Tracking Your Progress

The Secret To Rapidly Getting Results

The path to winning is paved with reflection.

If that didn’t make sense to you now, that’s okay. It will soon.

Job Seekers Do Not Track Enough

Last year I spoke to 100+ people about getting remote jobs. I noticed something interesting:

Most of them had no idea what they were doing every day to get further on their job search.

When I say this, I don’t mean they didn’t know anything. They knew they were applying, they knew they were getting rejected, and in some cases, they knew they why they had been rejected (from some jobs).

But if I asked them “What companies did you apply to?” or “When did you submit your application?” or “What version of your CV did you use?” or most importantly “What do you think you could be doing better to make the progress you want?”

They had no idea. And mostly they just felt like no one was hiring them because of the country they were from (which may have been true).

But because they weren’t tracking, they really couldn’t be sure what was going on. And that mattered, because it meant they weren’t reflecting enough.

Why Reflection Matters

Applying for remote jobs is about the most uniquely human thing you’ll do in your professional life. That might sound strange, but consider this:

In a world where more and more things can be done by AI, applying for a job is one area AI will never be able to take a leading role. That’s because applying for and getting a job requires taking the unique human that is you and making you appealing enough to the unique people that are hiring to want to hire you.

No AI I know of can effectively measure what parts of you to show to a hiring manager or hiring team that will appeal to them every time, in every circumstance, so you have the highest chance of getting a job. And in fact I think this will never really happen, because while AI can help screen you, it can’t and won’t help someone decide between you and 2 other similar candidates. That ultimately comes down to how the hiring manager will feel about you, based on the impression they have of you.

The way you get better at making a good impression is by reflecting. Reflecting is the learning tool that you have but your AI will lack for a while. It helps you understand why you, specifically, are getting the results you are getting on your job search. And in reflecting, you are able to ask and answer a series of important questions that you can learn from:

What’s been going well in my job searching and applying process?

What could I be doing better?

Why am I doing things the way I am doing them?

These are great questions to reflect on, but you can’t ask them… if you don’t have the information to reflect on. And that’s why you need to track.

What To Track

There are so many things! Ultimately, what you track comes down to 2 things:

1. Do you want to track your reflections?

2. Is your job search for a senior or leadership position?

If yes to #1, your going to want to track reflections after each job you apply for, and after each communication with a potential employer.

This can be tiring, but it will greatly speed up your learning.

If your job search is for a leadership or senior position, you are going to want to track every communication you have. This is because it will help you understand and reflect on how you are representing yourself in minute detail. Leadership and even senior positions will require much more communication, so being hyperaware of how you are communicating will lead to rapid awareness and improvement where needed.

Beyond these, you should track the following:

What positions you applied for?

When you applied for them.

The people you connected with from each company you have applied to or plan to apply to.

The CV/Resume version you sent to each job you applied to.

The number of follow up emails you’ve sent for each job you applied to.

The number of interviews you’ve had.

The salary offers you’ve received.

The rejections you’ve received.

This will give you a great base for reflection.

How Do I Reflect?

That’s a question best answered another day. Specifically, Friday. However, if I get 5 or more likes on this post, I’ll write about it tomorrow.

Happy Tracking!