How to Send a Follow Up on a Job Application

So, you’ve applied for a job, waited a reasonable amount of time, and have not heard anything back from the employer. When should you send a follow up to the employer, and how should you write a follow up that does not sound pushy?

While it may seem like sending a follow-up will make you look impatient, if you wait a good amount of time there are a few benefits to writing one.

Sending a follow-up after submitting a job application is a good way to make sure that an employer has received your application for a job, and your notification will remind them to give your application a look when they get the chance.

In this guide, we’re going to discuss how to follow up with an employer after submitting a job application.

Top Tips on Writing a Follow-Up Letter

There are a few things you should keep in mind when writing a follow-up letter that will maximize the chances that your follow-up leads to the employer reviewing your application.

Let’s break down a few top tips you can use to write an effective follow-up letter.

Tip #1: Wait the right amount of time

If you think you’ve found the perfect job for you, it may be easy to let your instincts take over and send over a follow up after only a few days of submitting your application. But, this is not a good approach to take.

Instead, you should wait around two weeks after submitting a job application before following up with the employer. This gives the hiring team a good window of time in which they can review your application, and reduces the chance that you follow up before they have even had the chance to look at all the applications submitted for a position.

Tip #2: Be respectful

There are a number of reasons why you may not have heard back from an employer. The company may have received more applications than they expected. You may not have clicked “send” on your application.

In your follow-up, you should be careful not to accuse the employer of forgetting about you. It’s likely that the reason you have not heard back is more innocent. Before you send your follow-up email, read over what you have written and ensure you have maintained a polite and respectful tone.

Tip #3: Remind the employer of your main skills

Your follow-up letter should be brief and simple. However, you may still want to take the opportunity to remind the employer of your main skills.

Discuss, in a sentence or two, what skills and qualifications you think uniquely qualify you for a job. This is a good way to hint at an employer that you may have what they are looking for, but without conveying the wrong tone in your communication.

Tip #4: Proofread your letter

The follow-up letter you send will be one of the first impressions you make on an employer. Hence, before sending your letter you should take some time to review it and make sure that it is both professional and in line with the format for a standard business letter.

Do a quick review to ensure your letter includes no typos or grammatical errors. Only send your latter when you feel confident it is ready, and includes all the main points you wanted to share with the employer.

Tip #5: Send an email

Sending an email is the best way to follow up with an employer after sending a job application. This is because emails can be read and addressed at any time of the day, and provide both parties with a clear record of communication.

You could send an official letter to the business by mail, but it could take a while for the hiring manager to receive the letter. The last thing you want to happen is for your letter to arrive after the business has reached out to you.

Similarly, you could call the business, but if the business misses the call, you will enter an uncomfortable situation regarding whether you should call back, or whether you should wait.

Who Should I Contact?

If you are ready to send a follow-up email on a job application, your first step should be to figure out who to contact.

The person who you should contact should be the hiring manager in charge of hiring for the role for which you have applied. While you may want to reach out to a recruiter, the hiring manager will have more of an insight into the status of the job and whether the company is still actively looking to talk with new candidates.

Job Application Follow-Up Example

To help you figure out what to say in your job application follow-up letter or email, we have written an example email that covers all the main points you should mention in a follow-up. Here is our example:

Dear Ms. Thompson,

Earlier this month, I submitted a letter of application for the position of user interface designer at the New York Times. As of today, May 8th, I have not received any correspondence from your office regarding the state of my application.

I would like to reconfirm my interest in applying for the position. I believe my unique skills and experience acquired from my tenure at Google make me a good fit for this position. In particular, my experience helping to redesign our internal employee management dashboard qualifies me for this job.

I have attached a copy of my initial application so it is easy for you to find. Please reach out to me if you need any further information.

Thank you for considering me for this position.

Sincerely,

Theodore Pinkerton

"Career Karma entered my life when I needed it most and quickly helped me match with a bootcamp. Two months after graduating, I found my dream job that aligned with my values and goals in life!"

Venus, Software Engineer at Rockbot

Find Your Bootcamp Match

theo.pinkerton@gmail.com

Conclusion

Sending a follow-up on a job application is a good way to ensure that a company considers you for a position for which you have applied.

To make the most of a follow-up, you should make sure that you wait a respectful period of time — around two weeks — before sending over your follow-up. You can use the follow-up as an opportunity to reiterate what qualifies you for a job, but do not spend too much time talking about your experience — it will all be listed in your application.

By following the advice in this article, you should have no trouble crafting an effective follow-up email to send after submitting a job application to Deloitte, Facbook, Google, and more.