Is it a bad idea to apply for a job online during the weekend?

My sister was the HR person for the Eugene branch of Symantec for a few years. I ran upstairs and asked her.

This is how it was for her. Resumes went into one e-mail account and the other crap went to another. If it is like her experience sending on a Sunday will be fine.

She also said that e-mailed resumes usually got a quick glance and she would quickly hit the key to delete. She preferred ones on paper with a good cover letter. She said delivering a paper one by hand is best. Second best is mailing a paper one in. Last is over the Internet.

or send Sunday, call Monday

Thanks so much for the response, @johnpowell that’s exactly the reason why querying the Fluther community is so awesome. I’ll be sending the resume electronically because that is the company’s request on their site. I think a lot of companies are doing this now because less paper is wasted and less physical clutter is created.

I think it shows that you’re more serious about getting a job if you send out resumes on the weekend.

Wow, great @johnpowell. Really great. Perfect answer. I was listening to NPR a couple of weeks ago and they were talking about a big B-ball star, who is being recruited by all the biggies even though he’s only 15. He says, “It’s the orange envelopes that really stand out. And hand written! That feels really great.

I think it just goes into a file and people look at it on Monday. I applied for a job online just yesterday.

So many things are done electronically these days that day or time doesn’t matter. I get a bunch of these in my in-box on Monday morning and don’t think any differently than other ones I receive.

I would send paper too, though – for the ones you are really interested in, and mention it in the email. It does show you’re serious as opposed to the thousands of people who are just applying because they need to for unemployment.

Sending on the weekend is fine. It shows you are busy during the week, which is a good thing. Also, resume’s and applications don’t tend to get “lost” when they come in at a busy time. I would strongly disagree with the idea that sending a paper copy is best. Furthermore, the idea of hitting “delete” seems absurd, since legal requirements place the onus on companies to maintain all application materials for 2 years in the event a claim is filed, so that the entire applicant pool is available for review. Any HR person doing that shouldn’t be in HR at all, and should at least be intelligent enough not to admit they are doing it if they are. I realize that is a very strong statement, but I have never, ever heard a qualified HR person make a statement like that.

Most companies have moved to electronic application processes because they are so much easier to manage, and recruiters get irritated when people ignore the instructions to apply on line and send in paper, because they then have to scan the paper copy in to the system, the formatting gets all messed up, and it is a lot of extra, unnecessary work for them. I am speaking from several years of personal experience in HR. While 10 years ago, the rule was to send in a paper copy on nice paper, that has changed significantly. Follow whatever the application instructions for that company are to a tee. Otherwise, you are giving them a reason to exclude you.

One thing that I have read, is that it is good to wait until the end of the deadline to submit an application. This is because recruiters will usually look at the “top” application first, which would be the ones that have been most recently submitted.

It is rare to have a “top” of the pile anymore. Even when they take paper applications, they either all go into an electronic system, or they are all scored, or they are all compared to the minimum qualifications and the best ones are pulled to the top. Once the best ones are printed, the “top” of the pile are just the best applications for the position. If they actually publish a deadline, I don’t think waiting would hurt, but in many companies (private companies) they look through them as they come in, and when they find someone they really like, they just stop looking, so if their is no application deadline, it is best to get your resume in early.