Student Perspective: Keeping the Job Search Organized

I’ve been job searching for several months now, talked with countless companies, and had several interviews. It can be somewhat overwhelming to keep track of everyone I have met, contacted and interviewed. However, keeping organized during my job search has been vital to its success, so today I want to share one of the ways I do this. I have created a spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel that allows me to dedicate a row to each company I have contacted regarding employment. Even if I haven’t heard back from a company, I still keep track of how I applied, and who I contacted. Then, if I do hear back from them I can pull it up and have a little information about who I’m talking to.
Here are some of the columns I have to record information about companies I have talked to:

• Company name
• Company website – If an employer calls me I can pull up the spreadsheet, and can refer to the company’s website quickly and easily.
• How I applied to the company – Whether it’s through Tiger Recruiting Link (TRL), the careers page on their website, or through email.
• Contacts – I list all the contacts in the company I have talked to, and put in their emails and information from business cards I have collected.
• Interview dates – If I have interviewed with the company I make note of the date, in case I need to refer to it at a different time. Also, I write down any interview specifics that I think it’s important to remember in this column.
• Last time contacted – I keep track of the last time I spoke with the company. This helps if I haven’t heard from the company in a couple of weeks or so, I will realize it and make sure to follow up with them.
• Notes – For anything else I want to add about the company and my status with them.

If you are applying to many companies, it can be very difficult to keep track of them. You may find that this is an easy and effective way to monitor your employment opportunities with different companies. Hope this helps!

Money Makin' Mitchler '10