When it comes to job hunting, organization is key and for best results you’ll want to manage the process like any critical project you’ve tackled at work — tracking a variety of relevant goals, data points, metrics, and milestones along the way.

This being said, finding the exact balance of tracking to utilize can be a tricky proposition.  Some job hunters wing it and don’t track nearly enough details, causing them to lose sight of the contacts they make, different opportunities they have brewing, and next steps they need to be engaging in.  On the flip side, there are also people who (in our opinion) track way too much detail, overcomplicating things and hiding behind the tracking process to the point that they spend more time messing around with tracking tools/software than actually “doing” the proactive things necessary to generate interviews and successfully land their next assignment.

In sum, while there’s likely no universal tracking solution that works perfectly for everybody, we’ve created a simple Excel spreadsheet that we feel captures all of the essential data one needs to monitor as part of a job hunting campaign.

Here’s quick rundown of the spreadsheet’s basic features and functionality:

• To make access to the spreadsheet as convenient as possible, we’d recommend you create a shortcut to the spreadsheet file on your computer desktop so that it’s always just one click away

•  Once you open the sheet, enter a “Start Date” for your search in the appropriate cell (B3) that you’ll see indicated; this represents the date you’re committing to kicking off your job hunt, in earnest, and when the sheet will start tracking your daily activity level

• Each day, simply enter as many new rows as appropriate to capture any specific activities you engaged in related to your job search; all you need to do is type in today’s date, pick one of the options in the “Type” field to categorize the task you performed, enter the names of any relevant people/companies involved, and then add some details about the activity in the final column. And if you have a TON of information to add about a given activity or interview, we’d encourage you to right-click any cell and use the “Insert Comment” option to capture this information in an easy, out-of-the-way manner.

•  In terms of the built-in “Activity Type” codes you’ll see on the sheet, here’s a quick rundown of what they mean:

ADV: You applied to a published job opportunity of any kind
NET: You networked with somebody via phone, email, LinkedIn, or an in-person meeting
REC: You contacted a recruiter or staffing professional about potential opportunities
DIR: You reached out “cold” to pitch yourself to a company or hiring manager of interest
INT: You participated in an interview of any kind (remember to add notes in the “comments” field!)
PRO: You engaged in a professional development activity (e.g. took a class, engaged in self-study, etc.)
STR: You took a proactive step (e.g. yoga, meditation, taking a walk…) to help manage your stress
MSC: You completed another miscellaneous type of job search activity not listed above

•  If some sort of follow-up action is warranted for a given activity, such as checking back in with a networking contact down the road after an initial conversation, you can enter a date in the “F/U Date” column to remind yourself; these dates will automatically turn red once the date in question has passed, alerting you that they need to take further action.

•  As your job search unfolds, keep your eye on the “Avg Daily Activities” number that will automatically be calculated at the top of the sheet. This metric simply tells you how many distinct steps you’re taking on average, each day, to propel your job hunt forward. We’d recommend full-time job hunters shoot for a minimum of 5 activities per day (feel free to increase this number if you want to aim higher!) since one of the most common mistakes professionals make is to focus on the time spent on a job search, not output. By ensuring you plant at least 5 new “seeds” a day in the market, however, you’ll avoid analysis paralysis and greatly improve your chances of sparking an employer’s interest.

•  Lastly, you’ll see another area near the top of the sheet that shows you the ratio of different “prospecting” methods you’re using. In most job search situations, people should be engaging in a balanced mix of responding to published ads, reaching out to networking contacts, engaging recruiters and staffing professionals, and directly contacting relevant companies and hiring managers.  So if these numbers are skewed heavily towards just published ad responses, for example, that’s a telltale sign your efforts might be out of balance and/or that you might be avoiding steps of the process you’re uncomfortable with — either unconsciously or unconsciously — allowing you to take corrective action, possibly with help from your Career Horizons coach.

That’s pretty much it!  As indicated above, we think one of the greatest virtues of this spreadsheet tool is its simplicity.  When used properly, we feel it not only will help an individual maintain an accurate gauge on how diligently they’re going about the job search process — but will also help identify areas of avoidance/weakness and feel an important sense of progress along the way.

If you have any further questions about using the tool, please don’t hesitate to let us know, and note that once you’ve downloaded it you’re certainly welcome to modify it further in any way you’d like to fit your own desired habits, preferences, and needs.

P.S. Also note that you can sort all of the data, too, using the column headers; so if you want to quickly organize all of your overdue follow-up items, for example, or find all of the activities you’ve engaged in that relate to a specific person or company, just click the appropriate header and change the sort order accordingly!