how quickly should you return calls and emails about interviewing? by Alison Green on October 28, 2015 A reader writes: I am currently looking for internships and have submitted my resume and cover letter via email. I asked my mom for advice, and she says to reply back as fast as possible when they email me back — that I should email them back within a few hours to show how eager I am. Being currently in college, I usually have time to check email in the morning or at night. I don’t have email on my phone. My mom has advised me using several of the bad job-search tips you talk about and hasn’t job hunted since the early 1990s, so I am sort of reluctant to take her advice right now. She also thinks replying within hours is part of working life. What sort of speed in replying is acceptable these days? I’d try to reply within 24 hours. If you wait longer than that, you risk looking uninterested or having the employer simply book up their interview slots with other candidates. But no, you don’t need to respond back within a few hours. Employers are used to dealing with people who have jobs or otherwise are occupied during the day, and they don’t expect you to be chained to your email and prioritizing them above all else that’s going on. They understand that you might be working, or in school, or camping, or sick, or out of town, or at an all-day movie festival, or out of cell range, or all sorts of other things. Or at least, reasonable ones do. You can always find some random ridiculous recruiter who thinks it’s an outrage that you didn’t respond immediately to her email, but those are outliers, and you shouldn’t peg your behavior to outlier expectations. You should peg it to normal, mainstream expectations, which say that responding within one business day is fine. Also, about your mom’s point that you need to “show how eager you are”: You should show that you’re enthusiastic, yes, but that’s different than “so eager to talk to someone about a job (which at this point you know little about) that you’re willing to disrupt your regular life just to ensure they get a call-back within a few hours when the reasonable business standard is within one day.” That doesn’t demonstrate eagerness. It’s not even likely to register with the employer any differently than if you got back to them within a day. It’s just going to inconvenience you (it sounds like) without a significant pay-off. To be clear, if you can call/email them back faster than that with a minimum of inconvenience to yourself, you should … because it’s good to have a buffer in case you end up playing phone tag, and because stories abound of employers filling their interview slots and then not bothering to get back to other people who they’d earlier reached out to. But there’s no expectation that you’ll dramatically change your daily habits just to return a call a few hours earlier than you would otherwise. You may also like:what's up with people responding to emails with a phone call?how professional-sounding do resume email addresses need to be?do I respond to emails too quickly? { 61 comments }
The IT Manager* October 28, 2015 at 2:22 pm I agree. While job hunting, have email / phone habits that allow you to respond to potential employers within 24 hours of their contact. Meaning that the way you check email twice a day should be fine. I bet an employer is unlikely to even notice if you respond within an hour rather than the next morning. They are certainly not making note of when they sent the message and when you responded and judging on it. That’s just too much work for them.
Ashley the Nonprofit Exec* October 28, 2015 at 5:16 pm I agree. I don’t expect an instant response, but (assuming you’re applying at 9 to 5 employers), check your e-mail in the evening, write back, and then they will have a response the next morning. But 24 hours is totally okay too.
Kathleen* October 28, 2015 at 2:35 pm Yeah, when I’ve hired I start wondering if the person doesn’t get back to me within 2ish days … but if I email you at noon, and you reply that evening and I get it the next morning, that’s totally fine.
BRR* October 28, 2015 at 2:39 pm I think it’s important to try and respond promptly but not to measure eagerness. Some employers are unreasonable and move on when there is no response.
KH* October 28, 2015 at 2:42 pm Corollary to that, and something I’m dealing with right now: If you respond immediately and/or have no problem taking calls during the day, is a recruiter or manager likely to wonder if you’re a slacker at your current job? Is responding too quickly in the middle of a workday a red flag?
John* October 28, 2015 at 2:53 pm So much of the world operates on a same-time communications basis, so no, it is unlikely anyone would find it odd. In fact, people increasingly expect instant gratification.
Mark in Cali* October 28, 2015 at 3:58 pm Why do we let ourselves get caught up in this kind of minutia when job searching?
