Keeping track of many applications

Once you have more than a handful of applications open, memory stops working as a system. A recruiter calls about a role you applied to three weeks ago, and you cannot remember which version of your resume you sent or what the posting said. A simple record for each application prevents that.

What to record

• The company and the exact role title.
• A link to the posting, and a copy of its text.
• The date you applied.
• The resume and cover letter you sent, as they were when you sent them.
• The people you have been in touch with, and how to reach them.
• Each stage with its date: applied, screen, interview, offer or decision.
• The next step, and when it is due.

Save the posting, not just the link

Postings are taken down, often once the employer has enough applicants, and usually before the interviews. The description is what you will prepare from, so keep its text with the application.

Keep the version you sent

If you tailor your resume for each job, you will have many versions. When an interviewer asks about a line on your resume, they are reading the one you submitted, not the one you have edited since. Keep a copy of each submitted version with its application.

Follow up on a schedule

If you were given a timeline, wait until it has passed. If not, a short, polite message after a week or two is reasonable. Recording the date of each contact tells you when the next one is due, and keeps you from following up twice in a week.

Review it weekly

Once a week, go through what is open: what is waiting on you, what is waiting on them, and what has gone quiet long enough to close. Ten minutes a week keeps the record current, which is the only way it stays useful.

In Applican, each application holds its posting, its stages, and the materials attached to it, and submitting keeps a copy of the resume exactly as you sent it.