Past a dozen applications, memory fails and tabs multiply. You forget who you contacted, which version of your CV went where, and when to follow up. A simple tracking system fixes all of that and quietly raises your hit rate, because the follow-ups that get replies only happen when you remember to send them. Here is the system.
Every application is somewhere in a short pipeline. Give each one a status and you always know what needs attention. A clean set of stages: saved, applied, contacted, interviewing, offer, and closed. That is it. The point is not a perfect taxonomy; it is one glance to see where everything stands.
For each role, store the basics: company, title, link, the date you applied, which version of your CV you sent, and the name of anyone you contacted. Those last two are the ones people forget, and they are exactly what you need when a reply finally lands two weeks later.
A board, with a column per stage and a card per role, is the most satisfying to use and the easiest to scan: you drag a card from applied to interviewing and the whole search is visible at once. A spreadsheet holds more detail per row and suits people who like to sort and filter. Both work. The best one is the one you will keep updating.
Whatever you pick, do not let it live in five places. A search split across your inbox, a notes app, and three browser tabs is the same as no system. One surface, updated as you go.
Tracking is not bookkeeping for its own sake. Its real payoff is the follow-up. Most replies come after a nudge, not the first contact, and you can only nudge on time if you wrote down when you reached out.
A simple cadence: follow up three to five days after a direct message, and again once a week or so on an application that has gone quiet, then stop. Mark the date on the card so the system tells you who is due. This is the difference between a search that compounds and one that leaks.
Give every role a status in a short pipeline (saved, applied, contacted, interviewing, offer, closed) and store the company, title, link, date applied, the CV version you sent, and anyone you contacted. Keep it all on one surface you will actually update.
Either, as long as you keep it current. A board with a column per stage is easy to scan and satisfying to update. A spreadsheet holds more detail per row. The best tool is the one you will keep using, not the most powerful one.
Company, role title, the job link, the date you applied, which version of your resume you sent, the status, and the name and date of anyone you contacted. The CV version and the contact are the details people forget and need most later.
It makes follow-ups happen. Most replies come after a nudge, and you can only nudge on time if you recorded when you applied or reached out. A tracked search follows up on schedule; an untracked one leaks opportunities.
Follow up three to five days after a direct message to a person, and roughly weekly on an application that has gone quiet, then stop. Note the date so your system can tell you who is due.
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