When should I send my resume?

July 25, 2009 4:50 PM

When should I send my resume online for a job I want to apply for?

Are there specific times at which it is less advantageous to send a resume? For instance, is a resume sent on the weekend likely to get lost in a barrage of accumulated weekend emails, or seen and just forgotten once the actual work week has started?

Also, are there specific times when I should/shouldn't be sending it? Would sending a resume with a 3:30am, for example raise questions about why I am up at such an early hour?

Or, am I just over-thinking all of this?

posted by Midnight Rambler to work & money (10 comments total)

You're overthinking all of this.
posted by pravit at 4:53 PM on July 25

However, I've heard that for specific positions expected to attract a lot of applications (e.g. annual campus recruitment program), they only tend to look at the first couple hundred applications received. So if anything, it's advantageous to get your application in first.

Also, if you have previously been rejected by this company, you might consider creating a new profile on their application website for each new job application, on the off chance that they screen profiles for previous rejections.
posted by pravit at 4:56 PM on July 25

You are overthinking all of this. When applying for a job, apply as soon as you can, making sure that the resume and cover letter you send are as well-written and flawless as possible. Sending a resume with a 3:30 a.m. timestamp will raise no questions about why you are up at such an early hour, because it will be evident that you were up at such an early/late hour working on getting the job that you want.
posted by The World Famous at 4:57 PM on July 25

I've had the most success getting interviews when I sent in my application really soon after the job was posted.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 5:02 PM on July 25 [1 favorite]

now.
posted by AlisonM at 5:16 PM on July 25 [1 favorite]

Send it ASAP. Whether the resumes are computer scanned or manually sorted, there is a point at which further resumes won't be accepted. I've seen job ads pulled within two hours of first being listed because a couple of hundred resumes have been received in that time. Neither a recruiter nor a computer is likely to look at the time your resume was sent unless it was sent very close to the time of a non-negotiable closing time for applications.
posted by Lolie at 7:08 PM on July 25

I understand the logic of sending in a resume quickly. However, usually when I've posted a job, there are a bunch of resumes sent immediately, all with some generic cover letter because clearly these people are just applying to every job that comes up.

Some of the best candidates come in after that initial flood of garbage and apply with compelling cover letters that relate specifically to the posting.

Which is not to say that you should deliberately wait. But you should definitely wait until after you've written an awesome cover letter showing why you want the job and why you are the right person. This improves your chances a hundred fold.
posted by snofoam at 8:27 PM on July 25

regarding what lolie says, if people really do pull job ads before an interested candidate would even have the time to do some research into the opportunity, then those people are total fools, unless it's sandwich artist or some job like that. they are basically guaranteeing that they only get applicants who probably never even read the whole job posting.
posted by snofoam at 8:29 PM on July 25

they are basically guaranteeing that they only get applicants who probably never even read the whole job posting.

In a way they're trying to screen out the least pro-active candidates and those who are just seeking a "survival job" in which they have no intention of staying. Many jobs are advertised on the company or recruiter's website before they're advertised on the major aggregated job boards, and pretty much every large company and recruitment agency has an email alert service available for vacancies - so by the time those jobs are listed on the aggregated job boards or in newspapers, more pro-active job-seekers will have already had a chance to submit applications.

In many cases, employers aren't seeking the perfect candidate for entry level positions, they're just after people who can do the job well and fit in with their recruitment time-line - and they'll generally find plenty of candidates who can do just that fairly quickly.
posted by Lolie at 9:20 PM on July 25

I don't know what you are applying for, but in this economy any job posted online gets absolutely flooded with resumes soon thereafter. The sooner the better, especially because many take down the posting after getting so many resumes.
posted by SouthCNorthNY at 10:29 PM on July 25