Job Discussion Forums

[Katzwyl]

Hi Everybody,

I recently began actively applying for teaching jobs in China through e-mail. I was wondering if anyone can tell me how long is the average waiting time before they respond/I should bug them again? I've had 2 replies out of 6 so far. It's been about 2 weeks.

Thanks. =)

[lajzar]

Play the numbers game. After 2 weeks, forget them. How much time would you give a prospective employer back home? And it isn't as if an email takes a long time to write.

If you've only applied for 6 jobs in 2 weeks, I can only assume you are being very selective in prospective employers. Not necessarily a bad thing.

[Katzwyl]

Thanks for your insight.

What is your take on writing to them again (resubmitting my resume and everything), pretending it's the first time?

[lajzar]

Depends. How keen are you to work for a company that is demonstrably incapable of maintaining effective communication with you? Remember, they aren't just interviewing you. You should be interviewing them.

I might consider issuing a reminder, asking what's happened, but I wouldn't pretend to be a completely new applicant. If they managed to lose the contact details within 2 weeks, they really aren't worth working for - either they dismissed your application immediately, ot they are hopelessly disorganised. And if they still have the contact details, it is a trivial task to link it with your original application, which will do you no favours at all.