How to follow up on a job email that got no reply

About a week after your first email, and not before five working days. The person who posted may be reading many emails about the same opening, alongside their own job.

• Sooner only if the post named a deadline: then follow up a day or two before it.
• Later is fine while the post is still up. After two weeks, write only if the opening is still listed.
• Not at all if the post said only shortlisted candidates will be contacted, if they replied no, or if the post was taken down or marked filled.

Open your first email in Gmail’s Sent folder and press Reply. Gmail addresses it to the person you wrote to, keeps your subject with “Re:” in front, and keeps your first email below the new lines. The reader sees everything in one place, including which role you meant.

• Don’t start a new email with a new subject. It reads as a second application.
• Don’t attach your resume again unless it has changed. If it has, say what changed, and attach the new one.
• Write from the same address as the first time.

“Just checking in” asks for attention and gives nothing back. Give the reader one thing they didn’t have before:

• A result since you wrote: a project you finished, a feature you shipped, an exam or certification you passed.
• Something small made for them: a note on their product, a bug you found with the steps to repeat it, a quick look at their public data. A few lines or one link, never a long attachment.
• A change that helps them: you can now join sooner, or you have finished the course the post asked for.
• If there is nothing new, say less. Two lines are enough.

Don’t invent urgency. Mention another offer only if you really have one, and only if this is the job you would choose.

Neha wrote to a startup about a frontend developer role a week ago and has shipped something since. Her follow-up adds it.

Imran wrote to a hiring manager about an operations analyst role and has nothing new to add. His follow-up is shorter still.

What makes them work:

• Each is a reply in the first email’s thread, so the role and the resume are right below.
• Each is short enough to read in one look on a phone.
• Neha gives a new reason to reply; Imran makes replying easy.
• Neither blames the reader for the silence.

One follow-up is enough. If a week after it there is still no reply, spend your time on fresher posts. Don’t also message them on LinkedIn, call, and email again: three channels at once reads as pressure. If they do reply weeks later, answer the same day, as if no time had passed.

• They said they would get back to you: wait for the time they named, then follow up once in the same thread.
• After an interview: a short thank-you the same day, naming one thing from the conversation, is good manners.
• No word after the interview: wait for the timeline they gave you, then ask once for an update.
• A rejection: reply with thanks, and ask to be kept in mind for later roles. It costs nothing.

• “Just bumping this to the top of your inbox.” Give them a reason to reply instead.
• “I haven’t heard back from you.” It sounds like blame.
• Pasting your whole first email again. It is already below your reply.
• Following up the day after you wrote.
• A new subject line, or a different address from the first time.

Still writing the first email? See how to email a recruiter about a LinkedIn hiring post, or copy a follow-up from the cold email templates.