A few days ago I talked to a friend about what the best way to go about searching for jobs. Career Fairs used to be the way I found good job leads, but that works less well when you’re not a college student.

He gave me a few good tips (most of which were checking with friends for job leads) but the big one was how to organize everything. Organizing everything into a spreadsheet helps quite a bit for keeping track.

Application and response date are helpful if you get rejected and they tell you when you can re-apply. Location helps with comparison (e.g. one offers you 80k but you’d have to move vs 70k and it’s a short distance away). The main thing is the Action column; it’s used for at a glance “do I need to email/call someone?” That one is particularly helpful if you get a response with enough time to update the spreadsheet but not enough time to prepare a proper response.

Other columns that may get added later, as needed.

• Desirability: Rating scale of how much I want to work there
• Qualification: Likelihood I’ll get a positive response
• Interview Date: Helpful in case multiple interviews get scheduled, although this is also solved with a calendar.
• Contact: Who’s been talking with you through the main process (including Contact Email and/or Phone).
• (Expected) Salary: If you can find this information.