How to follow up after you apply

Why a follow-up is worth sending

Most applications get no reply. Hiring teams are busy, postings stay open for weeks, and a resume can sit in a queue with nobody looking at it. A short, polite note puts your name in front of a person for ten seconds. That is all it needs to do.

It costs you next to nothing. The risk is sending a bad one: long, needy, or sent three times in four days. So keep the rules simple and stick to them.

Collect four facts first

Open your records and find these.

• The exact job title and, if the posting shows one, the requisition ID.
• The date and time you applied.
• The version of your resume you sent.
• The name of the person who runs the hiring, if you can find it.

The resume version counts for more than people expect. If you sent a resume tailored to the posting, your follow-up should echo the same two or three skills. If you can't recall what you sent, you'll write something generic.

Salvo is a natural example here. It applies to jobs for you, rewrites your resume for each job, and saves a submission receipt for each application. That receipt is your record of the date and the version. You can build the same record by hand with a spreadsheet and a folder of resume files. The habit is what pays off.

When to send it

A week after you apply is a sensible default. A few adjustments help.

• If the posting says "we will contact candidates by Friday," wait until that Friday passes, then send on the next business day.
• For a fast-moving job, such as a seasonal or high-volume position, five business days is fine.
• For a senior job at a large company, give it ten days. Long hiring cycles are normal there.

Send between Tuesday and Thursday, mid-morning in the recruiter's time zone. Monday inboxes are crowded and Friday afternoon is slow. No study sits behind that advice. It is common sense about when people clear their mail.

Who to write to

Best case, you write to the hiring manager or the recruiter for that job. Check the posting first, since some name the recruiter. Then search the company name plus "recruiter" on LinkedIn and look for someone in the same department.

Second best, write to the general recruiting address. Put the job title and requisition ID in the subject line so it can be routed.

Skip the CEO, skip writing to five people at once, and skip anyone in an unrelated department. A scattershot note looks desperate and can annoy the person who would have helped.

A template that works

Keep it under 100 words. Here is a version to copy.

> Subject: Following up on Marketing Analyst application, Req 4471 > > Hi Dana, > > I applied on October 2 for the Marketing Analyst position and wanted to say I'm still interested. Since applying, I finished a dashboard project in Looker that tracks campaign cost per lead, which lines up with the reporting work in the posting. > > If it helps, I can send samples or answer questions by email. Thanks for your time. > > Alex Rivera > 555-0100

Why it works.

1. The subject line names the job, so the recruiter doesn't have to hunt.
2. The first line gives the date you applied.
3. One fresh detail gives them a reason to open your file again.
4. The ask is small. You aren't demanding an interview.

What the fresh detail can be

You need one thing that wasn't in your application. Pick from this list.

• A project you finished or a certification you passed.
• A news item or product launch from the company, with one sentence on why it caught your eye.
• A referral. If someone at the company knows you, name that person, and ask them before you do.
• A skill from the posting that you didn't stress on your resume.

Skip anything you can't back up. If a recruiter asks about the project, be ready to talk about it for two minutes.

What not to do

• Don't write "just checking in" and nothing else. It gives them no reason to act.
• Don't ask "did you get my application?" The answer costs them time and tells you little.
• Don't call the main office. Email is easier for them to answer and easier for you to track.
• Don't follow up before the date the posting gave.
• Don't send the same note on LinkedIn and email on the same day.

The second and last nudge

If you hear nothing, send one more note about two weeks after the first. Make it shorter. Offer something new or restate your interest in one sentence.

Then stop. If the job is still open, keep it on your list, but spend no more energy on it. The next hour is better used on another application.

Tracking many applications

Once you apply to more than a handful of jobs, follow-ups get messy fast. Keep a simple sheet with these columns.

Set a calendar reminder for the follow-up date the moment you apply. With Salvo you get the date and receipt without extra typing, since it saves a record of each submission. Either way, you should never have to dig through your inbox to find out when you applied.

If you apply at volume, those records also show patterns. Which resume versions got replies? Which job titles got none? That tells you where to adjust.

What to do next

If you apply by hand, set up the sheet above today and send your first follow-up this week. If you want an app to do the applying and keep the records, you can start free with Salvo. It is free to start, no card, and your first 2 interview requests are free. After that a Turbo plan keeps replies unlocked, and the Turbo page lists the prices.

When a recruiter does reply, use the guide on how to prepare for a recruiter screen. To begin, sign up here.

Related

• How to prepare for a recruiter screen
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