How Long You Should Wait to Hear Back About a Job Application [Lifehacker]

How Long You Should Wait to Hear Back About a Job Application

It’s a tough job market, so you might expect to wait a long time to hear back from a company after sending your resume or having an interview. But how long until you give up hope altogether? CNN Money has a general rule of thumb.

Annie Fisher writes that jobs generally stay open for about 45 days, according to research from StartWire (a service we’ve highlighted previously for delivering status updates on job applications). So counting 45 days from the job posting date, you might assume you didn’t get the job.

If you have another job offer but are waiting to hear from a company you’d prefer working at, the article advises you contact the first company and give it two days:

“You should contact the company where you’d prefer to get hired and let them know you have another offer,” advises Annie Stevens, a managing partner at Boston-based executive coaching firm ClearRock. “Frame this as a courtesy to them, and invite them to make a counteroffer.”

What if you do that and still hear nothing? “If you don’t receive a counteroffer within two days,” says Stevens, “then take the other job and make the best of that opportunity.”

It’s easy to feel like your application has disappeared into a black hole, but be patient and, most of all, persistent in your search. Photo by Dani Simmonds/Shutterstock

via lifehacker.com

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