Can I do anything now that job application closed but I hadn't yet submitted?

Question

I'm guessing I can't do anything at this point but thought I'd ask anyway. I found a job opening at large company that I did a co-op work term at while I was still in school. I really enjoyed working with them and was excited to apply. Unfortunately the job posting stopped accepting new applications (it never said the deadline and was only a week old). At this point is there anything I can do? Is it worth it to contact HR and say I missed the deadline and to send my application form?

I found the job through LinkedIn. Is it normal for a posting to expire without warning? The web page is still there but the "apply" button has been disabled. I had been working on writing a cover letter.

Answer 1

Is it worth it to contact HR and say I missed the deadline and to send my application form?

Odds are they've filled the role, or at the very least got enough good applications for the role they don't think they need any more, but the worst case scenario is that they say "sorry, too late" and throw your application in the bin. You're no worse off than you are now. Just do it.

There's obviously a bunch of better scenarios as well, ranging from "please come in for an interview tomorrow" to things like "sorry, you're too late for this one, but we'll keep your information on file for future openings".

Answer 2

Call the HR and tell them that you want to submit your application, but you cannot use the "Apply" button. You have no need to tell them that you saw the post a week ago. Pretend that you are a candidate who just saw the post.

There could be several reasons why the Apply button is disabled. Maybe they already found enough good candidates (as Philip said). It is also possible they have a technical problem or scheduled maintenance going on, so they decided to disable the button to prevent problems.¹

You will find out when you call what is their actual reason for disabling the Apply button. You would also know if they plan to re-enable the button soon, which would be of interest to you.

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¹ This is a strange approach to handle downtime, but it has been done before, as we see in the Pizza Hacker story on TheDailyWTF. You could, of course, reenable the Apply button yourself, as well. :-)