ApplyTrac

Free job application tracker spreadsheet template

Seventeen columns, six pipeline stages and the follow-up dates most templates leave out. Works in Google Sheets, Excel and Numbers. No signup, no email, no catch.

Download the template (CSV)Imports straight into Google Sheets or Excel

What is in the template

Most free trackers are a company column, a date and a status. Those three tell you what you did; they do not tell you what to do next. These are the columns that do, and why each one is there.

Company / Role / Location / Work Mode
The identity of the application. Work mode earns its own column because "Remote" in a posting and "Remote" in the offer are frequently different things.
Source
Where you found it: LinkedIn, Indeed, referral, company site. After fifty applications this column tells you which channel is actually producing replies.
Job URL
Postings get taken down, and a dead link three weeks later means you cannot prepare for the interview. Paste the description somewhere too if the role matters.
Date Applied
The single most useful column, because every follow-up decision is derived from it.
Status
One of six stages: Wishlist, Applied, Screening, Interviewing, Offer, Rejected. Resist adding more; every extra stage is a judgement call you have to make on every row.
Resume Version
Which file you actually sent. When a recruiter calls about a role from five weeks ago, this is the column you will wish you had filled in.
Salary Range
Record it at application time, before anchoring sets in.
Contact Name / Email / Last Contact
The recruiter or hiring manager, and when you last spoke. This is the part of a job search that compounds, because the relationships outlast the openings.
Follow-Up Date / Next Action
The two columns that make this a system instead of a log. Sort by Follow-Up Date and the sheet tells you what to do today.
Interview Date / Notes
Everything you learn on a call. Write it immediately; you will not remember it on Friday.

How to use it

  1. 1Download the CSV and import it. In Google Sheets, File → Import → Upload, separator type Comma.
  2. 2Freeze the top row and turn on filters, so you can sort by status or follow-up date.
  3. 3Add a row the moment you apply, not later. The sheet is only worth what its worst-maintained row is worth.
  4. 4Once a week, sort by Follow-Up Date and work the top of the list. That is the whole ritual.
  5. 5Colour the Status column with conditional formatting if it helps you scan: six stages, six colours.

When a spreadsheet stops being the right tool

For the first few dozen applications, a sheet wins. It is free, it is yours, it works offline and it bends to whatever you need. Keep using it. The failure is predictable though, and it is always the same one:

  • The sheet is only as current as your last manual update, and the day you apply to eight roles is exactly the day you do not feel like typing eight rows.
  • It cannot tell you your response rate without you building the formula, so most people never learn which source or resume version is actually working.
  • It has no memory of which resume file went to which company, so a call about a five-week-old application starts with a search through your downloads folder.
  • Screening questions get retyped every single time, because a spreadsheet has nowhere to keep the answers.

ApplyTrac is the same six stages and broadly the same columns, with the updating done for you. The record is written when you submit the application, and the response-rate maths is already there. It is free for unlimited tracked applications. Worth saying plainly: there is no spreadsheet import yet, so moving across means re-entering what you already have. If your sheet is long and it is working, stay on it.

Try the free trackerSee how it works first

Frequently asked questions

Is this job application tracker template really free?

Yes. It is a CSV file, there is no signup, no email required and no watermark. Download it, import it, change whatever you like. It is a spreadsheet, it belongs to you.

How do I import the CSV into Google Sheets?

Download the file, then in Google Sheets go to File → Import → Upload and select it. Choose "Replace spreadsheet" and set the separator type to Comma. In Excel, opening the .csv directly works, though Data → From Text/CSV gives you cleaner control over how dates are parsed.

What are the six pipeline stages for?

Wishlist, Applied, Screening, Interviewing, Offer and Rejected. They map to how a search actually moves, and keeping the list short is the point. A tracker with fourteen statuses forces a decision on every single row and is the most common reason people abandon a job search spreadsheet.

Should I use a spreadsheet or a job application tracker app?

Use the spreadsheet until it starts costing you more than it saves. For most people that is somewhere between forty and sixty applications, or the moment several companies are at different stages at once. Below that, a sheet is genuinely the right tool and anyone telling you otherwise is selling something.

How often should I update it?

At the moment of the event, not at the end of the week. Every job search spreadsheet dies the same way: a gap of a few days, then the update becomes a chore rather than a reflex, then the sheet is wrong and you stop trusting it.