Charityb* October 28, 2015 at 4:18 pm The hiring process in many industries is relatively opaque. How often do we ever know exactly why we didn’t get a job? It’s easy to get hung up on the firmness of a handshake or how often you said “um” in the middle of an answer as being the main reason, and it’s reinforced by hundreds of Job search articles to that effect. Look up “interview mistakes” and how many of them are minutiae along the lines of, “if I answer too quickly I look desperate, if I answer too late I seem uninterested”. It’s like dating advice.
TootsNYC* October 28, 2015 at 6:04 pm We also don’t have that much control (we only control our side), so we seek to create a false sense of control.
KH* October 28, 2015 at 8:08 pm I think because when you know you NEED a job (for me, my contract is ending 12/31 and I’d like to have something else lined up before then) you worry about every single detail. There’s so much about job hunting that is subjective and not about the qualifications and skills the candidate has. It’s been proven time and time again on this site and others. And sometimes it’s hard to discern the valid worries from the “holy crap I’m never going to have a job again and I’m going to live in my car under a bridge” worries.” :)
ackmondual* November 29, 2016 at 5:46 pm If you’re new to this sort of thing, it’s also good to know what’s legitimately a concern vs. something that varies from recruiter to recruiter. For example, I’ve met people who though that going into an in-person interview in “street clothes” (less formal than “business casual”) was OK, so for a man, better than sandals and shorts, but worse than khakis and collared shirt (of which last I heard, a suit and tie should be the default unless explicitly stated otherwise). Another example is I’ve had people look over my resume and told be to go with ways with listing the month of the year on the employment section… on one hand, list, such as Job A 2012. This way, you hide jobs less then a year, but some employers will want to know exactly how many months, and it may make a difference if it’s only 2 months, vs. 11 months. OTOH, some say to go with Mar. 2012 to Nov. 2012, reasoning they’re going to ask you anyways, even if it’s the cost of stating up front that you only did job A for 3 months.
TootsNYC* October 28, 2015 at 2:48 pm I know when I’m doing a bunch of reaching out, I’m totally OK w/ hearing back the next day, because I’m in “make calls and leave messages” mode, and I don’t actually expect to hear back that fast.
YourUnfriendlyPhlebotomist* October 28, 2015 at 2:52 pm I’m with your mom on this one, the sooner the better. Some companies only interview a certain number of people for a position, responding quickly could prevent a situation like that.
LBK* October 29, 2015 at 12:53 pm I agree that the sooner the better is good, but not to the point that you need to reshape what “sooner” is for you. If the OP is in class all day and can’t get to a computer to answer emails between 9AM and 4PM, she shouldn’t be skipping or showing up late or otherwise rearranging her other obligations just to respond to a recruiter.
SL #2* October 28, 2015 at 2:53 pm Personally, I always try to respond to work emails within two hours of receiving it if I’m in the office. But that is my own preference and habit, not a norm of the working world. I would never think poorly of someone who can’t get to their email until the end of the day. People have lives outside their inboxes, whether it be work, school, or hell, even if you’re taking a nap to recharge. A good hiring manager is aware of that.
Laura* October 28, 2015 at 2:55 pm It would be good if you could start checking your email in the morning *and* at night. If someone emails you in the morning, they’ll have a response that day – although perhaps after they have left the office, but your reply will be waiting for them when they arrive back. If they email you after you’ve checked your email for the evening, you’ll still get back to them first thing in the morning. Basically, I think your mom is right that checking your email once a day is not sufficient in this context, although I do not think you need to be immediately available and responsive.
insert pun here* October 28, 2015 at 3:00 pm I used to hire interns. For people currently in school, 24-48 hours is normal. More than that without a “so sorry, I was at a Model UN event/collecting samples in the field/saving the whales” type explanation would be weird. After 3-4 days I’d assume the person wasn’t interested. But people who hire a lot of students usually know that students can have a lot going on.
Stranger than fiction* October 28, 2015 at 4:02 pm Exactly what I was going to add to Alisons excellent advice – if you really are away camping or something and respond later than 1 or 1 days, definitely start with an apology/explanation but you’re still very much interested.
