Journey of 20 Job Applications: Jul 9 Update (Discouraged)

Originally published/last updated on myearlyretirementjourney.com on Jul 11, 2019. 

As I posted a few days ago, I recently applied to 20 jobs and am hoping to find out something this week as last week was the holiday and some companies have summer shutdowns during Fourth of July. I was hoping to take you along this journey with this handy chart. We are in the era of the overshare after all! My hope is the company (that’s you guys) might help ease some of the anxious feelings and curb some of the overzealousness.

My mental timeline is 3 days. Three days (or up to a week) after applying, I should hear something or the silence is taken as tacit rejection. Within 3 days of a recruiter phone screen, I expect to hear from a hiring manager. Within three days of speaking with the hiring manager, I expect an offer of an on site interview. And within three days of that, I expect an offer. For the most part, this is how it’s worked out for me and a few of my fellow job seekers. The week is extended to larger companies who have to deal with quite a bit more process.

So in my mental countdown, July 9 was two business days from my last application cycle.  Being the Anxious Andy that I am, I went ahead and logged on to EVERY SINGLE applicant portal I could access. I figured there would be some movement if they were planning to call or email on Day 3.

Here’s what happened…

No.	Date Applied	Company	Position	Current Status	When I Last Checked
1	6/23/19	DSI	Manager, Widgets	No applicant portal	6/29/19
2	6/24/19	REG	Sr. Manager, Widgets	Applied -24Jun2019	7/9/19
3	6/24/19	TAK	Manager, Widgets	Sumibtted	7/9/19
4	6/24/19	NOV	Sr. Manager, Widgets	Screening Phase -28Jun2019	7/9/19
5	6/24/19	AZA	Sr. Manager, Widgets	In Progress	7/9/19
6	6/24/19	RAK	Sr. Manager, Widgets	No applicant portal	6/29/19
7	6/29/19	UCB	Lead, Widgets	Under Review – Status date: 06/29/19	7/9/19
8	6/29/19	COV	Project Manager, Widget Safety	Received Submission	7/9/19
9	6/29/19	CON	Specialist, Widget Safety	Completed-Updated: Jun 29, 2019	7/9/19
10	6/29/19	IQV	Associate Manager, Widget Safety	Active	7/9/19
11	6/29/19	IQV	Sr. Specialist, Widget Safety	Active	7/9/19
12	6/29/19	TRI	Manager, Widgets	No applicant portal	6/29/19
13	7/3/19	NOV	Manager, Widgets	Screening Phase -03Jul2019	7/9/19
14	7/4/19	AVE	Sr. Manager, Widgets	no status – Last update 7/5/19	7/9/19
15	7/4/19	AZA	Scientist, Widget Compliance	In Progress	7/9/19
16	7/4/19	FDC	Analyst, Widgets	Completed-Updated: Jul 4, 2019	7/9/19
17	7/3/19	SYN	Specialist, Widget Safety	Completed-UpdatedJul5,2019	7/9/19
18	7/3/19	VTX	Sr. Manager, Widgets	Couldn’t access	7/9/19
19	7/3/19	PAC	Sr. Manager, Widgets	In progress	7/8/19
20	7/5/19	JZZ	Specialist, Widget Safety	NOT SELECTED	7/8/19

As you can see, no changes in 18 applications. One positive response and one negative response. I, of course, chose to focus on the one negative response (because really the 18 no-responses all rounded down in my mind). After logging off, I emotionally ate three chocolate chip cookies; felt discouraged; turned on the TV and wallowed. Stay tuned!