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Off-Campus Placements With AI
Lessons
1 · Reality Check and Your Search Plan
2 · Building Credibility From Zero
3 · Resume and LinkedIn
4 · Finding Jobs Before the Crowd
5 · Applications and Referrals
6 · Online Assessments and DSA
7 · Company Research for Interviews
8 · Technical Interview Rounds
9 · Behavioral and HR Rounds
10 · Offers, Negotiation and Joining
11 · Rejection, Diagnosis and Momentum
Lesson 5 of 44

Lesson 5 · Reality Check and Your Search Plan

Your Pipeline Tracker and 10-Week Execution Plan

A job search without a tracker is guesswork. This article gives you the exact spreadsheet columns, status values and formulas to run an off-campus search, simple follow-up rules, a ten-minute Sunday review, and a milestone-based ten-week plan you can personalise with an AI prompt that respects your exams and real hours.

11 min read
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Key takeaways

  • One spreadsheet is enough. Track company, role, group, link, date, channel, referral, resume version, status, next action and next action date.
  • Record the channel and resume version for every application, so you can later see which ones work.
  • Follow up where there is a person to follow up with, at most twice, then move on.
  • Spend ten minutes every Sunday on five questions: volume, screen rate, assessment results, due follow-ups and next week's interviews.
  • Plan by milestones, not dates: fix the basics, start the sprint, keep it running alongside assessments and interviews. Let an AI draft the weekly plan around your real constraints, then cut it to what you will actually do.

Three weeks into her search, Nisha received an assessment link from a company she did not remember applying to. She could not find the job description. She did not know which version of her resume she had sent or whether a senior had referred her. She took the test without knowing what role it was for.

This is the normal state of an untracked search after about 30 applications. A tracker is the cheapest fix in the whole course, and the one every later module relies on: the Review step of the Search Loop needs data, and the tracker is where the data lives.

What you will learn

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  • The columns and status values for a tracker that answers the questions you will have later.
  • A few formulas that calculate your funnel rates automatically.
  • When and how to follow up, and when to stop.
  • A ten-minute Sunday review.
  • A ten-week plan built on milestones, and a prompt to personalise it.

The tracker

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A spreadsheet (Google Sheets, Excel or LibreOffice) is enough. Name it something like "Job Search" and create one row per application. Different roles at the same company get separate rows.

Column

What goes in it

Why you will need it

Company

Name

Obvious

Role

Exact title from the job post

Companies hire for several roles at once

Group

1 to 5, from article 3

To compare results by kind of company

Link

The job post's own URL

To reread the description before an assessment or interview; posts get taken down, so also save a copy of the text

Date applied

The date

All follow-up timing starts here

Channel

Careers page, job board, referral, platform, drive, cold email

To see which channels work for you

Referral contact

Name and profile link, if any

To thank them and keep them updated

Resume version

v1, v2, v3

To see whether a new version changed results

Status

One of the values below

Your pipeline at a glance

Next action

What you do next, in a few words

So nothing waits on your memory

Next action date

When

Sort by this every morning

Notes

Anything odd: process, salary range, people you spoke to

Context for later

Keep the status to a fixed list (use a dropdown) so you can count it:

  • Applied
  • Screen (assessment link or recruiter call received)
  • Assessment done
  • Interviewing
  • Offer
  • Rejected
  • No response (no reply 21 days after your last action)
  • Withdrawn (you pulled out)

Add one more column if you can: Furthest stage reached, which keeps its value even after a rejection. A "Rejected" status hides whether you were rejected at the resume or after the final round, and that difference is the whole point of Module 11.

A few formulas

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If the furthest stage is in column M and the channel in column F, these formulas give your funnel. (Use them in Google Sheets or Excel; adjust the column letters and range to your sheet.)

Code
Applications:            =COUNTA(A2:A500)Reached screen or later: =COUNTIF(M2:M500,"Screen")+COUNTIF(M2:M500,"Assessment done")+COUNTIF(M2:M500,"Interviewing")+COUNTIF(M2:M500,"Offer")Reached interviews:      =COUNTIF(M2:M500,"Interviewing")+COUNTIF(M2:M500,"Offer")Screen rate:             = (reached screen) / (applications)Referral applications:   =COUNTIF(F2:F500,"Referral")

Put them on a second tab called "Dashboard". Article 42 extends this into a full weekly dashboard, with a short program that does the same from an exported file.

