Record the next action and its owner. Keep 'applied,' 'spoke to an employee' and 'referred' separate so the tracker reflects what actually happened.
Download the template
Download the job search tracker (CSV). It opens in Excel or can be imported into Google Sheets. No account or email address is required. It contains a header row and three clearly fictional examples you can remove.
The template is intentionally plain. It uses no macros, external connections or hidden formulas. It is an organizational tool, not a model that predicts your likelihood of getting hired.
The fields worth keeping
| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Company, role and job URL | Distinguishes similar vacancies and preserves the original source. |
| Application status and date | Separates an intention to apply from a completed submission. |
| Contact and relationship | Shows who you know and whether they actually know your work. |
| Last conversation | Keeps the subject and any promise you made in view. |
| Next action, owner and date | Shows what you can do now and what depends on someone else. |
| Permission and outcome | Prevents an unwanted follow-up and records what the effort produced. |
For several contacts at one company, use separate rows and the same role identifier. That is better than putting several names and contradictory next actions into one cell. For several vacancies at one company, keep the requisitions separate.
Use statuses that describe facts
- Researching: you are assessing the vacancy; nothing has been submitted.
- Applied: you completed the employer's application and have a confirmation or other clear record.
- Conversation: someone has replied or spoken with you; this is not automatically a referral.
- Referred: the contact confirmed the referral, rather than merely offering to consider it.
- Interviewing: a hiring-process interview has been arranged.
- Closed: rejected, withdrawn, filled or no longer relevant, with the reason noted.
Application and conversation status can differ. You might be waiting for an interview decision while also thanking an employee for advice. Preserve both instead of letting one overwrite the other.
A ten-minute weekly review
- Sort by next-action date and remove reminders made obsolete by a reply or refusal.
- Complete promises you made before sending new requests.
- Check time-sensitive vacancies on the employer's site.
- Close records that are no longer active rather than repeatedly nudging them.
- Note which sources produced relevant conversations or interviews, including overlapping sources.
Treat the ten minutes as a suggested timebox, not a rule. A tracker that consumes the whole search has stopped helping. Add a field only when it changes a decision or prevents a mistake.
Do not confuse activity with progress
A message count shows effort. A useful reply shows engagement. An interview shows movement in a hiring process. Keep those measures distinct. If one application followed both an event and a referral, record the sequence rather than forcing it into a single 'winning channel.'
Avoid calculating precise success rates from a handful of cases. More useful early questions are: Am I applying to the same kind of role? Are contacts answering the question I intended? Am I making changes based on what I learn?
Keep the notes professional
Store only what you need for the search: a public professional profile, conversation context, permissions and next steps. Do not collect sensitive personal details about contacts or copy confidential company information into the sheet.
Review sharing settings before sending a tracker to a coach or friend. A sample row is useful for getting advice; your entire contact history may not be necessary. Delete stale personal notes when they no longer serve a purpose.
This article is practical editorial guidance, not a report of measured outcomes. Our editorial approach.