Even when I was looking for my second job out of college, I submitted dozens of applications and there were several times when I was unsure if I had applied for a job or not (not every job portal sends confirmation emails). Once you get into the dozens of applications, you need to take notes to keep yourself organized about if you need to do something (e.g. take a coding assessment), if you're just awaiting something (e.g. awaiting a scheduled interview), or to just take notes about how you felt about some part of the process (e.g. you saw some red flags or positive signs during some interaction).

If you're only applying for a very small handful of jobs (1 or 2), you probably don't need to use a CRM nor something resembling a CRM.

Hi Matt. Great question. Our users typically track <20 applications but often have submitted resumes to far more that they are not monitoring. It probably is not an effective strategy to dedicate a specific plan to every 100+ cold application you fill out, but keeping track of the macro picture is extremely valuable - where have I applied and when - and what does this tell me about how close I am to an offer. Applicants using Kiter can move beyond relying on gmail search to understand where they are in their timeline.

You mentioned new grads and that demographic is a big portion of our user base so far. That being said, in todays remote world, almost any talented potential applicant is probably monitoring a few opportunities, even if they are happy in their current role. The plugin (v1) will be a way for someone to capture down a role/company they might find on HN or twitter but are not ready to spend time applying for yet. I hope this is helpful.

Yes. I had a Trello board specifically for this purpose.

If you're selective about the job you want then you have to cast your net far and wide until you find The One. Recruiters will ghost you, low salary bands will be withheld until the second or third call, you won't find out about team drama until one interviewer talks trash about another that you spoke to earlier, a remote job will magically turn into an on-site one because the recruiter told you incorrectly, your prospective manager will expect 60 hour weeks plus a mandatory on-call rotation with no compensation, twelve-hour-long coding assignments involving proprietary technologies and/or reverse engineering will be sprung on you prematurely, etc.

On the flip side of this you should know what it is that you're good at and want to do for a living. Since you know yourself better than any recruiter or future coworker the onus is somewhat on you to make sure that the positions you're considering are a good fit. You shouldn't, for instance, waste time interviewing for a mobile development job just because you built an app for your current employer for a few months once if you really aren't passionate about it and actually want to develop distributed back-end systems.

It's always better to hold out for a position that will set both you and your employer up for success. Taking a job just because it's there for a paycheck will leave both parties unsatisfied in the end.

Hi Alex. Thank you for sharing and congrats on finding a great role. I think you are spot on. For many there will always be the option of jumping in a "track" career or taking the first opportunity that comes their way. For the rest, like yourself, there are so many great companies in need of great people out there that it can be worth taking the time to be strategic and thoughtful. With the ease at which you can search/find/resume-drop/email these days that trend is likely to grow.

You mentioned having success with a Trello board. Is there anything that you wished you could have had in addition at the time?

I also use a Trello board for this and I’ve known that there is a market for this. I’ve been thinking of switching to Notion to try that out as my solution.

That said, as I have been considering building something like this, I’ve imagined that it could provide some of the value that Glassdoor and Levels.fyi both provide.

In my Trello board I take notes about the salary bands of each position, what questions are asked in each interview, and also how I’m feeling about each. If this information is handled properly, you can collect it and (perhaps for the free version) share this anonymously with other people.

That said, one thing I’m missing from my Trello board is versatility. I want to be able to record/update my experience/interview status with a company and then see that information represented in several different ways. Seeing a swim lane representation of interview stages is helpful (where Trello shines) but it also might be helpful to see it in spreadsheet form where I can sort based on certain attributes. Sometimes things don’t fit well in swim lanes.

One thing I do like about Trello is that I can basically journal about my experiences there, though it would be nice to see all my journal entries together in one place, rather than being forced to see them separated by card.

Feel free to reach out to me if you have more questions: bradydowling at gmail

I can't imagine applying to that many jobs as an experienced dev. My last job transition I narrowed down my search to 3 companies that I was interested in enough to apply & interview, based on combination of compensation, culture, and product. Got an excellent offer from one of them, and still happy 2+ years later.

I know that's a fortunate position to be in, but it's been a job-seeker's market for years. I feel like if you know your skills and value you can afford to be selective and focus your efforts on quality vs quantity. It obviously takes the stress off to already be employed and looking to move/upgrade. You can interview the companies as much as they are interviewing you.

I apply to maybe 5 companies at maximum, but I always track them in a spreadsheet with a similar functionality to this kiter app.

I just forget what the status of each application was or is. When did I apply, when was the last communication and what was discussed. I just don't want to worry about any of it, so I write it down.

I wouldn't use an app like this because I would simply create another spreadsheet when I need it again, but I can see how it would be useful even for a small number of companies to track.

Great point on the value of keeping tabs on timing. Most of us are very busy and many are fortunate enough for the job hunt to be part time. Having a clear idea of when the last time you had contact with a company is exactly the type of thing we are trying to make fun and easy.

I guess whether people are laid off or just looking for new opportunities, it may not be easy to keep all the resumes, responses, contacts and interview results together, also maybe they already applied for this position? to this company? If so, when and why didn't they still have an offer from them? If they rejected, for what reason? what about reference contacts? test assignments?

so an online service for keeping all information about their job search process may be helpful.

Exactly. Our longterm goal is to not just help with the job you are applying to currently, but to help you get your next job as well.