A job search produces one honest record of what you did, and most people never write it down. A tracker is that record. It is one row per application with a date, a stage and a next action. In week three, when nothing has come back, it shows which stage is failing. Without it, you guess that the stage is you.
Key points
- One row per application. Eight columns. Nothing you will not fill in.
- Four numbers matter: applications sent, replies, interviews, offers. Everything else is decoration.
- The ratios between those four tell you what to change. A low reply rate is a resume problem. A low interview-to-offer rate is an interview problem.
- A follow-up date on every row. The tracker tells you when, so you do not have to feel when.
- Keep it for the whole search. The rows from month one are the baseline that shows whether month two is working.
Why a spreadsheet beats a memory
In 2026 we read through the applications people had tracked on this site and the pattern was the same every time. The ones who tracked knew by week two which kind of role replied. The ones who did not track remembered the last rejection and nothing else.
Memory keeps the bad news. A tracker keeps the count.
A tracker is not admin. It is the only record that can tell you where the search is failing.
The eight columns
| Column | What goes in it | Why it is there |
|---|---|---|
| Company | The employer's name | Finding the row later |
| Role | The title from the posting | Grouping by kind of role |
| Link | The posting's URL | The posting closes. The link still says what it was. |
| Resume | Which tailored copy you sent | Which version gets replies |
| Applied | The date | Every number below starts here |
| Stage | One of six, below | The whole point |
| Next action and date | What you do next and when | So the tracker nags, not you |
| Notes | Names, what they asked, what you said | For the next round |
Six stages, and only six. More than that and you stop updating it.
- Applied
- Replied: any human response, including a screening call booked
- Interviewing: one or more rounds done
- Offer
- Rejected
- No answer: nothing after thirty days
A row moves forward or to Rejected or No answer. It does not move back.
The four numbers
Count the rows in each stage. Four counts come out of that, and three ratios come out of the four.
| Number | What it is |
|---|---|
| Sent | Rows with an Applied date |
| Replies | Rows that reached Replied or further |
| Interviews | Rows that reached Interviewing or further |
| Offers | Rows at Offer |
The ratios:
- Replies divided by sent. This is the resume and the targeting. A reply rate under one in ten, over thirty or more applications, means the resume is not clearing the first screen, or the roles are wrong for it.
- Interviews divided by replies. This is the screening call. A reply that does not turn into an interview was a conversation that did not go well, or a role that was not real.
- Offers divided by interviews. This is the interview itself. Four interviews and no offer is a pattern, and it has a fix.
Find the ratio that is low. That is the stage to change. Leave the other two alone.
The mistake is to change everything after a bad week. A person with a good reply rate and no offers rewrites their resume, which was the one part that worked.
What the numbers look like
Thirty applications over three weeks for a mid-level product role, from a search we saw this year:
| Stage | Count | Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| Sent | 30 | |
| Replied | 6 | 20 percent of sent |
| Interviewing | 3 | 50 percent of replies |
| Offer | 0 | 0 percent of interviews |
The reply rate is fine. The screening rate is fine. Three interviews and no offer, with the notes column saying "asked a lot about conflict with engineers", is an interview problem with a name. That person does not need a new resume. They need to practise one question.
Follow-ups, from the tracker
The next action column holds a date. The rule is one follow-up, seven to ten days after the application, then nothing. A second follow-up is read as pressure, and nobody hires under pressure.
The follow-up is three sentences. The role, the date you applied, and one line that adds something. That line is a link to work you have done since, or a fact about the company you learned this week. It is not a request for a status. They know the status.
After thirty days with no reply, the row goes to No answer and you stop thinking about it. The tracker remembers it so you do not have to.
When to change course
Look at the four numbers every Friday. Not every day. A daily look at a stage with three rows in it is noise.
Change course when:
- Thirty sent and fewer than three replies. Change the resume, or the roles you apply for, and do not change both at once, or you will not know which one worked.
- Six replies and no interviews. Rehearse the screening call. It is the same five questions every time.
- Four interviews and no offers. Read the notes column. The question that keeps coming up is the one to practise.
Do not change course after one bad week. Change it when a ratio has been low for thirty rows.
Track, on this site
Track is a tracker with the six stages built in. A posting from the board goes in with one click. The company, the role, the link and the date are filled before you touch it. Each card carries its stage, its next action and its notes. The board shows the columns. The Activity view shows the four numbers and the three ratios over any date range, so Friday's look takes ten seconds.
It is free, and it stays free. The pledge on this site says the board costs nothing, and the tracker is part of the board.
Questions
A spreadsheet or an app?
Either, as long as it has the eight columns and you fill in the Stage column. A spreadsheet is fine. The app wins on one thing: the four numbers appear without you counting them.
How many applications before the numbers mean anything?
Thirty. Under that, one lucky reply moves the reply rate by three points. Over thirty, the ratios settle and start to say something.
Do I track the ones I did not hear back from?
Yes. They are the denominator. A reply rate without the silent rows is a number that flatters you and tells you nothing.
Does the tracker hold jobs I am thinking about applying for?
No. A tracker holds things you did. A list of maybes belongs somewhere else, or it swamps the count. On this site, the saved list on the board is the maybe pile, and Track is the done pile.
What do I write in the notes?
Names, in full. The questions they asked, word for word if you can. What you said that landed and what did not. The next round starts from these notes, and so does the thank-you email.