Fast Replies to Recruiters Boost Odds of Getting Hired

Reply now, polish that response later—that's the takeaway from new research on job-hunting speed. A study published in Management Science of millions of interactions on freelance platform Fiverr found that even a five- to 10-minute lag in replying to an inquiry from a recruiter or hiring manager cut a candidate's odds of getting hired by roughly 30%, reports the Wall Street Journal. Follow-up experiments suggested people read fast responses as a sign of competence, despite insisting they don't demand instant replies. "Though managers might believe that response speed is not a top factor, it consistently affects their judgments and preferences," the study authors write in Harvard Business Review.

As for the old fear of looking desperate by replying too quickly, researchers say that fear is largely misplaced in a market where recruiters can ping loads of candidates with AI tools and move on quickly, per the Journal. "As perverse as it sounds, a desperate employee isn't bad for the employer," says a Vanderbilt University marketing professor. Experts recommend responding the same day—ideally within hours—and sending a short, human-sounding note rather than an obviously AI-written message, which appears to erase any benefit of being first.