Following up

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Follow-ups help when there is a person at the other end: a recruiter who contacted you, a referrer, a hiring manager you emailed, someone you met. For an application dropped into a careers page with no contact, there is usually nobody to follow up with, and that is fine.

A simple rule:

Code
Day 0     Apply, or send a messageDay 7     First follow-up, if there is a person to follow up withDay 14    Second and final follow-up, with something new if you have itDay 21    No reply: mark "No response" and move on

Each follow-up should be short and should add something, not just "checking in". Something new could be a project you shipped since, or the job ID if you forgot it the first time. A request to an assistant for a follow-up:

Code
Write a follow-up message under 60 words.Context: I applied to [role] at [company] on [date] via [channel].My contact is [recruiter / referrer / hiring manager]. It has been [7/14] days.Since then I have [new thing, or "nothing new"].Tone: polite, brief, no pressure. Avoid "just checking in" and"I hope this finds you well". Do not invent anything about me.

Read the draft, remove anything that does not sound like you, and send it from your own account.

The Sunday review (ten minutes)

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Open the tracker every Sunday and answer five questions. Write the answers at the top of your notes file with the date.

  1. Volume. How many applications did I send this week, against my plan?
  2. Screen rate so far. Screens ÷ applications. Is it rising, flat or falling as my resume improves?
  3. Assessments. How many did I take, and how many did I clear?
  4. Follow-ups due. Sort by next action date; what is due this coming week?
  5. Interviews. What interviews are scheduled, and what does each need from me (Module 7)?

Then write one change for next week, aimed at your weakest stage. The change should be an output: "rewrite project bullets with measured numbers", not "improve resume". Article 42 turns this review into a fuller diagnosis once you have more data.

The ten-week plan

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A plan tied to calendar dates breaks the first time an exam moves. A plan tied to milestones survives: you move to the next phase when the milestone is met, not when a date arrives.

Phase

Typical length

Milestone to leave the phase

Daily or weekly rhythm

1. Foundation

Weeks 1 to 2

Resume v1 parses cleanly, one project deployed with a README, tracker and list ready

Profile work daily; 45 to 60 minutes of problem-solving

2. Sprint start

Weeks 3 to 4

30 or more applications sent, first referral requests out

2 to 3 applications a day; problem-solving continues

3. Sprint plus assessments

Weeks 5 to 6

Screen rate measured; every assessment taken within its deadline

Applications continue; assessments take priority when they arrive

4. Interviews

Weeks 7 to 10

Interviews prepared with company research; weekly review keeps finding the weakest stage

Applications never stop; interview preparation; stories practised out loud

5. Offers

When they come

A decision made with full information

Module 10

Three rules make the plan work:

  • Do not wait for "ready". Phase 1 has a milestone, not a perfection standard. A clean resume with one deployed project is enough to start applying.
  • Never stop applying while interviewing. Interviews fall through. If you pause applications for three weeks of interviews and they all end in rejection, you start again from an empty pipeline.
  • Assessments come first. When an assessment link arrives, it has a deadline. Take it within the window, prepared (article 26).

Personalising the plan with AI

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An assistant can turn the phase table into a week-by-week plan around your constraints. The danger is an over-ambitious plan that you abandon by week two. Ask for less, not more.

Code
Help me plan the next 10 weeks of an off-campus job search.My situation:- Today: [date]. Graduating / graduated: [month year].- Realistic hours per weekday: [n]. Weekend hours: [n].- Known blockers: [exam weeks, family events, college project deadlines].- Profile gaps from my assessment, most urgent first: [list].- Target: [n] applications per week once the sprint starts.Use these phases and milestones: [paste the phase table above].For each week give:1. One-sentence goal.2. At most three daily tasks I repeat every day.3. A measurable result for the end of the week.4. One thing NOT to do that week.Rules: total daily work must fit my stated hours. Lighten the weeks with blockers.If my targets do not fit my hours, say so instead of squeezing them in.

How to check the plan: add up the hours for one ordinary day and one blocked day. If they exceed what you said, cut tasks. Then put only the current week into your calendar. Plans for weeks six to ten will change, and that is fine.

An example week from such a plan

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An illustrative output for week 3 of a student with three hours on weekdays:

Code
Example response (illustrative)Week 3 goal: start the sprint with resume v1 and get 12 applications out.Daily: (1) 2 applications to target-group companies from the list, 40 min;(2) 1 timed problem in your weakest pattern, 45 min; (3) 1 referral requestor alumni message, 15 min.End-of-week result: 12 applications logged with channel and resume version;3 referral requests sent.Do not: start a second project this week.

