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One week ago, I emailed an HR person (unfortunately, it was just a [email protected] address, I could not find out who the hiring manager actually was) with my resume and cover letter. I received an email back within 10 minutes, with a CC to someone I know to be a manager. They called my resume impressive and they appeared to value one very strong advantage I have over pretty much anybody else. They asked me if I was looking to work in location X or Y, and I was clear that I wanted to work in X, but traveling to Y occasionally wasn't going to be a problem.

Now a week has passed and I haven't heard anything else. I know the general rule is that for unsolicited applications, no news pretty much means bad news and that they'll contact me if they are interested. However, they have contacted me, but now that contact has died down. They may not be so interested anymore because I don't want to work in Y, but since we have had contact, I would expect that to be communicated to me.

I know it has only been a week, and I understand there could be a plethora of reasons why I haven't heard anything (sickness, busy, no interest, etc.), but my question is: do I contact them again, asking about the status of my application? If so, at what point would that be a reasonable thing to do?

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    From my perspective, a week is a lot of time with no communication. I do not see a downside in contacting them. Feb 13, 2014 at 21:50
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    Small edit, weeks or months from now, "last Thursday" won't make much sense. Feb 14, 2014 at 14:19

1 Answer 1

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The best thing to do is to send them something like this immediately:

Hi Ma'am/Sir:

Good day! I would like to thank you for the good response you gave me a week ago. That gave me confidence and I want to pursue my application. I just would like to ask about my status. Am I still qualified for the position I applied for?

I am hoping for your kind response. Thank you very much!

Reasons why it's the best thing to do:

  1. The HR will definitely not be offended by your follow-up since it's been a week, and a week is long enough to ponder why you should be hired or not.
  2. Following up indicates that you are enthusiastic with the job application. On the other hand, not following up will make the HR think that you are also applying in other companies. And once the HR thinks that, well, it depends actually. It's either they will hire you right away, or they will forget about you.
  3. You have all the reasons to make a follow-up because they praised your resumé. That alone must give you enough confidence to pursue your job application.
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    Why would that be the best thing to do? Explaining why makes the difference between a good answer and a great answer!
    – user5305
    Feb 14, 2014 at 8:37
  • Thanks for that comment! It pushes me to create more sophisticated answers in the future. I'll edit my answer once I've realized the reason why it's the best thing to do. Feb 14, 2014 at 9:39
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    not to worry, glad you appreciate it, nice edit by the way, really improves your answer!
    – user5305
    Feb 14, 2014 at 12:08
  • Thank you for your answer! I will send them an email today.
    – user15879
    Feb 14, 2014 at 13:12

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