How to follow up on a job application without pestering

Call the employer before you apply

Many Norwegian job ads list the name and phone number of a contact person. It is meant to be used. A short call before you apply can give you information that is not in the ad, and the contact person gets a name to connect with your application. If your Norwegian is limited, it is fine to start by asking “Is it all right if we speak English?”

Call with a genuine question, not something the ad already answers. Introduce yourself briefly, say which job it is about and keep the call to a few minutes unless the other person wants to talk longer. Note down what you learn and use it in your application. Some of the questions in our Questions for the employer tool also work well in a call like this. Good questions include:

• What is the most important thing the new person should achieve in the first year?
• How is the team made up, and who does the role work with most?
• What do the people who succeed in this role have in common?
• What does the timeline for interviews look like?

When should you follow up after the deadline?

Read the ad again. If it says when interviews will be held, wait until that time has passed. If it says nothing, one to two weeks after the application deadline is a reasonable time to get in touch. If the ad says applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, or the deadline is “as soon as possible”, you can follow up about a week after you applied.

First, check that your application actually arrived. Most applicant tracking systems send a confirmation by email, and it sometimes ends up in your spam folder. Some systems also show the status when you log in.

If you apply for a job in the Norwegian public sector, you can ask to see the list of applicants after the deadline. As a rule it is public and shows how many people have applied, which tells you a little about how long the process might take.

Hearing nothing after applying does not necessarily mean you are out. The silence is often down to holidays, illness or a postponed round of interviews. A polite follow-up is therefore perfectly fine.

Calling the employer after applying: a simple script

A phone call is often more effective than an email, because you get an answer straight away and can say something about why you are interested. Have your CV and the ad in front of you, and prepare two sentences about who you are in case they ask.

Keep it short. The aim is to find out where the process stands and remind them of your name, not to hold the interview over the phone. The call could go like this:

• “Hi, my name is Sara Lunde. I applied for the customer service adviser position, which had a deadline of 3 March.”
• “I wanted to ask how the process is going, and when you expect to invite candidates to interview.”
• “I am still very interested in the role. Is there anything else you need from me?”
• “Thank you, then I look forward to hearing from you next week. Have a good day.”

An email when you have heard nothing after applying

If the contact person is hard to reach by phone, a short email is a good alternative. Write a subject line that makes it easy to see what it is about, and keep the text to a few sentences. An example:

Subject: Application for the position of customer service adviser

Hi Per,

I applied for the customer service adviser position on 28 February and would like to ask how the process is going. I am still very interested, especially after reading about the new chat service you are launching for customers this spring.

Please let me know if you need any more information from me.

Kind regards, Sara Lunde

If you get no reply to the email, you can call a week later. After that, let it go and put your energy into other applications.

Follow up after the interview

Always ask at the end of the interview what happens next and when they expect to give an answer. Then you know when it is natural to get in touch. Read more about this in our guide on how to prepare for a job interview.

Sending a thank-you note after an interview is not expected in Norway, but a short email the same day or the day after is a nice touch and helps you be remembered. For example: “Thank you for a good conversation today. It was useful to hear more about how you work with customer follow-up, and I am even more motivated for the role now.”

If the date they gave you passes without a word, call or send a short email. If you have received another offer in the meantime, you can say so. Many employers appreciate knowing, and sometimes it speeds the process up.

When you get a rejection

Rejections are part of job hunting for everyone. Reply briefly and politely, even if it stings. The employer will remember how you took it, and sometimes the first choice turns the offer down, or a new position opens up a few months later.

If you had an interview, you can ask for brief feedback. Not everyone has time, but many will reply. For example: “Thank you for letting me know. If you have time, I would appreciate a short note on why I did not go further, so I can improve next time. I would be glad to apply to you again.”

Learn from the answer without changing everything. If you get the same feedback several times, that tells you what to work on. If you still want to work there, you can later send an open application when you see that they are growing.

Mistakes to avoid when following up

Following up works when it is short and rare. These do more harm than good:

• Calling before the deadline has passed to ask whether you have made it through.
• Following up more than twice on the same application.
• Sending a LinkedIn message, calling and emailing in the same week.
• Writing long emails that repeat your whole application.
• Demanding an answer by a set date when you have no other offer that makes it necessary.
• Being sulky or demanding after a rejection.

Keep track of your applications

If you apply for many jobs at once, it quickly becomes unclear who you have spoken to, which deadlines have passed and where you should follow up. A simple spreadsheet with the job, employer, contact person, deadline, date you applied and next step is enough for many people.

In Selja you can do this in the app. Under Applications you follow each one through Ready, Applied, Interview, Offer and Rejected, so you can see at a glance which are waiting for an answer and where it is time to follow up. Under Jobs you find fresh vacancies from arbeidsplassen.no that match what you are looking for. For more places to search, read our guide on how to find job vacancies.