How to Follow Up on a Job Application: Tips & Email Templates

You submitted your job application three weeks ago, and since then nothing? The waiting game after applying for a job can feel unbearable—checking your email every hour, wondering if your application disappeared into a black hole, questioning whether you should reach out. However, here's the thing.

Following up on a job application isn't just acceptable—it's often expected. A well-timed, professional follow-up demonstrates initiative, keeps your name visible to hiring managers, and can genuinely increase your chances of landing an interview.

In this guide, we provide actionable strategies, precise timing guidelines, and ready-to-use email templates to help you follow up on a job application effectively without coming across as pushy or desperate.

Why You Should Follow Up on Job Applications

You should follow up on a job application because that way you demonstrate your communication skills and professionalism, and keep your application visible to decision-makers. Furthermore, paired with a well-written resume and cover letter, a proper follow-up shows your genuine interest in your target position.

According to various online sources, the average corporate job opening receives 250+ applications, and hiring managers simply can't give each one the attention it deserves. A well-timed follow-up brings your name back to their attention at a potentially crucial moment. Additionally, hiring processes rarely proceed smoothly. Delays happen. Decision-makers go on vacation. Priorities shift. Your follow-up serves as a gentle reminder that you're still interested and available.

Perhaps the most underutilized aspect of following up is the chance to strengthen your candidacy with new information. Since submitting your application, you might have completed a relevant certification, contributed to a significant project, or gained skills and qualifications directly applicable to the position. A follow-up message creates the perfect opening to share these updates.

When to Follow Up on a Job Application

You should follow up on a job application 1-2 weeks after submitting your materials if the job posting doesn't specify a timeline. If a timeline is provided, wait until one business day after that date passes before following up.

Ideal Timeline

Here's what an ideal timeline looks like:

• Days 1-7. Exercise patience during this initial week. Hiring managers need time to collect applications, conduct preliminary reviews, and begin their screening process. Following up during this window almost always comes across as overeager and can actually hurt your chances. Use this time to continue your job search and apply to other positions.
• Days 7-10. This window represents acceptable timing for your first follow-up. You've given the hiring team sufficient time to begin their review process, but you're reaching out before your application gets too deeply buried under newer submissions.
• Day 14. If you haven't heard anything after two weeks, this is an ideal moment for your first follow-up if you didn't reach out earlier. Two weeks demonstrates patience while still showing sustained interest. This timing works particularly well if the original posting didn't mention any timeline.
• Week 3-4. Should your first follow-up go unanswered, waiting another 7-10 days before a second attempt is reasonable. Keep this message even briefer than your first, acknowledging that you understand they're busy while expressing continued strong interest.
• After 1 month. If you've sent two thoughtful follow-ups without any response after a month, it's generally time to shift your focus to other opportunities. You can send one final brief message expressing interest in future openings, but continuing to follow up beyond this point rarely yields positive results and risks damaging your professional reputation.

Special Timing Considerations

However, certain situations warrant adjusting your follow-up timeline from the standard approach:

• Application deadlines. When a job posting has a specific application deadline, wait 3-5 business days after that deadline passes before following up. This gives the hiring team time to review all submitted applications and begin their initial screening process. Following up immediately after the deadline can seem presumptuous.
• Holidays and weekends. Avoid following up during or immediately after major holidays when offices might be operating with skeleton crews. Similarly, send your follow-up emails Tuesday through Thursday for the highest probability that they'll be read. Mondays are typically chaotic as people catch up from the weekend, and Fridays find many professionals mentally checked out for the week.
• Industry-specific norms. Different industries maintain different pacing expectations. Tech startups and fast-growing companies often move quickly and might welcome follow-ups at the 5-7 day mark. Conversely, government positions, academic roles, and large corporate enterprises typically have more formal, extended hiring processes where waiting the full two weeks (or longer) is more appropriate.
• Networking referrals. If someone from your network referred you for the position, you can follow up slightly sooner—around 5-7 days—and mention the referral prominently in your message. Internal referrals accelerate your application review, so earlier follow-up aligns with this faster timeline.
• Urgent hiring situations. Job postings mentioning "immediate hire," "urgent need," or "start ASAP" signal time-sensitive requirements. In these cases, following up around 5-7 days demonstrates you understand the urgency and can move quickly—a quality they're clearly seeking.

How to Follow Up on a Job Application: Step-by-Step Guide

Following up on a job application requires a strategy. That said, here’s a step-by-step guide on how to do it properly.

#1. Determine the Right Contact Person

To follow up on a job application, first identify the appropriate contact person, typically the hiring manager or recruiter listed in the job posting.

