The guide
Why track your job applications
An active job search often means dozens of applications at different stages. Without a tracker, follow-ups get forgotten, two companies blur together on a phone screen, and you lose track of which resume you sent. That last one matters more than it seems: in the interview, the hiring manager has your resume in front of them, and you need to be able to talk through it line by line.
Tracking also pays off strategically. Looking back over your cards, you can see which kinds of roles get you interviews and which go quiet. If applications with a high match score move forward more often, that is a signal to target the next ones more carefully.
Follow-ups and interviews: a few rules of thumb
If you hear nothing after one to two weeks, a short, polite follow-up is usually welcome: mention the role, when you applied and that you are still interested, in two or three sentences. Log the date on the card so you never chase the same person twice. After an interview, a thank-you note sent within 24 hours leaves a good impression and gives you a chance to revisit a point you did not have time to develop.
Before each interview, reread the posting, the resume you sent and your notes. Prepare three concrete examples tied to the job requirements and two or three questions about the team or its goals. Right afterwards, write down the questions you were asked; they tend to come up again elsewhere.
Finally, make a habit of a weekly review of your board. Spot applications that have sat in Waiting for more than two weeks and decide: follow up or let go. Move closed ones to Rejected or Withdrawn so the board reflects reality. And after a rejection that followed an interview, politely ask for feedback; it is often brief, but it helps you adjust for next time.
A tracker connected to your resumes, not another spreadsheet
A spreadsheet or notes app can be enough at first. The advantage of the MIA CV tracker is that your tailored resumes feed it directly: the card is created with the posting, the score and the documents, with nothing to retype. All that's left is to move the status along and schedule interviews.
The card also keeps the job details, which is handy when the posting has been taken down in the meantime, as often happens before the interview even takes place.