Should I follow up after applying for a job?

From the recruitment desk: most agencies and in-house TA teams screen 200+ applications a week, and your CV is in a digital pile that's been re-shuffled twice since you submitted. A well-crafted follow-up at the 5-7 working day mark can occasionally get yours surfaced. Beyond one follow-up, you're hurting yourself.

What works: find the recruiter or hiring manager on LinkedIn (most company TA pages list them), send a two-sentence message that names the role, references one specific reason you're a strong fit for it (not 'I'm passionate about your mission' — something concrete), and stops there. 'Hi [name], I applied for the [role] last week. I'm writing because my five years on enterprise CRM migrations at [previous company] map directly to the migration work in the JD. Happy to talk if useful.' That's the whole message.

What doesn't work: 'just checking in', 'wanted to express my continued interest', 'wondering if there's any update on my application'. None of these add information. None of these give the recruiter a reason to dig your CV out. They're polite filler that the recruiter will see four times that day from candidates who didn't bother to do anything more thoughtful.

The exception: very small companies where the founder or hiring manager is doing the recruiting personally. Here, a polite follow-up after 7-10 days is more often welcomed because the volume is lower and they remember individual candidates. The principle is the same — give them a reason to remember you, not just notice that you've reminded them.

After the first follow-up, if you don't get a reply within another week, move on. Sending a third or fourth message turns from nudge into pestering, and recruiters do remember the candidates who do this. The internal note 'overly persistent' is itself a flag against future applications.