Database 1 — Companies

Small and dull, and the reason the rest works. Name it Companies, rename the Name column to Company, then add a URL for the careers page and a Text property for notes — the recruiter's name, what they said about remote, whatever you will not remember in a month.

One row per company, even if you apply three times. That is the point: next year you will want to know you already tried.

Database 2 — Applications

One row per role you actually applied to. Name it Applications, rename the Name column to Role, then add:

  • Company — a Relation pointing at Companies.
  • Status — a Select: Applied, Screening, Interview, Offer, Rejected, Withdrawn.
  • Applied — a Date.
  • Next action — a Date. This one property does more work than the rest combined.
  • Source — a Select: LinkedIn, Referral, Company site, Agency. After thirty rows this tells you where your actual replies come from.

The board you look at, and the view you act on

Add a Board view grouped by Status. Dragging a card from Screening to Interview is the only satisfying part of a job search, and you should let yourself have it. Then add a second view called Follow up today, filtered where Next action is on or before today, sorted ascending.

Follow up today is the whole system. Everything else is record keeping; this is the view that gets you replies.

Database 3 — Interviews

Name it Interviews, rename the Name column to Round, then add a Relation to Applications, a Date, an Outcome select (Waiting, Passed, Rejected) and a Text property for what they asked. Write the questions down the same day. Three companies in, the same three questions start repeating, and you will have already written the good answer.

Comparing two offers honestly

Add these to Applications, and fill them only when an offer arrives:

  • Base — a Number, formatted as currency.
  • Bonus — a Number.
  • Other cash — a Number: signing bonus, allowance, whatever is cash this year.
  • Total cash — a Formula: prop("Base") + prop("Bonus") + prop("Other cash")

Total cash is not the whole picture — pension, equity, commute and hours are not in it. It is the part people get wrong in their head, because a bigger base with no bonus often loses to a smaller one with a real bonus.

When to mark something dead

Set Status to Rejected when you are told, and Withdrawn when four weeks pass with no reply after a follow-up. Keep the row. The value of this database appears in month three, when a recruiter calls about a company whose name you half recognise and you can see exactly what happened last time.