When it comes to your resume, there’s no getting around the fact that you’ve been pretty stressed out about its preparation. However, now your resume is done and you’re left with the submission process. After you’ve looked over everything and attached your cover letter, then you’re all good to go…right?

Well, the process is straightforward, but now the waiting begins. If there’s one thing that we humans aren’t good at, it’s definitely waiting. We don’t like to wait for anything at all, and that means you’re going to have to really make sure that you can still that inner voice saying that you need to hound the interviewer about your application.

So, when is the right time to follow up on your resume? Well, the truth is that timberline is set by your interviewer. It’s not a secret, but many interviewees tend not to want to ask when the right follow up time is. Remember the interviewers have more than just you to think about. They have to also think about the many other resumes that have come in. They have to think about all of the other interviews that they’ve conducted. So make sure that you’re not expecting anything sooner than at least a week. However, in larger companies it might be even longer than that. It’s just a matter of making sure that you figure out what that specific company is looking for.

You also want to make sure that you keep your communications as polite as possible. Again, you really don’t want to look like you’re rushing for an answer. Even if you’ve got multiple companies waiting for you, you still need to make sure that you’re giving every interviewer the right to review things carefully. That’s really all there is to it — don’t let the delays keep you from looking for the perfect job!