Over the last decade, US residency programmes have seen a drastically changing landscape that is teaming with prospective applicants yet barren of grades. To discover how programme directors are rising to the challenge of recruiting applicants in the grade-free era, we conducted a methodologically rigorous (fictional) survey. Our (fabricated) empirical evidence offers insights into how programme directors are sifting through thousands of applicants who all sound the same. Additionally, we summarize the recent events and literature to contextualize how we arrived in the 'grade-free era' and share (real) innovations in recruitment that programmes have implemented.