Help

Getting started

There's no password. On the sign-in page, enter your email address and we send you a link. Open it in the same browser and you're in. If you're new, the link lets you create your account instead.

Or click Continue with Google. With a Gmail address (or a work address on Google), Google signs you in, and if you're new it takes you straight to creating your account. With any other address, we send you a link instead. The first time you use Google on an account you already have, we email you to say it's connected.

Choose Tracking my job search when you sign up and you get your own board, called "Your name's job search". Each person has one board of their own.

You stay signed in on that browser. To use your board on another computer or your phone, sign in there the same way; each browser gets its own sign-in.

The board

Each column is a status, and each card is one job. Drag a card to another column as things move along, or change its status when you edit it.

• Unlikely match
• Prospect
• Strong match
• Applied
• Interviewing
• Offer
• Accepted
• Rejected
• Ghosted
• Expired posting
• Withdrawn
• Declined

• Unlikely match, Prospect, Strong match are for jobs you're still looking at. A new card starts in Prospect, in the middle. Once you've read the posting, move it right to Strong match, next to Applied, or left to Unlikely match, out of the way.
• Applied onward is everything after you send the application.
• Rejected, Ghosted, Expired posting, Withdrawn, Declined, Accepted are closed: those cards no longer ask for a follow-up.

Need a status that isn't there? Ask us (reply to any email from us) and we'll add it for everyone. Click a column's arrow to collapse it out of the way.

Archive

A closed card nobody has touched for 60 days moves to the archive under the board, so the columns stay about the search you're doing now. Click Show archived to see them. Nothing in the archive is deleted.

What goes on a card

Click Add (or press n) for a new card; click a card's to edit it. Only the company and the role are required.

Start from a job link. Paste the posting's address at the top of the form (or press Fill in) and we fill in the company, role, location and salary from the posting, wherever the page says them, and put the link on the card. Only empty fields are filled, so check what it found before you save. Many company job pages work. Some sites, LinkedIn and Indeed especially, don't let us read their postings: then we fill in whatever the address itself says, and you type the rest.

Already on your board? If the link is one you already have (the same posting, even with different tracking bits on the end), the form says so in amber and offers Open it. If you have other cards at the same company, a line under Company lists them, so you can see what you've applied for there. Neither stops you saving: applying for two jobs at one company is two applications. Restoring a backup tells you the same, before you merge, if it has postings you already have as separate cards.

Date applied

Filled in for you the first time the card moves to Applied or later. Change it if you applied on another day.

Last contacted

The last time you heard from them or followed up. Earlier dates are kept as the card's contact history.

Priority

High, Medium or Low. Every card starts at Medium; use the arrows on a card to move it up or down.

Link

The job posting, or wherever you applied. The card gets an Open link.

Contact

The recruiter or hiring manager, and their email or LinkedIn.

Next action

A date and a note: "Phone screen 2pm", "Send thank-you note".

Interview stage

While a card is in Interviewing, mark where you are: phone screen, technical, onsite, panel, final round, or a stage you add. Each stage you pick gets today's date; change it in the card's Interview dates if the interview is another day, or remove one you picked by mistake. Dated interviews go on your work search record.

Salary, tags, notes

Anything else. Tags like remote, referral or dream-job become filters above the board.

To delete a card, open it and click Delete. It's gone from your board and from your work search record, and it moves to Deleted cards at the bottom of the board, where you can restore it as it was.

Only you, the board's owner, see what was on a deleted card. Anyone you share with sees just its company, role, and when and by whom it was deleted. If someone you share with deletes one of your cards, you can still see it in full and restore it; they can't.

Following up

Every card in Applied or Interviewing shows how many days it's been since you applied, last heard from them or last interviewed. Four days before a follow-up is due (day 10) the badge turns amber and says when it's due ("due Thu"); at 14 days it turns red. Cards you haven't applied to yet, offers and closed cards have no clock.

