Do hiring managers reply to emails? What 981 introductions got back
Most don't. Of 981 short introductions sent in October 2026, each just after the application went in, 40 got a reply from a person (4%), usually within hours. Most replies were polite: 11 passed the email to, or named, the person who owns the role, and 4 asked to talk.
Where these numbers come from
These are Applier's own records, not a survey. Between October 11 and 24, 2026, Applier sent 981 introductions from job seekers' own Gmail accounts. All but 5 were for one job seeker on our team, applying for data and technology roles in Australia, so read this as one person's search rather than a benchmark. A different field, country or resume could look quite different.
Every application was submitted on the employer's own site before its introduction went out, a median of about 3 minutes earlier. Each application got introductions to 1 to 3 people at the company, and some got follow-ups 3 and 7 business days later. We read every reply. Below, names, companies and roles are left out, and what people wrote is paraphrased so nobody can be identified.
The short version. Expect silence from most people you email. The replies that do come are usually quick and civil, and about a quarter of them hand you to someone closer to the hire. The most common reply is a request to apply through the job ad, so say plainly that you already have.
How many people replied
We count a conversation as replied when anyone at the company answered in the thread: the person we emailed, or a colleague they passed it to. Out-of-office auto-replies don't count; there were 39 of those.
| Who we emailed | Introductions sent | Got a reply from a person |
|---|---|---|
| Recruiters and talent acquisition | 314 | 20 (6.4%) |
| Department leaders, such as a director or head of a function | 307 | 12 (3.9%) |
| The manager the role reports to | 215 | 7 (3.3%) |
| Senior members of the team | 66 | 0 |
| Executives | 49 | 1 |
| Other contacts | 30 | 0 |
| All | 981 | 40 (4.1%) |
That is lower than most advice implies, and it fits what surveys say about silence in hiring. Greenhouse's 2024 Candidate Experience Report (May 2024) found that 52 percent of candidates said they had been ghosted. Emailing an employer directly is still an ordinary part of a search: in the US Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2025 annual averages, 50.8% of unemployed jobseekers said they contacted an employer directly.
How fast replies came
Quickly, when they came at all. The median reply from the person we emailed arrived about 4.5 hours after the introduction. 27 of those 32 replies came within a day, and only 2 came more than 4 days later. If nobody has answered by the end of the second day, the odds of a reply to that email are low.
What the replies said
| What the first reply did | Conversations |
|---|---|
| Asked for the application through the job ad or careers site, or said they don't take applications by email | 16 |
| Passed the email to the person or team who owns the role, or named them | 11 |
| Asked to talk: a booking link, a video call or a phone call | 4 |
| Said no: no open roles, or not the right fit | 4 |
| Said it was the wrong person, without saying who was right | 2 |
| Other: too busy to talk, a question about what the email wanted, or a disclaimer with no message | 3 |
"Please apply through the job ad"
The most common reply, and nearly always a polite one. Several people said they couldn't accept applications by email and pointed to the advertisement or the contact named on it. Some recruited for a different part of the business. One asked for the job's reference number so they could find it. A reply counted under other went the same way: a manager wasn't sure what the candidate wanted to discuss, and asked them to clarify before applying.
The application was already in every time. These people couldn't tell that from the email, and answered as if it hadn't been. That is the clearest lesson in the data: say in the first line that you've applied, with the exact job title and the reference number if the ad has one.
"I've passed this on"
This is the reply that makes emailing worth it. A manager covering another region sent the email and the attached resume to the director for the right region, saying the candidate looked like a good fit. A project manager forwarded it to the manager the role reports to, who was running the hire. A head of talent sent it to the recruiter looking after the role. A managing director sent it to the local team. Twice, a recruiter wrote back after a colleague forwarded the email to them, and one confirmed the application had arrived.
"Can we talk?"
Four replies, from three employers, asked to talk. One recruiter had already seen the application and the assessment, sent a booking link and asked for a LinkedIn profile, then asked again two days later. Another asked to meet on a video call. At the third employer, a director passed the candidate's details to a recruiter, who tried to call several times and then wrote twice asking to be called back, noting that the candidate kept emailing but wasn't answering the phone.
A fourth employer asked for a call after the first follow-up, from someone in talent acquisition who had first replied that applications were under review. All of these requests came from people in recruiting, including the two where we had first emailed a director or a partner.
"No" and "wrong person"
The rejections were short and courteous. One recruiter explained in detail what the team needed that the candidate's background didn't show, which is more feedback than most applications ever get. A director said twice, on two applications, that there were no open roles. Two people said briefly that the role had nothing to do with them.
What follow-ups changed
Very little, in this search. 126 first follow-ups and 42 second follow-ups went to people who hadn't replied, and 3 of those 168 got an answer:
- A recruiter who had been on leave when the introduction arrived answered the first follow-up and passed it to the colleague who owned the role.
- A talent acquisition manager who had already said applications were under review asked, after the first follow-up, for a time to call that afternoon.
- One person answered the second follow-up to say it had gone to the wrong person.
Most scheduled follow-ups in this search were never sent, because they were waiting for approval, so this is a small sample. Still, the pattern matches how quickly people replied to the first email: whoever is going to answer usually does so within a day. One follow-up is cheap and occasionally reaches someone who was away. A second added nothing here. See when to follow up after a job application for timing and wording.
What we'd tell a job seeker
- Say you've applied, in the first line. Include the exact job title and the reference number if the ad has one. 16 of the 40 replies asked for an application that was already in.
- Don't skip the recruiter. Recruiters replied about twice as often as the managers the roles reported to, and every request to talk came from someone in recruiting. See hiring manager or recruiter: who to contact.
- Don't aim too high. 1 of 49 executives replied, to send the email to the local team. None of the 66 senior team members replied.
- Be reachable. When someone wants to talk, they may call. A missed call and a full inbox look like a lack of interest.
- Write to the person, not the company. People at the same company talk to each other. Keep each note specific to the person reading it, and don't send several people the same paragraph.
- Expect silence, and keep applying. 96% of introductions got no reply from a person. That says little about you; most people are busy, and many don't own the role.
For the email itself, see should you email the hiring manager after applying? and subject lines for emailing a hiring manager, or start from the free hiring manager email templates.
How Applier handles this
After Applier submits an application on the employer's own site, it writes a short introduction to people on the hiring team and sends it from your own Gmail, so replies come straight to you: 1 contact per application on Starter and during the free trial, 2 on Pro, 3 on Max. Each introduction carries the resume tailored to that job as a PDF. Follow-ups go in the same thread 3 and 7 business days later.
Introductions start in Review mode, so you see who each one is for, the subject, the body and the attached resume, and approve or decline it before it's sent. Replies show in your dashboard as needing you, and the Activity page counts replies and interviews each week. You can pause introductions without stopping applications. Introductions need a connected Gmail; here's what Applier does with it. See every Applier feature.
Related guides
- Should you email the hiring manager after applying?
- Hiring manager or recruiter: who to contact after you apply
- When to follow up after a job application
Frequently asked questions
Do hiring managers reply to emails after you apply?
Some do, but most don't. In our own records from October 2026, 40 of 981 introductions sent just after applying (4%) got a reply from a person, usually within hours. Treat a reply as a bonus and keep applying.
Do follow-up emails get replies?
Occasionally. Of 168 follow-ups sent to people who hadn't replied, 3 got an answer, including one from a recruiter who had been on leave. One follow-up is cheap; a second added nothing in our data.
Who is more likely to reply, a recruiter or the hiring manager?
In our data, recruiters replied about twice as often as the managers the roles reported to, and every request to talk came from someone in recruiting, including two where the first email went to a director or a partner.