Remember Rahul's sponsor crisis from Module 1? When the fest sponsor pulled out, he didn't panic and start calling randomly. He made a list — 22 businesses, who to call, what was said, what came next. That list is why it worked.
A job search is the same project wearing different clothes. Without a tracker, three predictable disasters happen:
- 1A recruiter calls and says "hi, it's about your application" — and you have no idea which company or which version of your resume they're holding.
- 2You forget to follow up, which is where a surprising number of interviews actually come from.
- 3You lose all sense of progress, and the search starts to feel like shouting into fog. That's a morale problem, and morale is the real resource you're managing.
The spreadsheet
One sheet, nine columns, nothing fancy:
| Column | Example |
|---|
| Company | Fernandes & Co |
| Role | Junior Accounts Assistant |
| Link to advert | (saved — adverts vanish after closing) |
| Source | Referral via Priya |
| Date applied | 3 Aug |
| Status | Applied |
| Next action | Follow up if silent |
| Next action date | 10 Aug |
| Contact / notes | Ms. Fernandes; mentioned QuickBooks in letter |