Start by thoroughly reviewing the job posting for contact information. Many listings include the hiring manager's name or direct email address, making your job easy. However, when the posting doesn't provide specific contact details, research the company website. Navigate to the relevant department's page or the "About Us" section to identify leadership.

LinkedIn becomes invaluable when other methods don't yield results. Search for the company name combined with relevant titles like "Hiring Manager," "Talent Acquisition," or the specific department name. Company pages often list current employees with their job titles, making it relatively straightforward to identify the appropriate person.

If you still can't identify a specific person, calling the company's main phone line is perfectly acceptable. As a last resort, sending your follow-up to a general HR email address (like recruiting@company.com or hr@company.com) is acceptable. While less personal than contacting someone specific, it's far better than not following up at all.

#2. Choose Your Follow-Up Method

There are several follow-up methods you can choose from, including:

• Email. It stands as the gold standard follow-up method for most professional situations, and with good reason. It's non-intrusive, respects the recipient's time, creates a written record of your communication, and allows them to respond at their convenience. Email also lets you carefully craft your message, ensuring it's polished and error-free before sending.
• Phone calls. These can work in specific contexts but carry risks. They interrupt the recipient's workflow and put them on the spot to respond immediately. Reserve phone calls for industries where they're culturally accepted (some sales positions, small local businesses, or trades) or situations where you've already established rapport with the hiring manager. Even then, email first is usually safer.
• LinkedIn messages. This is an acceptable secondary method, particularly in tech industries or when you have an existing connection with the hiring manager. Use LinkedIn messages when you've exhausted email options or when the hiring manager is particularly active on the platform, and you've engaged with their content meaningfully.
• In-person follow-ups. These only work for very small, local businesses where dropping by won't disrupt operations—think neighborhood shops or family-run companies. For any company of significant size, appearing unannounced creates awkwardness and suggests poor judgment about professional boundaries.

#3. Craft Your Follow-Up Message

Your follow-up message needs several essential components working together to create professional, compelling communication.

• Subject line. Make it clear and specific. Include the job title and the word "application" or "follow-up." A clear subject line helps the recipient immediately understand your email's purpose and find it later if needed.
• Greetings. Same as starting your cover letter, use the recipient's name whenever possible ("Dear Ms. Johnson" or "Hello Mr. Chen"). If you absolutely can't identify a specific person, "Dear Hiring Manager" works as a fallback, though it's less personal and therefore less effective.
• Opening. Reference your application date and the specific position in your first sentence. This context helps the recipient place your message immediately among potentially dozens or hundreds of applications they're managing.
• Body. This is where you express continued interest while highlighting 1-2 relevant qualifications or achievements from your resume that make you an excellent fit. Keep it focused—you're reminding them of your value, not rewriting your entire resume.
• Call to action. Politely inquire about the hiring timeline or next steps without sounding demanding. Phrases like "I'd appreciate any information about the hiring timeline" or "I'd welcome the opportunity to discuss how I can contribute to your team" strike the right balance between assertive and respectful.
• Closing. Thank them briefly for their time and consideration. Sign off professionally with "Best regards," "Sincerely," or "Thank you," followed by your full name and complete contact information (phone, email, and your LinkedIn profile if relevant).

The golden rule for follow-up length is to keep it under 150 words. Every sentence should serve a clear purpose. Also, proofread your email meticulously since errors are especially damaging because they suggest carelessness about important communications.

#4. Time Your Follow-Up Appropriately

Beyond waiting 1-2 weeks after applying, consider the timing of when you actually send your follow-up email. If we reference marketing emailing, messages sent Tuesday through Thursday between 10 AM and 3 PM (in the recipient's time zone) receive the highest engagement.

If you're applying to companies in different time zones, time your email for their business hours, not yours. A follow-up arriving at 11 PM in the recipient's time zone suggests you're either not aware of time zones or don't care enough to time your communication thoughtfully.

#5. Track Your Follow-Ups

When you're applying to multiple positions (which you should be), tracking is essential to avoid embarrassing mistakes like following up twice with the same company or mixing up details between similar roles.

Create a simple tracking system and record the following details for every application:

• Company name and position title
• Date you applied
• Source of the job posting
• Hiring manager's name and contact information (if known)
• Date of first follow-up
• Date of second follow-up (if applicable)
• Any responses received
• Next action items and deadlines

This systematic approach prevents awkward errors like referencing the wrong company in your follow-up or contacting them too frequently. It also helps you identify patterns—maybe certain types of companies or positions tend to respond better, informing your future application strategy.

5+ Follow-Up Email Templates You Can Use

Now that you know how to follow up on a job application, you might be wondering how to craft your message. To help you, let’s examine a few job application follow-up templates you can use for inspiration.

These templates provide solid foundations; however, the most effective follow-ups are personalized. Reference specific details from the job description, mention recent company news, or connect your experience to their stated needs.

