Job tracker vs spreadsheet
A spreadsheet is the most flexible tracker there is. It just doesn’t do anything on its own. Here is when a local app earns its place, and when it doesn’t.
Short answer
- Use a spreadsheet if most of your roles come from referrals, recruiters or sites a tracker can’t read, or if you want custom columns and formulas.
- Use a local app like HireWire if you want roles to come to you, ranked, with stage dates, follow-up flags and pay filtering handled for you, still with no account.
- Use both if you do both. Many active searches do.
Side-by-side
| HireWire (local app) | Spreadsheet | |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | Open the page, add skills and a salary floor | Design columns, statuses and validation yourself |
| Getting roles in | 55 public feeds refresh hourly, ranked by match | Copy and paste every role |
| Roles from anywhere | No. Wire postings only | Yes |
| Salary filtering | Floor in your currency, converted automatically (rough static rates) | Manual, or your own formulas |
| Stage history | Date stamped automatically for every stage | Only if you add a column per stage |
| Follow-ups | Flags 14 days of silence and drafts the email | Conditional formatting, if you build it |
| Funnel metrics | Built in: conversion, days per stage, source yield | Pivot tables |
| Custom fields | Notes, contacts, next date, offer figures | Unlimited |
| Sharing with a coach or partner | Export .csv, .md or .json | Native (for cloud spreadsheets) |
| Privacy | Browser storage only, no account | A local file is private. A cloud sheet lives in your Google or Microsoft account |
| Durability | Clearing site data wipes it, so keep a JSON backup | Very durable, especially in cloud drives |
| Multi-device | Via backup file | Native, for cloud spreadsheets |
Where spreadsheets win
Total flexibility. You can add a column for visa sponsorship, commute time or the name of the friend who referred you. You can share a link with a career coach. Nothing breaks if you apply through a channel no tool supports. And a spreadsheet will still open in ten years.
Where a local app wins
The parts of a search that are tedious by hand. Checking the same boards every morning, working out whether a €75,000 role clears a $90k floor, remembering which application went quiet two weeks ago, and counting how many applications turned into screens. HireWire does these automatically, and it does it without an account, so there’s no cloud trade-off.
A combined set-up that works
- Use HireWire as your discovery and pipeline for roles on the wire. Pin, stage and follow up there.
- Keep a spreadsheet for everything else: referrals, recruiter emails, local roles. The recruiter posts guide gives a column layout.
- Once a week, export HireWire’s pipeline as CSV (open the console with ` or Ctrl+K and type
export csv pipeline) if you want one combined view. Columns: title, company, source, remote, location, posted, salary, score, status, note, url. - Back up HireWire (Backup everything) whenever you update the spreadsheet.
FAQ
Is a spreadsheet good enough to track job applications?
Yes, for many people. It is flexible and durable. A tracker app adds automatic stage dates, follow-up reminders, metrics and, in HireWire’s case, a ranked feed of new roles.
Can I export HireWire to Google Sheets or Excel?
Yes. Open the console (press ` or Ctrl+K) and type export csv pipeline to download your pipeline as CSV. The CSV button in the sidebar exports the current scored shortlist. Then open or import the file in your spreadsheet.
Can I import a spreadsheet into HireWire?
No. HireWire has no spreadsheet import, and it can only save postings that appear on its feeds.
Open HireWireFree, no account. Your profile, CV text and pipeline stay in this browser.
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