1. Decide on platform
A. How complex is the topic you are going to track?
B. What are the data points you need to track?
C. Simple systems can be started in MS Excel or google sheets until everything is decided then
migrated/imported to a more robust system such as SharePoint or a full custom database.
2. What kinds of reports do you need to pull from the system?
3. How often?
To start this off I chose to setup a quick and easy Job Tracking system using Excel. Note that data shown is past
data. This can also be used to track just about anything you want from daily tasks to craft supplies to Applications
for a Service.
Planning
Name the Columns
Date, Company, Job Title, Description, Contact Name, Email, Phone, Link or Subject, Notes, Follow Up 1, 2, 3,
Interview Date, Time, Names, Thank You Card, Follow Up, Results
Reports, Lists & Filters
I like to pull reports that show how many of each job title I’ve applied to, if I’ve talked to the same person more
than once and when was the last time, interviews and results.
I also use filters to hide older jobs or jobs that I’ve been rejected for or have been pending too long without results.
I use the count feature to keep track of the number of people I’ve talked to as well. Now that we have the
parameters set time to setup the system.
- Open Excel with a new spreadsheet.
2. Enter the column names as determined during the planning phase, from left to right.
3. Highlight the column names plus a couple blank rows.
a. Go to Insert Table
b. Be sure to check the box My Table has Headers
4. Go to Table Design –> Total Row
5. Fill in your table with data
6. Click the Drop Down to choose if you want to Add or Count the items in the column.
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