6 Additional Tips for Effective Follow-Ups

#1. Leverage Your Network

If you know someone at the target company—even tangentially—mentioning this connection in your follow-up can improve response rates. Internal referrals and connections make hiring managers more likely to give your application extra attention since there's social accountability involved.

Reach out to your contact separately to ask if they'd be willing to put in a good word or provide insights about the hiring timeline. Many employees receive referral bonuses for successful hires, creating an incentive to help qualified contacts. Even without formal referral programs, people generally want to help their networks succeed.

#2. Follow the Company on Social Media

Engaging thoughtfully with a company's online content before following up demonstrates your social media skills, genuine interest, and provides conversation material. If they recently announced a new product, expansion, or initiative, mentioning this in your follow-up shows you're actively paying attention to their business.

However, ensure your engagement is substantive and authentic. Simply liking a few posts isn't meaningful—comment thoughtfully, share their content with your network when relevant, or respond to their questions.

#3. Personalize Each Follow-Up

Never send identical follow-ups to multiple companies. Each message should reference specific aspects of that particular role, company, or conversation.

Mention something unique from the job description that particularly excited you. Reference a recent company achievement you read about. Connect your experience to a specific challenge their industry or company faces. These details prove you're genuinely interested in this specific opportunity rather than just applying everywhere, hoping something sticks.

#4. Keep a Positive Tone

Regardless of how long you've waited or how many positions you've applied to unsuccessfully, every follow-up should convey enthusiasm, optimism, and professional confidence.

Even if you're frustrated with the job search process (and most people are at various points), you should focus on what excites you about opportunities rather than complaints about the difficulty of finding work. Save venting for conversations with friends and family—not in messages to potential employers.

#5. Consider the Timing of Your Email

Avoid sending follow-ups early Monday morning when recipients are catching up from the weekend, or late Friday afternoon when people are mentally checked out for the week.

Similarly, messages sent outside normal business hours (before 8 AM or after 6 PM in the recipient's time zone) can seem tone-deaf about work-life boundaries or suggest poor time management skills.

#6. Provide Value in Every Message

Each follow-up should offer something new beyond just "checking in." Maybe you completed a relevant certification, read an insightful article about their industry that you can share, or have a thoughtful question about the role based on your research. This approach transforms follow-ups from status checks into value-added touchpoints that give hiring managers additional reasons to respond positively.

Common Follow-Up Mistakes to Avoid

Knowing what not to do when following up is just as important as sending the message itself, as small missteps can quickly overshadow your qualifications. The table below outlines the most common follow-up mistakes and how to avoid them:

What to Do If You Don't Hear Back

If you don't hear back after following up on a job application, wait 1-2 weeks after your second follow-up, then send a brief final email expressing continued interest. After that, shift your focus to other opportunities while remaining open to future contact.

Here's what a final follow-up email might look like:

After three follow-up attempts with no response, accept that this particular opportunity isn't working out and redirect your energy to the job search. Review your application materials to see if your resume and cover letter are written the best way possible.

However, keep in mind the harsh reality. Many companies don't respond to all applicants, particularly for roles receiving hundreds of applications. This silence doesn't necessarily reflect on your qualifications. For instance, 90% of Fortune 500 companies use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to handle high application volumes. For this reason, even though frustrating, individualized responses become logistically impossible.

Turn Silence Into Progress With ResumeBuilder.so

If you’ve followed up three times with no response, it’s time to shift focus from waiting to optimizing.

With ResumeBuilder.so, you get an AI-powered resume builder that helps you structure your experience clearly and optimize it for applicant tracking systems. You can also use our professional cover letter builder to tailor each application to a specific role.

For guidance and inspiration, explore a wide range of job-specific resume examples and customizable ATS-friendly resume templates. With most employers relying on automated screening tools, improving your resume and cover letter now is one of the most effective ways to increase response rates going forward.

Final Thoughts

Successfully following up on job applications demonstrates key soft skills that employers actively seek, e.g., communication, attention to detail, and problem-solving skills. These qualities translate directly to workplace success, regardless of your specific role or industry.

However, it requires balancing multiple considerations, such as timing, tone, personalization, and professional polish. The key principles remain consistent across situations—wait 1-2 weeks for your first follow-up, use email as your primary method, keep messages brief and value-focused, and limit yourself to 2-3 total follow-up attempts.

However, don't take silence personally or let unresponsive companies derail your job search momentum. The hiring process involves numerous factors completely outside your control—budget changes, internal candidates, hiring freezes, or simply overwhelming numbers of applications.

Your responsibility is controlling what you can, i.e. submitting strong application materials, following up professionally, and continuing to pursue multiple opportunities simultaneously.