How To Follow Up on a Job Application Without Looking Desperate

JCSI featured in Well+Good article

Well+Good interviewed industry professionals about the follow-up process after a submitted application, and what that looks like for candidates.

Connect the Dots

If there’s a deadline listed for applications, wait a week or two after the window closes to email. At that point, you can frame your follow-up as a check-in on the application status, says Bergin Sullivan, marketing manager at recruitment firm JCSI. Keep it professional, she adds, saying something like, “’I hope you can appreciate my eagerness and persistence.’ You should mention that you have a high level of interest in the role, and that’s why you’re reaching out.”

End the email by asking if there are additional materials or information you can provide, what the next steps are, and when you can expect to hear back.

Be careful when tracking down someone’s email address

If you apply for a job via an online portal and don’t have direct contact information, following up is tricky because you don’t have confirmation of who the best recipient for your message might be. Still, Sullivan says sending a cold email can show initiative, but finding the right person to contact requires an extra layer of detective work.

Try searching LinkedIn, checking the job post for contact information, or browsing the company’s website for email addresses. You could also browse the company’s website for email addresses. If you do email someone without certainty that they are the right person, apologize and ask that if they are not the correct recipient of the email, if they could point you in the direction of whomever is.

– Bergin Sullivan, Marketing Manager of JCSI.