Apply, track and follow up
Apply in safe places, keep a simple tracker table in any notes app, follow up at sensible times and spot fake job offers before they cost you.
You will have: A tracker table with one row per application, the next follow-up date for each, a short list of what is due this week, and a clear rule for what to share at each stage.
Before you start
- A rough list of the jobs you have applied for: company, job title, date applied, where you applied, and any date they gave you
- Today's date
- Contact people by first name and role only (for example "Dana, recruiter"). Do not paste phone numbers, email addresses or whole emails from recruiters, and never paste your own ID numbers or bank details
- Any notes app on your phone or computer, or a paper notebook, where you will keep the table
Make it yours
Change the example (operations job search (fictional)) to your own. Your answers are saved in this browser and used in every episode.
Other series keywords (3)
Your prompt
Paste into: A normal AI chat (ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini). Copy the table into your notes app. Once a week, paste the table back with your updates and ask for new follow-up dates.Help me track my job applications for Operations Coordinator roles in United States. Build a simple tracker table I will keep in my notes app.
Today's date: [TODAY'S DATE]
My applications (company, job title, date applied, where I applied, contact first name and role, status, any date they gave me, notes):
[PASTE YOUR LIST OF APPLICATIONS]
Make one row per application with these columns, separated by |:
Company | Job title | Date applied | Where (company site, job board, referral) | Contact | Status | Next step | Follow-up date
Follow-up rules:
- Applied, with a contact person: one short check-in about 7 days after applying.
- Applied, no contact person: no follow-up date. Next step: "Watch email".
- Interviewed: a thank-you note within 1 day of the interview. If they gave a decision date, follow up 2 working days after it. If not, follow up about 7 days after the interview.
- Already followed up twice with no reply: Next step "Move on". No new date.
- Rejected, withdrawn or job closed: no follow-up date.
- If a date falls on a weekend, move it to the next working day in my country.
Rules:
- Use only the facts I give. Do not invent companies, dates, contacts or statuses.
- If a date or status is missing or unclear, write [?] in that cell and ask me instead of guessing.
- Leave out phone numbers, emails and personal details.
- Plain text only, no markdown.
After the table, give me:
A) Follow-ups due in the next 7 days, soonest first, with the date.
B) Any row where my notes mention a warning sign: a fee or payment, a check to cash, contact only by text, WhatsApp or Telegram, an offer for a job I did not apply for, or no real interview. Just name the row and the sign so I can check it myself.
C) Questions for me about anything missing.Review the prompt, then copy it. Never paste real passwords or API keys into a chat.
How to check it worked
- Where you apply: use the company's own careers page when you can, or check the same job is listed there. Find the site yourself; do not follow links in unexpected messages
- Screening questions: answer the yes/no questions (right to work, licence, location) carefully and honestly. That is where many automatic rejections really happen
- Dates: check each follow-up date against a calendar and against what the employer told you. Fix any [?] by looking up the real date
- What to share when: your resume needs only name, city, email and phone. Give ID numbers and bank details only to HR after a written offer you have checked: a company email address, a phone number you looked up yourself, ideally a live video or in-person meeting
- Fake-offer warning signs: any fee, a check where you send part of the money back, contact only by WhatsApp or Telegram, being hired with no real interview, big pay for simple tasks, a free web-mail address. If you see one, stop and look up the company yourself
- If you paid or shared details with a fake employer: tell your bank straight away and report it, for example to the FTC (ReportFraud.ftc.gov) in the US, Report Fraud (reportfraud.police.uk, formerly Action Fraud) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland or Police Scotland on 101, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre or Scamwatch in Australia. Check this for your country
Sample result
Example: operations job search (fictional)Fictional example: Maya Torres's tracker on Tuesday 10 November 2026. All companies and people are made up.
If something goes wrong
- The follow-up dates look wrong or land on a weekend.
- Reply: "Recheck every follow-up date using today's date and the rules. Show each date with its weekday." Then check them against a calendar yourself.
- You followed up twice and still heard nothing.
- Mark it "Move on" and put your energy into the next good-fit job. Silence is very common and is usually about the number of applicants, not about you.
- A "recruiter" contacts you with an offer that seems too good, or wants to move to WhatsApp or Telegram.
- Do not reply with personal details or pay anything. Find the company's real website and phone number yourself and ask them if the job and the person are real.
Good to know: official scam advice in the US (FTC), the UK (Report Fraud, formerly Action Fraud), Canada (Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre) and Australia (Scamwatch) agrees that you should never pay to get a job. The US, Canadian and Australian advice also warns about paying to "unlock" earnings. As of October 2026; check the current page for your country.
More in Apply and connect
This is part of the series From no replies to interviews: a 10-step AI job search. See all 10 episodes, the tools used and answers to common questions on the series page.