What information belongs in a tracker?
Start with the employer, role title, job link and application status. Add the date you submitted and where you applied. Save the version of your CV and any cover letter you sent. Those details let you recognise the role later and prepare from the same information the employer received.
Keep a short note about location eligibility and any open question. A remote label alone is not enough to confirm a country match. Record the relevant wording or a link to it so you can check again if needed. Avoid collecting private information about employees that has no useful role in managing your own application.
How should I define the statuses?
Use statuses that describe events you can observe. Saved means you want to review a role. Preparing means you are working on an application. Applied means you completed submission. Replied or Interview means the employer actually contacted you about a next step. Closed can cover a rejection, withdrawal or a role you no longer plan to pursue.
Keep the reason for closing in a note if it will help later. Do not mark a role as rejected just because it has been quiet, and do not treat an automated acknowledgement as an interview invitation. Clear status meanings stop your board from becoming a collection of hopeful guesses.
How do I choose a next action?
Give each active application a concrete next step. It might be checking country eligibility, editing the CV, finishing a portal form or preparing for a call. Write the action as something you can do. “Wait” is sometimes accurate, but add the event or date that will prompt another review.
Use the employer’s stated timeline for follow-up. If none is given, a personal reminder can prompt you to review whether contact is appropriate. A reminder is not a command to send a message. Check for a reply and any no-contact instruction before acting. Keep the actual sent date separate from the date you planned.
How should I save documents and notes?
Use a naming pattern you can understand later, with the employer and role in the filename. Keep the final submitted version separate from later edits. If you revise your master CV after applying, do not overwrite the evidence of what you sent. Interview preparation is easier when you can reopen that exact document.
Keep notes brief and factual. Record what was agreed, who gave the information and the next step. Protect login details with a password manager rather than a tracker note. Be careful where you store sensitive documents or personal information, especially if you share the tracker with a friend or adviser.
How often should I review the board?
Choose a review habit that fits your search and commitments. During a review, update new replies, check actions due and remove roles you no longer want. Look for saved drafts that were never submitted. Open an old job link before spending time on it because the listing or hiring limits may have changed.
Use the review to decide where your attention belongs. An application with a real interview task needs a different action from a job you have only bookmarked. Do not keep adding roles merely to make the board look active. A manageable shortlist with clear next steps is more useful than a large list you never revisit.
What can the tracker tell me about my search?
Read your own notes for patterns you can verify. You may notice repeated eligibility problems, missing evidence for a skill or unclear versions of your CV. Use those observations to improve your next choice. Do not infer an employer’s private reasons from silence or treat a small set of applications as proof about the whole market.
Bao provides a board for saved and submitted jobs, with notes and reminders. You can use it to keep preparation and follow-up together while submitting on the employer’s site yourself. The board does the remembering for you, and the habit stays simple: record the event, save the evidence and choose the next action.