.g. Coinbase at the moment, a simple cold apply works just fine to get you to the door of interview.

With hundreds if not thousands (not exaggerating) of candidates?

I guess it increases your shots if the company is actively hiring. I can't speak to others, but that is actually how I and some of my friends land remote jobs, just by cold applying. And you get more chance if you apply early as soon as the post is up the first day or two.

Of course, as you said, it is more effective if you have connections or have gotten cold outreach by recruiters. But my point is that cold applying still works and quite some folks land their jobs this way.

Every time I have run into people online with long term employment problems it’s because they are only looking for remote work - the positions with the largest pool to compete against you.

The best way to secure remote work is to first develop an in person relationship.