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Free template

Job application
tracker template.

Nine columns and one example row, as CSV and Excel. Download it, delete the example and start. No email, no account.

Download the CSVDownload the .xlsx

Row 2 in both files is an example. Delete it and put your first application there.

Or let CV Rocket track every application for you

CSV

Opens in Excel, Numbers and Google Sheets. UTF-8 with a byte-order mark, so a name with an accent survives Excel on Windows.

Download the CSV

Excel workbook

The same nine columns, with the header row frozen, a filter on row one and column widths that fit what goes in them.

Download the .xlsx

The columns

Nine columns, and what each one is for.

Most tracker templates have thirty columns, because thirty columns look thorough in a screenshot. This one has only the fields you will still fill in at eleven at night, after finishing the application itself.

Company

The one column you will sort by when a recruiter calls and you have four seconds to remember which application this is.

ExampleNorthwind Payments

Role

The title as the posting wrote it, not as you would describe it. Two openings at one company are told apart by this and nothing else.

ExampleSenior Backend Engineer, Payments

Posting URL

Postings come down. Paste the link on the day you find it, because the page you want to re-read before the interview is the one that will be gone.

Examplehttps://boards.example.com/northwind/senior-backend

Found on

How old the posting was when you applied is the single number this sheet can teach you, and you can only learn it if you write down when you saw it.

Example2026-08-18

Applied on

Blank means you have not applied yet, which makes this column the to-do list. Filled in, it is the clock on every follow-up.

Example2026-08-19

Status

One word from a fixed list. A free-text status column becomes twelve spellings of 'waiting' inside a month.

ExamplePhone screen

Next step

What YOU do next, with a date. Not what they might do. A tracker full of 'waiting to hear back' is a tracker that has stopped working.

ExampleSend the follow-up on 26 Aug

Contact

The name of the person who replied, and where they replied. It is what turns the second application at that company into a warm one.

ExampleDana Ruiz, recruiter (LinkedIn)

Notes

What the posting demanded, what you claimed, what they asked. Read this before the interview, and read it again before you write the next CV.

ExampleWants Kubernetes on-call ownership. Led with the payments migration.

One column, eight words

Status is a fixed list of eight words.

Pick one of these every time. A free-text status column turns into twelve spellings of waiting inside a month, and then you cannot filter it.

Ghosted is on the list on purpose. It is what happens to a large share of applications, and a template that only offers Rejected suggests the silence was your doing.

  • Found
  • Applied
  • Phone screen
  • Interviewing
  • Offer
  • Rejected
  • Ghosted
  • Withdrew

How to use it

Four habits keep the sheet working.

  1. Add the row when you find the job

    Fill in Company, Role, URL and Found on the moment you see the posting. The sheet becomes your queue, and Found on gets a true value.

  2. Next step is something you do

    Write the thing with your name on it and the date you will do it: send the follow-up, ask for the referral, prepare the system design round.

  3. Review the whole sheet once a week

    Twenty minutes on a Sunday. Everything whose next step has passed gets a new date or moves to Ghosted.

  4. Write down what the posting demanded

    Notes is the column that pays for the rest. Before an interview it is your revision sheet; before the next application it shows which proof has been working.

The tracker that fills itself

CV Rocket keeps this sheet for you.

Every job you say yes to gets a row with its CV, its application and the employer's answer, updated as replies arrive in your private inbox.

The CV Rocket positions screen: every job the candidate picked, with its CV, its status and where the application stands.
The columnYour spreadsheetCV Rocket
A new jobYou paste it inYes: Matched to your search
Applied onYou type the dateYes: Recorded to the hour
StatusYou update itYes: Updated from the employer's reply
The CV you sentYou remember whichYes: Written for the posting, filed with it
Next stepYou set a reminderYes: The interview lands in your calendar
ContactYou copy it outYes: Every reply in your private inbox
Get me interviews

Free account, no card. From $25 per CV, paid once, no subscription.

Volume

You track 5–10 by hand. We track 100 a day.

By hand you send 5–10, each one typed into the sheet. We send 100 a day, each with its own CV written for its posting, and every one is tracked for you.

5–10applications by hand
100applications a day with CV Rocket

Questions

About the template.

Get me interviews
What should a job application tracker include?

Company, role, the posting URL, the date you found it, the date you applied, a one-word status, your next action with a date, who you have spoken to, and notes on what the posting asked for. Those are the nine columns in this file.

Do I have to give you my email to download it?

No. Both files are plain downloads on this page. Nothing sits behind a form, and no email sequence follows.

Is Excel or Google Sheets better for this?

Whichever is already open on your machine. The CSV imports into either; take the .xlsx for the frozen header and the widths already set.

Can I use it in Google Sheets or Notion?

Yes. In Google Sheets, choose File, then Import, and upload the CSV. In Notion, import the CSV and it becomes a database with the nine columns as properties.

How often should I update it?

Twice a week: once when you add new postings, once when you clear the next steps that are past their date.

Can CV Rocket track my applications automatically?

Yes, for every job you apply to through it. Each one sits on your positions screen with its CV and its application, and its status moves as the employer's replies arrive in your private inbox. An interview goes straight into your calendar.

Skip the spreadsheet.
We track every reply.

Sign up free, drop your CV and say which jobs you want. We write a CV for each, apply, and keep the tracker for you.

Get me interviews

Free account, no card. From $25 per CV, paid once, no subscription.