Spreadsheet for the academic job market

Academic Job Market Tracker

Every faculty, postdoc, teaching and industry application in one workbook, with the deadlines, application materials, recommendation letters, interviews and offers each one involves tracked side by side.

How it works

Applications

One row per job, up to 100: institution, department, position type, source link, deadline, portal or email, status, submitted date, next action and notes. Days to deadline and an urgency flag calculate from today's date. Status runs from Planned through Materials in progress, Submitted, Longlist, Airport-video interview, Campus visit and Offer, plus Rejected and Withdrawn.

Materials and letters

Each application gets a checklist for the CV, cover letter, research statement, teaching statement, diversity statement, writing sample, teaching evidence and transcripts, marked Done, In progress, Not started or Not required. It shows percent complete and a Ready flag. The letters tab has one row per request, up to 200, with a reminder date 14 days after the request (you can change the number of days) and totals of requested, submitted and outstanding letters for each recommender.

Dashboard

Applications by status, submission rate, response rate, interviews still ahead, thank-you notes to send, letter reminders due, applications ready to submit, and the deadlines coming up in the next 14 and 30 days (both windows are editable). A chart shows applications by status.

Interviews and offers

Record the stage, date, format and prep notes for each interview; a thank-you reminder appears once the date has passed. To compare up to six offers, enter salary, startup funds, teaching load, summer support, moving allowance, a fit rating of your own and the deadline to respond, then set the weights. The sheet calculates a weighted score and a rank for the offers you enter. It is arithmetic on your own weights, so change the weights and the score changes.

What you get: one .xlsx workbook with eight tabs (Start Here, Dashboard, Setup, Applications, Materials, Letters, Interviews, Offers), with eight example rows using invented institutions and dates; Start Here lists the ranges to clear. It records what you enter and does the counting and date arithmetic. It does not know any institution's requirements or timelines, does not connect to job boards or email, and does not predict your chances.

Excel or Google Sheets

Open the .xlsx in Excel as it is. For Google Sheets, open a blank spreadsheet, choose File, Import, Upload, pick the .xlsx and choose "Replace spreadsheet". The chart can look slightly different in Sheets; the numbers are the same. Position types are a dropdown you can edit on the Setup tab, so industry and teaching-focused jobs fit too. It also comes in the researcher bundle, six spreadsheets for $39.

Buy the spreadsheet, $9 All spreadsheets