Kathleen* October 28, 2015 at 5:32 pm Last time I was job searching, I went on a 4-day camping trip, and I set up an auto-reply for my personal email just in case. Just like an out-of-office auto-reply. It’s easy with gmail.
TootsNYC* October 28, 2015 at 6:08 pm And if you are out of pocket like that, but are also actively applying to things, it might be smart to have an auto-reply that says something like, “I’m away on professional business; I’ll be checking emails sporadically. It may take a day or two to get back to you.” And do what you can to fix it so you can get messages and respond to them easily. I love Google Voice for that–you can forward to any phone, and have it emailed or texted to you. When I knew I was going to be job hunting, I put a Google Voice number on my resume for precisely that reason. (one other advantage of a GV number: sometimes you can express a preference for an area code, so you could get an area code for the region you want to relocate to)
Meg Murry* October 28, 2015 at 7:06 pm Also, you can use Gmail filters/rules or ifttt to send you a text when you get emails from specific senders, or from a specific company. That may not work as well if OP is applying to lots of different companies, but it worked for me when I was waiting on one specific company – any time I got an email from *teapotsinc.com , I would have Gmail add a star and send me a text (forward it to mynumber@ vtext.com for Verizon). It would only send me the first 140 characters, but that was enough for me to know who it was from and usually the subject line. I used that at a company that didn’t allow us to access Gmail from work computers or use wifi on our phones, so I didn’t burn through a ton of data checking email every chance I got while waiting for responses. I’ll add a link to the ifttt rule, but it will get stuck in moderation, so you can Google ifttt Gmail to SMS to find it.
Meg Murry* October 28, 2015 at 7:11 pm Here’s the Gmail to SMS link: https://ifttt.com/recipes/1110-send-an-sms-when-a-new-gmail-is-from-a-specific-email-address I’m pretty sure it works for email addresses serviced by Gmail, even if they aren’t Gmail.com – many colleges and companies use Google as an email provider now
AnotherAlison* October 28, 2015 at 3:06 pm I agree the OP probably is fine checking email in the morning and at night, but I wanted to ask about this statement: “Being currently in college, I usually have time to check email in the morning or at night. I don’t have email on my phone.” Serious question: Do computer labs no longer exist on campus? Since I went to engineering school, I had computer & email access a lot during the day (no phone email in the late 1990s either). My former engineering school still has computer labs, but it used to be that just about every building on campus had something. Not true now? Or, just too much trouble (reserved for specific classes/tasks)? It wasn’t very secure in my day, and you could just plop down at a computer and do whatever you wanted. (I also realize the OP could just be running all day long from class to work, etc. and wouldn’t have time, but in most cases, I would think someone could make time if computer access is available in the building.)
Noah* October 28, 2015 at 3:24 pm The college I went to has been steadily removing computer labs from campus for awhile now. There are still a few left but nowhere near as many as when I was an undergrad, and most that remain are in the departments. They’ve replaced the labs with work/study rooms filled with couches, tables, desks, power outlets and printers. I remember there being computers all over campus ~2002, but that was back when I hated lugging around my laptop because the battery would die after a few hours and it was heavy. Now I can see students having smartphones, tablets, and much smaller, lighter laptops with longer battery life.
Anonsie* October 28, 2015 at 3:25 pm Academic librarian here: computer labs definitely still exist on college campuses, and on my campus at least, it’s not at all difficult to find or log onto them. That still doesn’t mean it’s convenient or makes sense for the LW’s schedule for her to stop what she’s doing throughout the day and run to one to check her email, though, as you mention. A lot of students have truly packed days on campus, especially if they work or have extracurriculars.
pony tailed wonder* October 28, 2015 at 8:09 pm I am in an academic library too. We have a record enrollment this semester and patrons try to log on and about ten percent of the time, they cannot get logged on due to the heavy traffic. A lot of our students have just given up on us because of this. We need more laptops to check out and our budget has been slashed so much that we are looking at the possibility of having that extremely popular service being cut back. Also, some people aren’t comfortable answering important e-mail on the phone. Having a normal keyboard and the ability to read both the e-mail and your response is comforting on a larger screen for people who tend to obsess.