That fits the stated hours, has measurable results and blocks the classic distraction of starting something new instead of finishing what works.

Optional: reminders without manual checking

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If you like automation, a free workflow tool (n8n, Make, Zapier and similar) or your spreadsheet's own notification rules can send you a message each morning listing rows whose next action date is today. It is a convenience, not a requirement. Sorting the sheet by next action date each morning does the same job in ten seconds.

Common mistakes

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  • No channel or resume version recorded. Later you cannot tell what worked.
  • Status without stage. "Rejected" alone hides where you were rejected.
  • Following up endlessly. Two follow-ups, then move on.
  • A heroic plan. Ten hours a day for ten weeks will not happen. Plan for the hours you actually have.
  • Pausing applications during interviews. Keep the top of the funnel full.

Exercises

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Exercise 1

Fix the tracker

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A friend's tracker has these columns: Company, Date, Status (values: "applied", "waiting", "no", "yes", "test"). List four problems this will cause when they try to review their search after a month, and the column or change that fixes each.

Exercise 2: Follow up or not?

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Decide whether to follow up, and how, in each case: (a) you applied on a careers page 8 days ago and have no contact name; (b) a senior agreed to refer you 6 days ago and has not confirmed; (c) a recruiter called you 10 days ago, said "we'll get back to you" and has not; (d) you sent two follow-ups to a hiring manager and heard nothing for 25 days.

Exercise 3: Check a plan

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An assistant produced this weekday for a student who said they have three hours: "2 hours of DSA, 1 hour of applications, 1 hour of project work, 30 minutes of LinkedIn posting, 30 minutes of mock interviews." What is wrong, and how would you fix it?

Exercise 4: Build yours

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Create the tracker with the columns and status dropdown above, add your first 10 companies from article 4 as rows (status blank until you apply), add the dashboard formulas, and put a 10-minute "Review" event in your calendar for Sunday.

Show solutionHide solution
  1. No role or link: they will not know which job a later assessment is for. Add Role and Link (and save a copy of the description).
  2. No channel or referral: they cannot see whether referrals or certain job boards work better. Add Channel and Referral contact.
  3. Vague, overlapping statuses: "waiting" and "test" are unclear, and "no" does not say at which stage. Use the fixed status list and add Furthest stage reached.
  4. No next action or date: follow-ups and deadlines live only in memory. Add Next action and Next action date, and sort by the date.

A fifth problem: no resume version, so they cannot tell whether a rewrite helped. Add it.

Exercise 2

Show solutionHide solution

(a) Usually no follow-up. There is nobody to write to. Instead, consider whether you can find a referral or the hiring manager for that role (articles 19 and 21), and keep applying elsewhere.

(b) Yes, gently, around day 7. Thank them again, resend the job ID and your one-paragraph summary so they do not have to search for it, and say there is no pressure.

(c) Yes. A short message to the recruiter: thank them for the call, restate your interest in the specific role, and ask whether there is an update on next steps.

(d) No. Two follow-ups without a reply is the limit. Mark it "No response" and move on. If something important changes, such as an offer elsewhere that you might accept or a new project in their domain, a single, final note months later is acceptable.

Exercise 3

Show solutionHide solution

It adds up to five hours, not three, so it will collapse within a week. It also spreads time across five activities, each too short to finish anything.

A fix for three hours: about 75 minutes of problem-solving (one timed problem and review), 60 minutes of applications (two applications plus one referral message), and 45 minutes on the current single priority, which in the foundation phase is the project and later becomes interview preparation. LinkedIn posting and mock interviews move to the weekend or to specific weeks, rather than happening daily.

The lesson for prompting: tell the assistant your hours and tell it to refuse to exceed them, as the prompt in this article does. Then check the arithmetic yourself anyway.

Exercise 4

Show solutionHide solution

Check:

  • The status column has a dropdown with the fixed values, and there is a Furthest stage column.
  • The dashboard formulas return 0 now without errors. Test them by temporarily setting one row's stage to "Screen".
  • Your ten rows have Company, Role, Group and Link filled in, ready for the day you apply.
  • The Sunday review event is recurring.

Optional: freeze the header row and sort by Next action date, so the morning check takes seconds.

Where to go next

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Linked from 2 guides

Other pages in the library that point here.

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