Tracking Progress Until You Hear Those Magic Words—“You’re Hired”

There is no such thing as a typical job hunt; some people report filling in three to five applications in a week and others report filling in as many as ten or more. When a hiring manager calls, you want to be able to put your fingers on the pertinent information about the job. Staying organized right from the beginning will help you make the most of the opportunities that are out there.

Whether you prefer to do your recordkeeping on paper or in an electronic table or spreadsheet, your job search will go much smoother if you log the following information about each job application you complete:
• The username and password you used to log into that job board or a company’s website
• The URL for that online job application (for example: http://www.BestJobBoardEver.com/job109450238 )
• The company name and job applied for
• The job description
• The contact person’s name (if available)
• The date on which you applied
• Which version of your resume you posted with a specific job application
• Any salary requirement you specified when applying
• The length of time the job board or company will keep your application on file
• The date on which you last updated the resume you have posted on a particular job board
• Any follow-up activities you pursued

Many job application websites now provide a summary page when you submit your resume. If you’re keeping a paper filing system, you should print a copy for your records. If you’re keeping your records electronically, try using the ALT + PrtScn key combination to capture the summary electronically while it is displayed on the screen. (Macs have a CTRL+CMD+SH+3 combination that performs a similar screen capture function.) After you’ve captured it using this key combination, simply open a word processing file and do a “Paste” to paste the summary into a word processing document and then save that document. This electronic screen capture capability is a great way to capture screens showing job descriptions too.

Keeping good records makes it easier when you revisit the job boards and company websites to identify new positions that have become available. In addition, if you sign up for the job alerts feature to learn when jobs matching your criteria become available on a particular job board, good recordkeeping will help you to identify if these alerts are for jobs you’ve already applied for or companies you’ve already applied with. Logging the date you last updated a posted resume on a job board is a good idea because employers who monitor resumes on job board sites sometimes request to view only those resumes that were recently posted or updated. Therefore, it’s a good practice to periodically make an update to your resume, even if it’s a very minor one, in order to flag it as a recently updated resume.

Remember—the more organized you are before a potential employer comes calling, the better your chances of WOW’ing that employer into making a job offer!