The amount of time that passes from submitting an application to receiving an offer can be several weeks or even months. Although some organizations review and action applications as they come in, more commonly they collect a larger pool of applicants before screening resumes and scheduling interviews. In general, we recommend that you apply to a position within two weeks of the date it was posted.
If there isn’t a place for you to check the status of your application online, or if the status has been unchanged for weeks, it is appropriate to find a recruiting contact on Handshake, LinkedIn or CareerShift to express your continued interest in the role. Examples of ways to communicate your continued interest can be found on our Five-Step Guide to Networking and Internship & Job Search Email Samples.
Remember that industries recruit at different times during the year-sometimes a year ahead of the scheduled start date-so it is important to stay on top of recruitment timelines. To learn more about timelines for your industry of interest, you can review our Recruitment 101 module.