Applying for jobs is easy. Keeping track of them is the hard part.
Once you’ve applied to ten or twenty roles, the details start blending together. Which company wanted a cover letter? Did you follow up? Which version of your résumé did you send? By the time you reach 30 applications, a spreadsheet starts to look like a second job.
You need a system.
Start tracking before you apply
The easiest way to lose track of a job search is to start documenting it halfway through. For every role, keep the basics in one place: company, position, job link, date applied, status, deadline, contact person, interview dates, follow-up date, and notes.
You just need somewhere you can answer: what have I applied for, and what happens next?
Use statuses that actually mean something
“Applied” isn’t enough. A useful tracker should tell you where every application currently stands:
Saved → Applying → Applied → Screening → Interview → Offer → Rejected
If 25 applications are sitting in “Applied,” you know exactly what needs attention. If five have moved to “Interview,” you can see your search is working.
Keep your materials connected
This is where job searching gets messy. You submit one version of your résumé to one company and a slightly different one to another. Then you update your portfolio. A few weeks later, you can’t remember what you actually sent.
Keep the work behind each application organised — which résumé version, which portfolio link, which cover letter. Then you can walk back into any application without reconstructing everything from memory.
Don’t rely on your inbox
Email is useful for communication. It’s terrible as a job tracker.
Your inbox tells you what people have sent you. Your tracker should tell you what you need to do. Those are different things. A follow-up reminder can disappear into a thread you haven’t opened in two weeks.
Tie a next-action date to every application the moment its status changes — not just when something exciting happens.
Track relationships, not just applications
Job searches are rarely just applications. You might message an alumnus, talk to a researcher, or have an informal conversation with someone at a company you’re interested in. Record those interactions too.
Sometimes the most useful application is the one you haven’t submitted yet.
Don’t forget the work behind the applications
Conventional job trackers track the application. They don’t track the evidence behind it — and for research-based careers, that’s a big gap.
You might apply for ten different roles using the same core experience: your thesis, a machine learning project, a publication, a research assistantship. Instead of rebuilding your story every time, keep those projects organised and reusable.
That’s part of what Takeoff is designed for. Your projects, education, and achievements can live in one professional site — so every application can point back to the same home rather than relying on a two-page résumé and a collection of claims.
Build a system that scales
Ten applications is manageable. Twenty starts getting annoying. Fifty gets chaotic.
Keep the status current. Record your conversations. Save the materials you sent. Track follow-ups. Keep your best work organised.
Your job search shouldn’t become a full-time admin job.
Takeoff helps you keep your career organised in one place.