Next steps, next to the sort menu, counts what's overdue, due today and coming up. Press it to open the list between the header and your board (press it again, or the ×, to close it): Overdue, Today and Coming up (the next 7 days), then jobs your coach suggested. A row is either a follow-up (amber or red on its card) or a card's next action, so a card can have one of each. On each row:

• Followed up logs a follow-up today, which restarts the clock.
• Done clears a next action. If the card has a follow-up clock, the note that appears offers Log it as a follow-up too.
• Later puts it off to tomorrow, in 3 days, next week or a day you pick. A follow-up put off this way still shows on its card how long it's been quiet; logging a contact starts its clock over.

Each of these shows a note with Undo. With nothing to do, the button isn't there.

When you follow up or hear back, set Last contacted to that day. Each date counts as a follow-up on your work search record, and it restarts the clock.

Sort by Needs follow-up first or Next action first to plan your day.

Finding cards

• Type in the Keyword Filter box (or press /) to show only matching cards.
• Click a priority or a tag above the board to filter by it.
• Use the sort menu to order cards by date, company, follow-up, next action or priority.
• Press Esc to close any dialog.
• Click Help at the top of the board, or press ?, to open this guide. A ? next to something opens the part about it.
• Theme, at the bottom of the board, switches between light and dark.

Goals, milestones and stats

The strip next to the logo shows this week against your weekly goals: applications, follow-ups and other activities, each one optional. Click This week to set them. Milestones count effort (applications sent, follow-ups, activities, weeks on target), and a note pops up when you earn one.

Click the strip to see every milestone. At the top, Your search so far has three numbers:

Total applications

Every card past the looking stage (Unlikely match, Prospect and Strong match don't count).

Response rate

The share of applications that reached Interviewing, Offer or Accepted. A rejection with no interview doesn't count as a response.

Avg days to first response

From applying to the first time a card reached Interviewing or later.

Share my search, next to Add (also under these numbers, and in the Share my search tile under your board, which shows your picture as it is now), makes a picture of your search to post or send (anyone can make one from typed-in numbers at the chart maker, without an account): how many applications, how many got an interview, and where the rest went (rejected, ghosted, still waiting). It has counts only, never a company, a role or your name. Pick the headline, what to show, square or tall (for stories), and light or dark. Jobs not applied to yet, on the chart starts the chart with every job you looked at, including Prospect, Strong match and Unlikely match cards, so it shows how choosy you were; the percentages stay out of your applications. The picture is made in your browser and goes only where you send it. Share… (on phones and some computers) opens your device's share menu; Copy image lets you paste it into a post; Download saves it. The caption below it has your referral link; copy it into your post too, since apps often leave out text shared with a picture. "Ghosted" here means marked Ghosted, or still at Applied with no word in 30 days. When you move a card to Accepted, the tracker offers to make one to share the news. It also offers one, with a Share it button on a short note at the bottom of the page, when a card gets an interview or an offer and at every 50 applications: once a day at most, and nothing else changes if you ignore it.

Work search log

If you're collecting unemployment benefits, click Log. Choose your state and how many activities you need each week. The log knows the number for California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas, with a note on each state's rules and a link to them; change it if your letter says otherwise (in Texas and Florida it depends on your county). California and Illinois set no weekly number, only that you look for work every week, so there the log just asks for at least one unless you put in a number. If your state isn't listed, choose My state isn't listed and set the day your benefit week starts and your number, from your claim letter or your state's unemployment website. The log shows this week and last week against that number, so you can catch up before you request payment.

• Each application on your board counts once, on its date applied.
• Each Last contacted date after that counts as a follow-up.
• Each interview stage with a date counts as an interview, once its day has come.
• Everything else goes in as an activity: Add then Other activity at the top of the form, or + Add an activity here in the Log: a job search (on your state's job site, say), posting your résumé, a job fair, a networking event, a workshop. What kind is optional: What you did says it either way. Write down the employer or organizer and a contact if there was one, how you did it, and what came of it.

This week's activities are also listed under your board, in Other activities this week, with + Add, Edit and Delete; the count beside the title is against your weekly goal for other activities, if you set one. Collapse it with – if you don't need it.

