7 Simple Tools to Keep your Job Applications Organized

That takes organization. And not all of us are equally stellar at that. Fortunately, we don’t have to be. There are plenty of tools to help us out, which will make the whole process a lot easier. So, what tools am I talking about? Read on.

Google Apps

Google really does have something for everything. That includes applying for a job. What’s more, like most of their products it doesn’t cost you a dime. What am I talking about? Google Drive, for one thing. Just throw your CV and your cover letter into this app and you can access them from whatever device you’re using.

What’s more, you can share them with a company or put links to them on your website. Thereby you’re making it far easier for other people to access and share your details as well. Yup, that’s right. You might not even have to approach other companies. Other people will approach them instead.

It doesn’t stop there either. You can also use the Google Calendar app to schedule when you’re supposed to do things when you’ve got meetings and more. Just activate the reminders and Google will do the rest for you. I’ve found that this works well as a ‘to do’ list that’s time sensitive.

Huntr

The Japanese kanban technique is a productivity favorite. Maybe you might used it in apps like Trello already. Huntr is a kanban board app made specifically for job hunting. You can create as many lists as you want. Place in the logical order of progression (wishlist, applied, 1st interview, etc.), so that each job application moves to the right when you reach its next step. The job listing will have all the details you want and need to be added, like the job title, location, salary, and job post URL.

Huntr lets you add a deadline to any card, to serve as a reminder. Each card can also have its own to-do list and notes, so you know what needs to be done. It’s a simple and easy system, and actually a better Trello alternative if you organize your job search in Trello. To get an idea what it’s all about, you can try the free test version.

JobHero

Each job you apply for is unique. The more you tailor your application to the job, the better your chances are. JobHero lets you create a dashboard of all your jobs, and add other things you might need.

To do so, it offers several functions. First of all, you can collect interesting job offers from across the web and track your application progress. Furthermore, it helps you to stay reminded about upcoming appointments, follow-ups and due dates. On top of that you can upload and tag documents, notes, and contact information. This makes it easier to collect all job application documents at one place, as well as create and store portfolios that show previous work examples.

JibberJobber

The program JibberJobber originally started out much like Huntsy.com did. Since then it has evolved, however. Now it will still help you find a new job, find new connects and stuff like that, but it can do much more than that.It has become a full-fledged, all-around personal relationship management app. That means that it will help you network and not just get a new job, but actually build towards a full-fledged career. Yup, that’s sounds pretty great to me too.

Of course, it will have to sound great as it does cost a fair amount. You’ll have to pay $60 a year for the basic version and $99 for the premium version.

Excel

Sometimes the oldies are the besties and Microsoft Excel is no exception. With this spreadsheet, you can make rows for each company and columns for everything from which cover letter you sent them when you sent it to them, who you sent it to, whether you got a reply and more.If you take the time to make a good spreadsheet (and you actually fill it in) you’ll be in a great position to really bring the job offers ahome. After that, you just need the perfect resume. Fortunately, places like resumes.expert can help you with that.

Don’t have Microsoft excel? Then try out Apache Open Office. This has most of the same functionality of Microsoft Excel with one big bonus: It’s completely free.

CareerBuilder for Mobile

The great thing about CareerBuilder is that it’s a proven website with decades of experience. That’s why their app for mobile is a great choice if you want to do things from your mobile phone.

Now, I wouldn’t want to do everything via mobile. It’s a bit finicky to put together your resume, for example, and writing your resume letter is going to be a struggle. Then, when you’ve gotten those things out of the way, what’s to stop you from doing everything else while you’re strolling through the park or – for that matter – listening to nature’s call?

My.indeed.com

The great thing that My.indeed.com does is that it goes to several different websites and collects all the job posts in one central location. That makes the job search process a whole lot easier. What’s more, you can take notes so that if you don’t want to apply for something right now that note will be right there for you to use.Best part? It doesn’t actually set you back. It’s totally free.

Last words

Finding a new job is hard. I know all about that. There is so much rejection and there are so very many things to distract you. For that reason, you need to make the process as simple as possible. These apps will help you in that regard. Of course, they won’t do it for you – you still have to somehow find the energy – but it’s as close as you are likely to get without hiring somebody.For that reason, try them out. And don’t just play with them either. Give them a real shot. The great thing is, that even as you’re doing that you’re actually applying for jobs. And, as you no doubt know, it only takes one ‘yes’ for this to work out properly.

And if you only send out 10 applications with each of these, that gives you sixty chances to get that yes. Those are pretty good odds in my book!  

About the Author: Janet Anthony is a blogger from Kansas City who has been writing professionally for five years now. She mostly writes about blogging, career advice, and entrepreneurship. Her motto is “What you do today can improve all your tomorrows”. Find Janet here: twitter

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