speculative application

Noun

speculative application (plural speculative applications)

1. An application for a job with an employer who is not currently advertising any vacancies.
   • When writing a speculative application, it is best to find out the name of the company's personnel manager.2011, Stephen Ling, Graduate Job Search
   • Many people who got their job through a speculative application often say it was a case of their CV hitting the right desk at the right time.2013, Judith Leigh, How to Write: Successful CVs and Job Applications, page 110
2. An application for something (such as a permit) that one does not yet know that one definitely needs or that one does not necessarily qualify to receive.
   • This speculative application by guides may result in more guided use being assigned than actually demanded. If launches are limited in the future, speculative application by guide services could displace non-commercial users.2001, John Day River Proposed Management Plan, page 332
   • Relief committees are likely to administer relief in different ways and on different principles, and the knowledge of this encourages speculative applications from the poor.1895, William Chance, The Better Administration of the Poor Law, page 43
3. An application or use for something that is not known to actually work.
   • Present, future, and speculative applications are summarized in table 5.1.1974, John E. Harry, Industrial Lasers and Their Applications, page 96
   • Are there other speculative applications for helium which have the potential for pushing ultimate demand beyond even the highest projections in the report?1975, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Science and Technology. Subcommittee on Energy Research, Development, and Demonstration, The Energy Related Applications of Helium, page 44