Liz* October 28, 2015 at 3:44 pm I went to a very small school so we didn’t have computer labs. The library had computers that could be checked out, but they couldn’t leave the library (understandably). Though even with the library being the center of campus, it really wasn’t convenient to go throughout the day. By the time that I was looking for internships, I was in school full time + working multiple jobs that probably equaled close to full time + extra curriculars. If I didn’t have my phone with email access, then I wouldn’t have been able to check very often either since not every class was laptop friendly. Even with my phone, there were times when I couldn’t take the time to check. (My school did give out ipads to all new students and the entire campus had wifi, so there isn’t much of an excuse to not have access to email)
Chocolate lover* October 28, 2015 at 3:47 pm There are still a few computer labs on my campus, but not many. And some of them do get reserved for classes and other events. I work with students applying to positions through the university’s established program, and they’re instructed to respond within 24 hours. Many of them do feel like they have to reply INSTANTLY or they’ll lose the opportunity. I have to remind them not to take calls when they’re not in a position to have a clear conversation (like when they’re walking down the main street with the train thundering by.) But they worry that if they don’t, the employer won’t leave a message or call back. That would be a sign of one of the unreasonable people that have already been mentioned.
Rat in the Sugar* October 28, 2015 at 3:50 pm On my campus university, there were lots of computer labs but they were reserved for certain groups or were actually classrooms, used for courses that required a lot computer work. “Open” computers were only in the library, and on our large campus that could easily be a 20-30 minute walk from wherever I was. (I graduated in 2013.)
Ad Astra* October 28, 2015 at 3:50 pm Even when I was in college 5 years ago it wasn’t super easy to find a free computer on campus. The library had computers, but they might all be occupied. The journalism school had labs, but there was a good chance someone was teaching a class in there. I worked for the student newspaper, so I just did most of my work in the newsroom, but that wasn’t open to regular folks. These days, so many students carry a laptop or tablet on campus that most of the labs are reserved for courses that need to be taught on computers. What surprises me more is that the OP doesn’t have email on her phone. Does she not have a smartphone? Is she using some weird university mail client that doesn’t have webmail?
AnotherAlison* October 28, 2015 at 4:02 pm Okay, so computer labs ARE out at many places, but it looks like they’ve been replaced with nearly-ubiquitous wifi. The other question that this raises is what about all the Blackboard and whatnot required for classes now? If you aren’t taking advantage of the wifi and BYOD policies, you can only get a lot of your school materials twice a day, too. I’m not trying to refute what the OP is saying about her situation, but I guess what I am trying to say is that it seems like a fairly unusual situation where someone wouldn’t have a phone/laptop/tablet to access wifi, and wouldn’t have a mobile phone with data, AND wouldn’t have computer lab access. The most likely roadblock would be time to login, imho.
Ultraviolet* October 28, 2015 at 4:19 pm Yeah, I think having a laptop and not having a laptop are now hugely different undergraduate experiences (unless maybe you have a job that fills most of your time outside class during business hours, so that you wouldn’t be trying to access online course materials when you’re not at home anyway).
LBK* October 29, 2015 at 12:58 pm This is pure speculation but if the OP doesn’t have an email-capable phone, I wouldn’t be surprised if this were a money issue and she doesn’t have a laptop either.
Ultraviolet* October 28, 2015 at 4:10 pm I think most campus libraries have computers available for internet use. The campuses I’m familiar with also have general-purpose computer labs (I mean, not ones specifically dedicated to engineering students or whatever). So I assume that, as you suggest, the OP has little free time during the day. I also think the question is likely, “Should I skip optional but beneficial activities like study groups and club meetings in order to check email?” It’s also possible that it’s just 1-2 days a week that she has so little time to get to a computer, and she’s worried about what would happen if she got a work-related email at the worst point possible in her schedule.
