Sent, maybe an automated confirmation of receipt, then nothing. After two weeks you start going through your own documents in your head, hunting for mistakes that mostly are not there. Usually the silence is about the process, not about your application: the Bundesagentur für Arbeit (the federal employment agency) publishes labour market statistics showing vacancy durations of several months in many occupations, the stretch between a role being registered and being filled. Two weeks of radio silence inside that is not a signal.
You do not have to sit and wait. This article covers when following up works, which channel to pick, and how to word it. The process around it is in the complete application guide.
Following up works when the timing and the tone are right
A follow-up does not turn a rejection into an offer. What it actually does is three things.
It lifts your file off the pile. Your message sits in the inbox on a day when nobody would have thought of you unprompted. Between two similar candidates, that is not a disadvantage.
It exposes mishaps. Applications land in spam filters, portals swallow attachments, an address was mistyped. Rare, but fixable, and only ever noticed when somebody asks.
And it gives you something to plan with. A "we will come back to you in the second week of November" is information you can use. An empty inbox is not.
Tone decides whether anything good comes of it. The line runs not between polite and impolite but between a question and a reminder. "How far along is the process?" is a question. "I still have not heard anything" is a reminder, even with a "sadly" in front of it.
The timing: how early, how late
There is no legal deadline, only expectations German HR departments work to.
After sending: ten to fourteen days. Earlier reads as impatient, because many firms collect applications first and screen them in rounds. Asking after four days means asking about a process that has not started.
If the ad names a closing date: that date plus a week. Before it, there is literally nothing anyone could tell you.
No confirmation of receipt: a separate case. This is about delivery, not about the decision. Three to five working days after sending you may ask whether the documents arrived, and that question is never too early.
After the interview: if you were given a date, wait for it and add two or three days. Without one, seven days is reasonable.
The upper limit: after roughly six weeks without any reaction, a follow-up becomes a reminder about something the other side considers closed. No harm in it, but rarely any effect.
Keeping those dates in your head works for two applications. With eight running in parallel it does not, and that is when you miss the window in which a follow-up still moves something. The application tracker records for each application when you sent it and when the reminder falls due.
Phone or email?
Email is the default. It interrupts nobody, it can be forwarded, it documents your enquiry, and you get to read every sentence before it goes out. Reply to your own application email so the thread hangs underneath.
The phone earns its place in three situations. When the ad names a person with a direct line, the call is invited. When you applied to a small firm where the same person screens and decides. And when it is urgent because another offer with a deadline is on your desk: two minutes by phone beat two days by email.
If you applied through a portal, use its message channel. That hangs off the record; a recruiter's personal address does not.
Messages on professional networks work if you have already written to each other there. As a first contact they detour around the route the ad set out.
One rule covers every channel: pick one, not two. An email in the morning and a call in the afternoon are not emphasis, they are pressure.
Wording that reads as interest, not impatience
Every usable follow-up carries four parts: the reference, one concrete question, an offer, and a sentence showing your interest still stands. What it does not carry: a justification, an accusation, a deadline.
Betreff: Rückfrage zur Bewerbung als Sachbearbeiterin Einkauf, Kennziffer 2026-441
Guten Tag Frau Berger,
am 12. Oktober habe ich mich bei Ihnen auf die oben genannte Stelle beworben. Ich wollte kurz nachfragen, wie weit das Verfahren ist und bis wann Sie mit einer Rückmeldung rechnen.
Falls Ihnen für die Sichtung noch etwas fehlt, reiche ich es gern nach. An der Aufgabe im Einkauf bin ich unverändert sehr interessiert.
Freundliche Grüße Anna Meier
(It says: I applied on 12 October for the role above; how far is the process, and by when do you expect to give feedback? If anything is missing, I will send it on.)
Three things do the work. The subject line names role and reference so nobody has to search. The "by when" question is easier to answer than an open "how is it looking", because it asks for a date, not a judgement. And the offer to send something on gives the recipient a second reason to reply.
On the phone you need three sentences:
Guten Tag, mein Name ist Anna Meier. Ich habe mich am 12. Oktober auf Ihre Stelle als Sachbearbeiterin im Einkauf beworben, Kennziffer 2026-441. Können Sie mir sagen, ob das Verfahren noch läuft?
(Name, the date you applied, the role with its reference, then: can you tell me whether the process is still running?)
Then listen, take notes, thank them, hang up. You do not add qualifications, run a sales pitch, or slide into an interview you are not prepared for. Call in the morning, not first thing Monday and not Friday afternoon. If the right person is out, ask for a callback and stick to it instead of calling again the next day.
Cut the hedges: "eigentlich", "nur mal kurz", "wollte mich mal melden". They make your message smaller than it needs to be. And name a deadline only when one really exists: another offer you have to answer by a set date is information, "bitte melden Sie sich bis Freitag" is an imposition.
What the answer tells you
The reply is often more revealing than your question.
"We are still screening, feedback by calendar week 46." The best answer you can get. Note the date and stay quiet until then.
"Your documents are with the department." You are past the first round. Nobody says that about a file already screened out.
"We cannot give information on that at present." A template with no content. Chase once more later, then leave it.
"We have no application from you." Annoying as it sounds, this is the most valuable case, because it can be fixed. It is precisely why the first follow-up almost always pays for itself.
No reply at all. The most common outcome, and it says more about the company's candidate communication than about you.
When the same pattern repeats across many applications it is not coincidence, it is a finding. Whether they stall at screening or only after the interview changes what you work on next. The application overview shows which stage is the bottleneck.
When to stop
Follow up twice, then it is over. Once after ten to fourteen days, a second time about two weeks later, and that second message carries a clear closing line:
Sollte die Stelle inzwischen besetzt sein, freue ich mich über ein kurzes Signal, dann plane ich anders.
("If the role has been filled meanwhile, a brief word would be welcome, then I will plan differently.")
That is not a retreat, it is a relief for both sides. It makes it easy for the recipient to finally reject you, and a rejection is a result: it closes a case you would otherwise carry for months.
If nothing comes back even then, you have your answer. A company that leaves two polite enquiries unanswered has decided or stopped the process and is not saying so. Note the status, close the file, and put the waiting time into the next role that genuinely fits.
Frequently asked questions
How long should I wait after sending?
Ten to fourteen days if the ad names no closing date. If it does, wait until that date has passed plus roughly a week. Before that, nobody has even opened your file.
Is following up pushy?
Not while you are asking a question rather than issuing a reminder. A short, polite note that names the role reads as interest at German companies. It turns pushy through repetition, deadlines you set yourself, or using several channels at once.
What do I say on the phone?
Your name, the date you applied, the job title with its reference number, then one single question about the status. After that, listen, take notes, thank them. The whole call runs under a minute and asks no self-presentation of you.
How often may I follow up?
Twice. If the second message also goes unanswered, that is your answer: the role is filled, the process is on hold, or the company simply does not reply. A third attempt changes none of the three.