Activities aren't cards: they sync with your board and go into your backups, but never count toward a free board's 30 cards. Whoever you share your board with gets them along with your cards (an editor sees them in the Log too); the coach page lists the last four weeks of them.

Printable record opens every activity grouped by benefit week (Sunday to Saturday in most states, Monday to Sunday in New York, or the day you picked), with the date, what you did, the employer, the contact, how, the job and the result: what the states ask you to keep. Weeks below your number are flagged (with no number, weeks with nothing in them), and so are applications with no contact info or link. Add your name and the type of work you're looking for; they're remembered on that browser. Print it, or save it as a PDF from the print dialog. Your state can ask for any week of your benefit year, so keep it up as you go.

Sharing your board

Click Invite, choose what the other person can do, and click Create invite code:

Viewer

Reads your board on the coach page, with charts and a list of what's changed. Can't change anything. For a career coach, a mentor, or a friend keeping you honest.

Editor

Opens your board in the tracker and can add and change cards. For a recruiter who adds prospects for you.

Send them the code (XXXX-XXXX-XXXX) or the link. It works once and expires after a week. They sign in, or create an account, and they're in.

The same dialog lists everyone with access. Click Remove to take someone's access away; they stop seeing your board right away.

If a coach or recruiter sponsored days on your board, the list says how many upcoming days they cover. Removing them gives those unused days back to them, since they paid for them; today stays covered. The confirmation tells you exactly how long your board stays covered afterwards, before you decide.

Whenever someone leaves your board or you remove someone, the other person gets an email saying so, including what it did to the days.

Jobs your coach suggests. Someone you made an editor can add a job to your Prospects from their coach view, with why they picked it in its notes. When one arrives you get a note on screen, the card says New · suggested by them, and it's in Next steps under "Suggested for you" until you open it or move it out of Prospect. It's one of your cards like any other: on a free board it counts toward your 30 free cards.

Sync, devices and offline

Your board lives in your browser and syncs with the server on its own. There's no sync button: the sync icon at the top shows how it's going. Hover over it, or tap it on a phone, for the details ("Synced 3:41 PM").

• Green, with a tick: everything is on the server.
• Turning: syncing right now.
• Amber, crossed out: offline. Nothing is lost; see below.
• Red, "Sign in again": the one that needs you; see below.

• Offline? Keep working. Your changes are kept in the browser and sent as soon as you're back online. On a free board, adding a new card needs a connection, so the count stays right; editing works offline as usual.
• Two devices, or you and an editor at once? Each card keeps whichever copy was changed last. Changes from others show up within about half a minute while the page is open.
• "Sign in again" means this browser was signed out (for example, from another device). Click it and sign in by email; nothing synced is lost.

Your account and backups

Click your name, Your name, at the bottom of the board. It opens Account: your name and email address, your backups, and signing out.

Name is how you show up to the people you share with. If your board still has its first title ("Your name's job search"), the title follows it. Email is where sign-in links go. Type a new address and click Change: we email a link to the new address, and it switches when you open that link. We also tell your old address.

Delete my account, at the bottom of that section, deletes your account and your board for good. Before you confirm, it lists exactly what will happen: who loses access, where any days go, and what's kept. Download a backup first if you might want your cards. See the privacy policy for the details.

Your board is already on the server, so backups are for keeping a copy of your own.

Download backup

Your whole board in one file. It's yours, and it's always free.

Choose a backup file…

Loads a backup you downloaded earlier. Merge keeps the newer copy of each card. Replace deletes every card that isn't in the file, so only the board's owner gets that choice; an editor's restore always merges.

To remove your board from a browser, sign out. It stays on the server for next time.

Signing out

Sign out, at the bottom of the Account dialog (click your name at the bottom of the board), syncs one last time and then removes the board from that browser, which is what you want on a shared or borrowed computer. Your board stays on the server for next time. If some changes couldn't reach the server (you're offline, say), it tells you before anything is lost.

If you're on more than one board (yours, and one you edit for someone else), Switch board takes you back to the list. If anyone has shared a board with you, the coach view is on that list too.