TootsNYC* October 28, 2015 at 6:10 pm I’m the parent of a college student. My impression is that the expectation is that the student will have her own computer, and there isn’t such a need for a computer lab. If there is one, it’s probably got ultra-high-powered processors and is in the computer science building–so, not that accessible. Computers are so cheap and portable now that the school doesn’t feel a need to provide them for general computing use.
AcademiaNut* October 29, 2015 at 2:29 am I wonder when it peaked. I was in undergrad in the early 90s, and had fairly easy computer access, but only because I was in a STEM field and had a computer account and access for labs. There were more general access computer labs for things like writing essays, but you often had to sign up in advance to get a slot. I didn’t own a computer myself, lap or desktop, though, and the computer access for the first year or two was on a VAX with a VT100 terminal (the orange ones). Now it sounds like general access labs are being phased out because it’s assumed that students will, at a minimum, have a laptop and a smart phone. So at some point there was maximum university provided computer access.
Anx* October 28, 2015 at 10:46 pm So, I run into this problem pretty frequently, which is why I’m really trying to check my email in the morning. Although if I’m running late, I don’t bother booting up my computer, hoping I can check it at work. Lately this is less of a problem because it’s easier to get access to work laptops. But there are some days when I check my email in the morning, and then I don’t check it again until 8pm. I go to work and I may not have time to check an email. I work in a client facing position and some busy days I work non-stop. Then I get out of work and have 20 minutes to go grocery shopping if I want to get to my volunteership, at a college. I don’t have time to walk to the library on the way and the computer lab in my building has shut down. There are computers in my actual lab, but I don’t have access to them. And not just because I’m not a student, but because those comptuers are only for users with certain accounts. So there are days I have plenty of internet time, and other times when it’s something I can’t get to.
TheVet* October 29, 2015 at 12:05 pm My alma mater removed one of the labs completely and has fewer stations in a pushing for students to bring their own laptops. My current school has a bank of 6 computers for 600 students.
LBK* October 29, 2015 at 12:57 pm I graduated five years ago. The publicly available computer labs we had at my school weren’t conveniently located – at an extreme end of campus away from where most of the classroom buildings were. If I only had 10 minutes between classes I wouldn’t chance trying to run over there, make sure a computer was free, write a coherent/thoughtful response and then get to my next class on time. Regarding laptops in class, I had some professors that banned them or some classes where people in general just didn’t use them, so it would’ve made you an odd outlier to have one out (and to be obviously writing emails on it).
TheVet* October 29, 2015 at 3:03 pm Strangely, my alma mater frowns on using the laptops in class. Current school is a mixed bag. Some professors say you can use them, but it must be for class. Other professors say no laptops at all. I just use an ipad with a keyboard for viewing docs and take notes by hand.
LBK* October 29, 2015 at 3:48 pm Frankly, I think more people do use them to mess around than for legitimate note-taking purposes (I know I certainly brought my laptop to my boring classes more often than my interesting ones). But I was miffed by the professor for my Middle Eastern history class saying we shouldn’t be on the internet at all – looking up the various people, places and events he was referencing on Wikipedia was the only way I could keep up with the discussion!
ackmondual* November 29, 2016 at 6:24 pm The OP may not have a cell phone. Checking email on a cell is more ideal. With laptops/chromebooks, you need to take it out, open it, log in, then close it and put it back into your pack/bag. Doing that too many times a day gets cumbersome. Going to a computer lab may involve a 20 minute detour. Waiting for a workstation to open up can be another 20 minutes. Plus, finding work is definitely important, but for students, they have to juggle so many other things… emails from other recruiters, medical checkups, study groups, etc. You add up enough small tasks, before you know it, something has to give.
mel* October 28, 2015 at 3:13 pm I’m one of those respond right away, or asap chained to email type of people, but I don’t hold others to the same
caligirl* October 28, 2015 at 3:29 pm Hmm…. if only there were a book available that the OP would find useful!
