[Limited-time Freebie] Tracking your application
- Annelies Paris
- Apr 17
- 3 min read
At the time I was applying for teaching jobs, I was at home… on a school day… during a nation-wide, strict lockdown.
Yup. COVID.
It’s not how I imagined the start of my career, to be honest. Due to the restrictions at the time, I wasn’t considered a key worker as a trainee, so my placement abruptly ended in March—and I never saw my placement pupils (or mentor in person) again.
The one thing I did have? Time.
Time to job hunt, write statements, practise interview questions and apply for anything and everything that was remotely suitable. I was living in a completely different county too, so I was looking across multiple towns, cities—even several counties—which meant dozens of applications.
(Throwback to one of my oldest videos of me preparing for an online interview)
To this day, I still have no idea how many jobs I actually applied for. I lost count.
Very often (and I know this is still many people’s experience 6 years later), I was ghosted. No response. No acknowledgement. Just radio silence.
It was downright disheartening and, in all honesty, it made an already stressful season even harder.
So let’s talk about tracking. Why it’s worth your time, what it can teach you, and—most importantly—how I’ve made it ridiculously easy for you with a freebie to download until 30/04/25.
You're about to find out. 😉
Why does tracking matter?
I was so thorough in my job applications: tweaking every sentence, personalising every detail, hitting "submit" with hope in my heart. And then moving straight onto the next one.
What I didn’t do? Track what I sent—or what happened afterwards.
No notes. Limited follow-ups. Just hopes… and crossed fingers.
So when I didn’t get shortlisted, I had no clue why. In fact, sometimes I didn’t even notice I hadn’t heard back, because the applications were all starting to blur into one.
Was it the structure? The opening line? Did I reuse a weaker statement without realising?
All I could do was guess and that’s the problem.
Without a tracker, you might feel like…
You’re guessing what’s working (and what’s not)
Every application blurs into the next
You're constantly starting from scratch
Rejections feel confusing and discouraging
You're busy—but not sure if you're being effective
How I’m helping you avoid that mistake
With the magic of hindsight, I now know what I needed: structure. A place to keep everything organised; a format that made reflection easy.
So I’ve built it for you.
As your fairy job-mother, I’ve made a tracker that’s simple, easy to use, and completely free—if you grab it before 30/04/25.
Pop in your applications, track your progress, and get clarity on what’s helping you stand out (and yes, there’s a full “Instructions” tab too—what can I say? I'm a teacher after all 😉)
💡 Spoiler: Sometimes the difference between getting shortlisted and not is just one sentence of personalisation or an email asking to do a school visit.
So whether you’ve applied for one job or ten, take five minutes to get yourself set up—it’ll save you time, stress, and mental load down the line.
What can you expect from using it?
With the tracker, you’ll...
Understand what actually gets you shortlisted
Build stronger, more tailored applications each time
Feel in control of your job hunt (not at the mercy of it)
Spot patterns that help you work smarter—not harder
Grow in confidence as your applications improve
This genuinely changes the game. I look at the tracker now and just think… I so wish I had this when I was applying. You'll become more confident in identifying your strengths, your areas for improvement (in which case you can then ask me for help), remembering deadlines, following up with schools and most importantly: having more strategy and less stress.
As always, if you have any questions (or want to show me how beautifully colour-coded yours is 👀), drop me a comment or message—I’d love to hear how you’re getting on.
Lots of love,
Annelies
Founder, Petite Primary
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