Passes

Every feature works on every board. A free board holds 30 cards, counting every card ever added, deleted ones too, so it's a real test drive rather than a demo. The count is always at the top of your board: 12 of 30 free cards.

A pass lifts the limit: a block of days for your job search, bought once. It never renews and keeps no card on file. When it runs out, nothing is deleted or locked: every card stays, and you can keep editing, moving and deleting them. Only adding new cards waits for another pass. Your backup download is always free.

• If your coach sponsors you, you pay nothing; if you pay, your coach rides along free. Nobody pays twice for the same day.
• Got hired early? Bank the days you didn't use for next time, or give them to a friend with a gift code. When you move a card to Accepted, the tracker offers to bank them right there, and tells you who else (a coach who sponsored you) still has days on your board.

The card count (or 12 days left on a board with a pass) at the top of your board opens the Passes page, with your board's days.

Discounts and free days

• Discount codes. Type a code in the Discounts box on the Passes page; the prices change before you buy. Each code works once per account. Some are for a first pass only, some for certain passes, and some end on a date. One discount per purchase: you always get the better one.
• Free days from a group. Some groups give their members free days with a code of their own. Type it in the code box when you sign up (a link from the group fills it in), or on the Passes page later. The days go onto your board after any it already has. Nothing is charged, then or later, and when they run out your cards stay, as with any pass.
• Veterans and members of groups we work with. Ask your organization (a veteran service group, a job club, a workforce program) for its Ungated code, and type it in the code box. It takes money off a pass or gives you free days.
• Can't pay right now? Ask for 30 free days on the Passes page, with a note if you like. A person reads every request, and you get an email either way. You can ask once every six months.

Refer a friend

The card count at the top of your board (12 of 30 free cards, or the days left on a pass) opens Passes & referrals: where your board stands, a button to buy days, and your referral link and code. Send the link to a friend who's job hunting.

• When they sign up with your link (or type your code in the box on the sign-up page) and add 3 cards, or buy a pass, they get 15 days and you get 10, with no card limit.
• It counts at least a day after they sign up. You can earn days from up to 3 friends a month, and up to 120 days in any 12 months: enough for a whole job search if you keep at it. Your friends always get their days.
• The days go onto your own board after any days it already has. Your cards are yours either way: when the days run out, nothing is deleted or locked.
• You see when each friend joined and whether it has counted yet, nothing about what's on their board. Some referrals are checked by hand before they count.

Vote on features

Vote on features (in the links at the bottom of every page) asks which feature you'd miss most, which does least for you, and what's missing. One vote per account, and it can't be changed once you submit it. After that you see how everyone voted, as counts; what you write is read by us only.

Voting gives a free week on your own board, after any days it already has, once per account. If your account isn't a day old with 3 cards added yet, vote anyway: the week arrives by itself once it is.

Getting started

There's no password: enter your email address on the sign-in page and open the link we send you, or click Continue with Google. When you create your account, choose Helping someone with theirs. You don't get a board of your own; you get the coach view, a page with every board shared with you.

A client's board is always theirs. They decide who sees it, and they can take your access away at any time.

To come back to this guide, click Help at the top of the coach view, or press ?. A ? next to a chart or a flag opens the part about it.

Joining a client's board

1. Your client clicks Invite on their board, picks Viewer (or Editor if you'll add cards for them) and creates an invite code.
2. They send you the code (XXXX-XXXX-XXXX) or the link. It works once and expires after a week.
3. Open the link, or click + Enter invite code on the coach view and type the code. Not signed in yet? The link waits while you sign in or sign up. Either way, you're asked before you join.

Your clients at a glance

The coach view shows a tile per client. Clients with something new come first. Each tile has applications this week, last week and the weekly average over the last four weeks, a trend line for the last eight weeks, and flags worth a conversation:

Updated since you last looked

Cards that changed since you last clicked Mark all as seen for that client.

No applications in N days

Nothing applied for in a week or more.

Prospects not categorized

Cards left in Prospect for a week or more without being sorted into Strong match or Unlikely match.

Fit decisions without a note

Cards marked Strong match, Unlikely match, Withdrawn or Declined with no note saying why.

