A job search spreads fast. One application on a job board, one by email, one through a referral — and a week later it is hard to remember which role is at which stage, who was supposed to reply, and what to follow up on next. This tracker keeps all of it in one Google Sheets file, so the search itself stays organized while you do the applying.
What it is
A native Google Sheets template, not a printable. It comes as a blank tracker plus a separate fictional sample, with a short setup guide. You open the template link, choose Make a copy, and it saves to your own Google Drive. You need a Google account, Google Drive access and an internet connection. It is built for Google Sheets in a desktop browser; Excel exports, other spreadsheet apps and mobile layouts are not independently tested or promised.
There are six worksheets: Dashboard, Applications, Interviews, Follow-ups, Lists and Start Here. Together they hold 200 application rows, 100 interview rows and 200 follow-up rows.
Start with one row per application
Each application gets one row and one application ID — letters, digits, hyphens or underscores — that you keep the same everywhere. The row holds the employer, the role, where you found it, the applied date, the stage, the next action and the follow-up date. Applied dates and source links are optional; the rest is what makes the dashboard work.
Use a unique, permanent ID for each application. The built-in checks flag missing details, duplicate or unknown IDs, invalid date text and linked rows that need correcting. Fix those messages before relying on the dashboard counts.
Link interviews and follow-ups to the application
Interviews and follow-ups are not separate lists floating on their own — each one links back to its application by that same ID, and the employer and role are pulled through from the application record. An interview row holds the date, time and timezone, format, contact, preparation notes and status. A follow-up row holds the action, due date, status and notes.
Interview date and status, and follow-up action, date and status, are required for those records. Keep the ID stable if you sort or filter — filter whole tables, and do not insert or delete rows, because the formulas do not extend beyond rows 5–204 for Applications and Follow-ups, and 5–104 for Interviews. When you run out of room, make another blank copy.
Check the dashboard before you follow up
The Dashboard is where the search becomes a short to-do list: linked counts for applications, interviews and follow-ups, stage summaries, and the rows that need attention. Set the review date on the Dashboard manually before each review — it stays at the date you enter and does not advance on its own. "Due today" matches that date; "Next 7 days" covers the following seven days, including day seven. Earlier dates are marked overdue, or "Past - review" for scheduled interviews.
Rejected, Withdrawn and Accepted applications are closed, and their open linked interviews and follow-ups are excluded from the open due counts. Done or Cancelled follow-ups and Completed or Cancelled interviews leave the open due counts the same way. Note that the next action on an application and a separate follow-up record are counted separately — entering the same task in both does not combine them.
A simple weekly habit
Once a week, open the Dashboard, set the review date, and work through what it flags: interviews to prepare for, follow-ups due, and applications with no next action. The sample file (9 fictional applications, 6 interviews, 7 follow-up records) is there to show how a filled tracker looks before you start your own. Keep an untouched blank copy alongside it.
Setup, in four steps: open the guide, make your Google Sheets copy, enter linked records with their IDs, and review the dashboard checks. The guide is a 3-page PDF in the download, with the template links in a text file.
What it does not do
This organizer does not send job applications, emails or reminders, contact employers, retrieve job postings or change the status of your applications for you. It tracks what you record, and the dashboard counts only what is linked and up to date. If a record is missing or unlinked, it will not appear in the counts.
Get the tracker
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Related reading on Teacher Planning Hub: the Net Worth Tracker post (https://teacherplanninghub.blogspot.com/2026/11/net-worth-tracker-printable-work-out.html) and the Resume Checklist post (https://teacherplanninghub.blogspot.com/2026/11/resume-checklist-printable-check-every.html) — the same "one subtraction / one list" habit, applied to money and to applications.
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