Application Tracker

The job search process can be tedious and time consuming for the typical college student. Lack of organization in the seemingly endless number of applications leads to two major sub-problems: missed deadlines and lackluster submissions. With the goal of solving the first problem through meticulous organization, we have developed a tool to help keep track of all application processes a student is interested in.

Our tool is a dynamic, downloadable spreadsheet that allows students to visualize each application and every step necessary to follow through to completion. Please take a few minutes to watch the quick tutorial videos below to learn how to use the spreadsheet (click the photo and follow the link below):

As explained in the video tutorial, the Job Search Organization Google Sheet contains dropdown menus that can be used to indicate column headers or progress within each individual application. Below is a quick explanation of each of the preset dropdown menu items that you will see when downloading a copy of the Sheet.

Headers

Resume: Many students will have individualized resumes for each job they apply to. While these different resume versions typically do not have any major changes, it is important to indicate whether or not the student has completed the resume they intend to submit with the application.

Cover Letter: Cover letters are inherently different for each job posting, so this column reminds students to complete it for each separate application. This is especially important if the cover letter is not finished after one sitting.

Interview: This column helps to indicate that the student has completed all previous steps and is currently waiting for an interview invitation. The column can also be edited to reflect a scheduled interview date.

Final Round: This column functions the same way as the “Interview” column, however it is specific to an interview that has been indicated to be the last contact before potentially receiving an offer.

Networking: Networking can be done in many different ways and can be inserted as a column more than once. This way, the student can indicate exactly when in each process they intend on connecting with different people from each company they apply to.

Email: This works as a reminder for any types of emails that need to be sent, including networking connections and interview thank yous. This helps the student to not lose track of any professional correspondences.

Progress Tracking

Done: This green cell indicates that the task has been completed and does not need to be thought about any more.

In Progress: This cell will highlight yellow to show the student that this aspect of their application has been started but not totally completed yet.

Not Started: This red cell will draw attention to a part of the application that still needs to be started.

Skip: Skip gives the student flexibility in each application row. If one of the headers does not apply to a specific application, such as a third or fourth interview before the final round, the student can indicate that they want to skip this row rather than having to delete it for the entire Sheet.

Waiting: This is meant to indicate that the student is waiting for something in order to proceed to this part of the application. For example, the student can be awaiting an interview invitation, and therefore cannot yet complete anything else in that specific application process.