Offers pending

Cards in Offer. Good news to ask about.

One client up close

Click a tile to open that client's board. The charts:

Activity per week / per day

Applications, follow-ups and interviews (each interview stage the seeker dated, once its day has come). Weeks shows each Monday-to-Sunday week for the last 14 weeks; Days shows each day of last week and this week, with today marked and the days still ahead greyed out. The page remembers which one you picked.

Other activities

What the seeker logged besides applications in the last four weeks: job fairs, workshops, networking, résumé updates. Read only; they add them in the tracker.

Pipeline

How many cards reached each stage, from logged to applied, interviewed, offer and accepted.

Days to first response

How long each response took after applying.

Open applications by age

Applications still waiting, by days since applying or the last follow-up. Click a bar to list those cards.

Next steps

The next 14 days: their next actions (filled dots) and follow-ups coming due (rings). An application in Applied or Interviewing is due a follow-up 14 days after they applied, last heard back or last interviewed, and shows here from 4 days before. Overdue ones come first.

Remote / hybrid / onsite

From each card's tags, or its location.

Every chart has Show as table for the numbers behind it.

Below the charts is the card list. Show it by Recent activity or By status, search it, filter it by status, or show only cards with notes. When you've read everything, click Mark all as seen.

Show deleted lists the cards your client deleted: company, role, and when and by whom. What was on them stays private to your client, and only they can restore one.

Editing a board (recruiters)

If a client made you an Editor, you can work on their board in the tracker: add prospects, update statuses, leave notes. Their board is listed under Your boards on the sign-in page, marked "can edit". It also shows up in your coach view.

The tracker works the same for you as for them; see the job seekers' guide. Only the board's owner can share it or remove people, and only they can see a deleted card in full or restore it, even one you deleted.

Stop following

Open a client and click Stop following to leave their board, when the engagement ends for example. If you sponsored days on their board, the ones not used yet come back to your bank (today stays covered), and the confirmation says how long their board stays covered afterwards. Otherwise their board isn't affected. Either way, your client gets an email saying you left, and what it did to the days. To see it again, you'd need a new invite code from them.

Your own job search

Looking for a job yourself? The coach view has a Job hunting yourself? tile. Click + Start your own board and you get a board of your own, opened in the tracker. It's private unless you share it, and it shows up first in your coach view. The job seekers' guide covers the rest.

Sponsoring clients

A client's free board holds 30 cards (deleted ones count too); a pass lifts the limit. Their tile shows where they stand, for example Free board: 12 of 30 cards. You can buy days in a block and hand them out from the Passes page:

• Sponsor a job seeker creates a code. When they use it, the days are theirs, on their board or in their bank. The code never gives you access to their board: they share it with you themselves, from Share, if they want to.
• The days stay in your bank until a code is used. Banked days don't run down.
• Already on a client's board because they shared it with you? Give days on the Passes page puts days from your bank onto it. Those stay yours: if the client is hired early, Take back returns what's left to your bank.
• One payer per board: if you sponsor a client, they pay nothing; if they pay, you ride along free.

Updates, offline and signing out

The coach view checks for changes every minute while it's open. The sync icon at the top is green when it's up to date (hover or tap it to see when it last checked), amber when you're offline and red, with "Sign in again", when you need to sign in. Your day bank, buying days and your referral link are under Passes & referrals (or "120 days banked"), and Switch board (back to the list of your boards, to open one in the tracker) and Theme are at the bottom of the page. It keeps a copy of each board in your browser, so it still shows the last copy when you're offline.

If a client made you an editor, their page has + Add a job: company, role, location, link, contact and salary, plus why you picked it. Paste the posting's link first and Fill in fills in what the posting says (see Start from a job link). The job goes into their Prospects, with "Suggested by" you and your reason in its notes. If it's a posting they already have, the form warns you, and it lists their other cards at the same company. On a free board it uses one of their free cards, and the form tells you how many are left first. Everything else you do on the coach view leaves a client's board alone. Your name at the top, Your name, opens Account: change your name or email address there, or Sign out, which removes those copies from the browser.