Stranger than fiction* October 28, 2015 at 4:10 pm Also, correct me if I’m wrong, but I would think that if they’re in a big hurry to get interviews scheduled right this minute, they’d call and leave a voicemail as well as or instead of emailing. I’m sure the Op checks her voicemail between classes.
Charityb* October 28, 2015 at 4:22 pm Some people don’t leave voicemails, or they leave inarticulate voicemails. On the flip side of that, some people don’t check their voicemail ever so their inbox gets full (not that the OP would do that) or don’t check it every time they have a free moment. It’s definitely a good option to be aware of though.
Stranger than fiction* October 28, 2015 at 4:41 pm Well I was just thinking picking up the phone and calling someone would be faster in general. Also if you’re job searching I certainly hope you’re checking voicemail and emptying it.
tango* October 28, 2015 at 4:31 pm I’m always a fan of responding back as soon as possible. It does not mean I’m on my email nonstop but when I do check it, I’d respond then. I’d never take a quick read and think I’ll get back to this later and risk just forgetting. One of the reasons I’m like that is I’d like as many options as possible to regarding when to interview. The earlier I respond I might get choices between multiples days and times and get to really chose what’s best for me. I know that sometimes we complain when an employer gives one day & one time to an applicant for an interview and will not offer other options but sometimes I think it’s because they’ve already scheduled the others who called back before. And while flexibility is preferable, when you need the applicant to interview with multiple people, getting everyone available at the same time can be difficult so I can see why certain dates/times are set aside.
ExceptionToTheRule* October 28, 2015 at 4:52 pm As a hiring manager, once we get past 3 days, I have to wonder what’s going on. Not that it’s a deal breaker, but it raises questions in my mind.
Sarah* October 28, 2015 at 11:30 pm Hi, OP here. Thank you for all your comments, they are a great help. It’s true that some days are really busy and I can’t get to a computer sometimes and I don’t have a smartphone. I was worried about days like that, when I am running around all day. Most days I can use the library or the computer lab or my computer. It helps to know that everyone who commented is in agreement about 24 hours or so. My mom and extended family are prone to giving bad advice highlights like walking around to random businesses and handing out your resume and calling often to put your name at the top of the pile, but I am starting to develop a bullshit sensor about this.
CreationEdge* October 29, 2015 at 2:08 am Lots of employees are like that, too: too busy to check and reply to all their emails immediately. Many people set aside one or two times a day where they go through all their emails, and then only respond to select emails throughout the day. In my dealing with companies for my internship search, I never felt worried about replying ASAP. It could have been 10 minutes or 16 hours. No matter how quickly I replied, it didn’t seem to affect replies back to me. They’d reply back towards the end of the business day, or usually the next day. I think how frequently they communicate with you is the biggest indicator of their expectations.
Krystal* October 29, 2015 at 10:35 am At my previous job, I relieved the receptionist on her breaks, and I can PROMISE you that every business we serviced asked me to write down the names of those who called to check on applications … so they could blackball them. People who came in and pressured us to introduce them to hiring managers for the businesses we serviced were turned away, and when they got meaner, they were dressed down (with approval from the business, by me) for their rudeness and advised not to contact us further. Your family is giving you terrible advice, and I’m glad that you see it!
J* October 29, 2015 at 12:47 am Funny how with all the talk you hear about how employees used to be treated better back in the day, people sure used to go out of their way to seem as desperate as possible when applying for jobs. An immediate call back, an office drop in, a FedExed resume, and a thank you note, all to land that mail room job. But you’d climb the ladder to CEO eventually, so it was OK.
