How to follow up after you submit your job application

Submitting your job application is the beginning not the end. Did you catch that? Submitting your job application is the beginning not the end! Many people think that submitting their job application puts the ball in the company’s court. Either they want you or they don’t, right?

Your job application is one of the steps to landing your job

Case in point, someone who had gotten an “automatically disqualified” ranking on an online application, called to check on why. It turns out that when he applied, a Yes was accidentally answered when he should have said No. The question, was “will you need a sponsor to work this job?” referring to someone who is not a legal citizen. He was legal.

Sometimes you go too fast and say yes when you should have said no. He called and they fixed it. He took an assessment test, which was followed by an interview the next day, then he was offered the job pending physical testing.

Most people don’t check back, especially if they see something like automatically disqualified. He did.

How do you follow up?

1. Use the phone. (This is not the time for email. Use the phone!)
2. “I recently applied for the position of XYZ and wanted to make sure that you received my application.”
3. Be ready to reassert your desire to have the job.
4. “I am very interested in the position and I believe that my background in ABC is a good match for your expansion into the market.”