Skills / Job application tracker
Job application tracker
Put the whole job hunt in one tracker. Every application, status, and follow-up date, kept simple enough to maintain. Use when they say "I can't remember where I applied" or several applications are about to go out.
Use this skill. Nothing to install.
Don't have an agent? · Raw file: skills/job-application-tracker.md
Watch the first two minutes
This is how a session goes for someone whose job hunt lives in seventeen browser tabs. Click through it.
Scripted example of a real session.
Feels like homework about homework?
A tracker earns its keep the first time it catches an overdue follow-up or stops you applying to the same store twice. It stays small on purpose: one sheet, no tabs, in the tool you already use, opened twice a week for five minutes. Rejections and silence get logged too, because a full tracker is a record of effort, and watching the rows accumulate is what keeps a long hunt going.
What you end up with
One sheet that runs the whole hunt. Here is a tracker mid-hunt, sorted so the red rows float to the top.
- One row per application, whatever the channel. Online, walk-in, referral, and cold message all live on the same sheet, so nothing has a second home to rot in.
- Red is the to-do list. A conditional-format rule turns past-due follow-up dates red. Open the sheet, act on the red, done.
- Notes hold the human details. Who referred you, what the manager said, which login the application system forced you to create.
- Closed rows stay. Four closed, five active is a normal-looking hunt, and seeing the effort on one screen beats the sinking feeling of not knowing.
Questions people actually ask
Is this free?
The skill is free, no account, no catch. The agent you paste it into may or may not be: Gemini has the widest free tier, Copilot's free tier is enough to try it, ChatGPT and Claude free plans can also run it in a chat.
Do I need a special app?
No. A spreadsheet in whatever you already use is the right answer for almost everyone, because it syncs to your phone and costs nothing. A tiny local web app is on offer only if you are technical and actually want one; the tracker must stay smaller than the job hunt.
What statuses should I use?
Seven cover everything: to apply, applied, followed up, interview, offer, rejected, no answer. A dropdown keeps them consistent, and color by status makes the sheet readable at a glance.
Should I log rejections and silence?
Yes, deliberately. A full tracker is a record of effort, and a hunt with closed rows on it looks like what a real hunt looks like. Marking a silent application closed is a decision, and making it on purpose beats letting it haunt you.
I already sent a bunch of applications untracked. Too late?
That is the expected starting state. The session reconstructs the history from memory and your sent email, enters every row, and assigns each open item a real follow-up date. Ten minutes of archaeology and the hunt is on one screen.
Where to go from here
The tracker feeds these directly:
Like having your life in a sheet? Same move works elsewhere:
Curious? Read the full skill — the exact instructions your agent gets
--- name: job-application-tracker category: get-hired description: Put the whole job hunt in one tracker. Every application, status, and follow-up date, kept simple enough to maintain. Use when they say "I can't remember where I applied" or several applications are about to go out. --- # job-application-tracker Build a tracking system with someone running their first job hunt. Untracked applications rot: follow-ups get missed, the same store gets applied to twice, and a callback arrives from a company they cannot place. The bar: a tracker that exists, holds every application they have made so far, and shows them what to do next each time they open it. ## Ground rules - Fit the tool to the person. A spreadsheet is the right answer for almost everyone — ask what they already use (Google Sheets, Excel, Numbers) and build there so it syncs to their phone. Offer a tiny local web app only if they are technical and actually want one; the tracker must never become a bigger project than the job hunt. - Their data, their hands. They own the file in their own account. Walk them through entering the first rows themselves — the habit of updating it matters more than the artifact. - The tracker answers one question: "what do I do today?" Every design choice serves that. ## Build it Columns, one row per application: - Employer, role, and how they applied (online / walk-in / referral / cold message) with link or address - Date applied and materials sent (which resume version) - Contact person, if they have a name - Status — one of: to apply, applied, followed up, interview, offer, rejected, no answer - Follow-up date, and a notes column for everything else (login created, who referred them, what the manager said) Add the touches that make it self-running: dropdown for status, color by status, sorted or filtered so overdue follow-ups float to the top. In a spreadsheet a simple conditional-format rule on the follow-up date is enough — past-due turns red. Keep it one sheet; resist tabs. ## Load it and set the habit Reconstruct the history together: everything already sent, walked into, or asked about, from memory and from their sent email. Enter every row, assign every open item a real follow-up date about a week out (follow-up-after-applying owns what happens on that date). Then set the rhythm — a recurring phone or calendar reminder, twice a week, to open the tracker, act on anything red, and add new rows. Run the first review on the spot so they have done it once. ## Done - Tracker live in their account, on their phone - Every application to date entered, each with a status and a follow-up date - A twice-weekly reminder set, and the first review already done - Rejections and silence get logged too — a full tracker is a record of effort, and watching the rows accumulate is what keeps a long hunt going