Guides for your first job
Log every applicationso nothing falls through.
Seven fields, five statuses, and a 7/14-day follow-up cadence. This is what to track, why a spreadsheet quietly stops working, and how it maps onto the tracker and extension.
- Seven fieldsworth logging, every time
- 7/14-dayfollow-up cadence
- Whya spreadsheet fails in practice
What to log for every application
The exact legal or trading name — not a shorthand you'll forget the meaning of in three weeks.
The exact title from the posting, since fresher titles vary a lot (see the role map) and "SDE" alone won't tell you which one this was.
The date you actually submitted, which is what your follow-up cadence counts from.
Naukri, LinkedIn, the company site, a referral — so you know where to check for status updates and which channel is producing results.
Which resume file or tailoring you sent, since a callback needs to match the resume the recruiter actually has, not your latest edit.
Where it currently stands — see the recommended stages below.
The specific date you'll next act on this one, not "soon". A date with no owner never happens.
Recommended statuses
The follow-up cadence
No response yet: one polite follow-up message or email, referencing the exact role and date applied.
Still nothing: one more follow-up, and if there's still silence after this, treat the application as likely closed and move your attention elsewhere.
A short thank-you note within 24 hours, and a follow-up if you haven't heard back by the timeline they gave you.
Why spreadsheets fail in practice
Not because they're the wrong tool in theory — because the habits they need rarely survive week three of a real search.
- They live in a separate tab you forget to open, so follow-up dates silently slip.
- Nothing reminds you a follow-up is due — you have to remember to check, which is exactly the habit that breaks under stress.
- Copying a job posting's details in by hand is slow enough that most people stop doing it after the first week.
- There's no link back to the actual resume version you sent, so a callback three weeks later can catch you off guard.
- One typo in a date or status, and the whole log quietly stops being trustworthy.
How this maps to the ReachRole tracker
| What you need | A spreadsheet | Tracker + extension |
|---|---|---|
| Capturing the application | Manual copy-paste from the job posting | The Chrome extension captures company, role, portal and date automatically when you apply from a job page. |
| Resume version | A filename you have to remember to note | The tracker links the exact resume version used, automatically, at the moment of applying. |
| Follow-up reminders | None — you have to remember | Statuses and follow-up dates live with the application; nothing to separately remember to check. |
| Status updates | Manually typed, easy to forget | One tap to update status as things move, from applied through to offer or rejected. |
Stop copy-pasting job details
Install the extension and every application logs itself.
Works on Naukri, LinkedIn, Instahyre, Wellfound and most company career pages.
Common questions
Tracking a search without losing the thread