LBK* October 29, 2015 at 1:07 pm Well, some of those things I suspect were never actually a good practice, but it worked one time for someone’s cousin’s friend’s grandfather’s golf partner so it must be a good idea for everyone to just drop in and get hired on the spot. I find it hard to believe that there was ever truly a consensus among good managers that fancy resume paper or sending something FedEx vs regular mail was actually a good gauge of that candidate’s strength as a potential employee. Some of that has changed with the economy – with tens if not hundreds of people applying for each position, it’s not realistic to field drop-in candidates or manage mailed resumes the way you could before, such that those outliers become annoyances more than anything else. And some of it is the change in technology; if you mail me a resume, I have to go through the effort of scanning or transcribing it into the hiring system. Unless it’s pretty impressive, I’m probably not going to do that – I’m just going to chuck it. A lot of tricks of timeliness or doing things in ways that are supposedly more “personable” are washed away by email and cell phones, which have made asynchronous communication with a short anticipated reply time the norm. I don’t think any of this is a bad thing, either. Sure, you can go on about how things aren’t as personal as they used to be, but ultimately this isn’t personal, it’s business, and when I’m hiring my goal is to get the best person for the job, not the friendliest person with the most gimmicks and gumption.
CURLY* October 29, 2015 at 11:59 am What timing! Extending this topic a little…I just received a recruiter’s email asking for my availability for a phone interview tomorrow or the next day. (I applied for a role at her company 1 month ago). I replied within 10 minutes that I can be available between 9am-2pm my local time, either day. She’s on the west coast, so that’s 7am-12pm for her. Question 1: Should I email her again and suggest other times, as 7am may be too early for her? Or does that look like I’m desperate? (I am but of course I won’t show it!) Question 2: In general, should candidates clear their schedules completely when this type of situation comes up? I am VERY enthusiastic about speaking with this recruiter/company, but I do have commitments I just cannot postpone.
ackmondual* November 29, 2016 at 6:37 pm I am not a recruiter or otherwise “in the know”. I’ve only dealt with them through my own job searches. FWIW, my responses are: Q1- I’d say don’t bother. For one, if it’s not good for her, she’ll let you know. Although in the end that it’s probably arbitrary anyways, I hesitate to do stuff like “let’s do this”, followed by “or we could do that too!”. Seems too much info. I don’t think it’ll make you look desperate, as you are keeping in line with her local time. Some west coast people get accustomed to being at work at 7am if they need to work with east coast personnel b/c of the time zones. Q2- only you can determine what can be postponed and what can’t be. If it’s a vacation that you’ve been planning for a long while and be a huge financial loss, then probably not. It may speak to the company’s workings if they expect vacations to be cancelled “just like that”. If it’s other job opportunities, only if you can “feel” that this one will be better. If it’s family, or emergencies, then probably not, although family should understand some urgency and priority in job searches. Good luck!
ackmondual* November 29, 2016 at 6:43 pm I assume this article is referring to “direct hires”, where the point of contact is HR within the company, as opposed to a recruiter from a staffing agency. If it’s the former, then I’d respond within a day or 2. Some places really are scrambling to find people to fill positions, so if I am available sooner than later, like within 2 hours… I’ll do that too. If I happen to be up at 1am, and the email was sent at 5pm the previous day, I’d wait until the morning to shoot the email, as to not give any negative impressions associated with night owls. If it’s the latter and I’m already employed, while I’d like to maintain good relations with staffing agency recruiters, IME, many of them weren’t worth dealing with. For example, they’ll refer me to jobs that are 200 to 1,000 miles away for 3 to 12 month contracts, no relocation expenses, and not a whole lot of other info. Here, I’ll still make an effort to get back to the ones that reached out to me, but I won’t mind waiting a few days to a few weeks to get back to them. After a few weeks, I’m sure it’ll be too late, but I’ll reach out to them just to let them know that I did get their message and to ‘catch up’.
Loremae Albano* February 28, 2017 at 6:36 pm I just applied for the first time, I got a reply from the job I applied that they want to schedule me for an interview, I saw their reply 2 days after, but I got sick at that time and wasn’t able to reply to them.. I never knew how days went by too fast that it was already 5 days I got sick, and I replied to them as soon as I can by day 5. Would they be able to see me as not interested? I’m really freaking out right now. Any advice would be very much appreciated.