Job Application Tracker Visualizer: Kanban, Funnel and Sankey Charts

Below: what each one shows, how to make it, and how to read the result.

1. Kanban board: where everything stands

A Kanban board has one column per stage and one card per application: Saved, Applied, Interviewing, Offer, Rejected.

Use it for: the daily view. You see at a glance what needs action and what is waiting.

How to build it: Trello, Notion boards and the Obsidian Kanban plugin all work. A dedicated tracker such as Seekrly has a board built in, where you drag a role through the stages and the job, recruiter and notes stay attached to the card.

What to watch: a very long Applied column with nothing moving to Interviewing means your applications are not getting replies. A long Saved column means you are collecting jobs faster than you apply.

2. Funnel: how applications convert

A funnel counts how many applications reach each stage, then shows the drop between stages.

Use it for: finding the weak step in your search.

How to build it in a spreadsheet:

1. Make sure your tracker has a date applied, a status and a "heard back" column. The free template has all three.
2. Count each stage on a summary sheet, then work out the step-by-step rates: replies divided by applications, interviews divided by replies, offers divided by interviews.
3. Select the counts and insert a bar chart, with stages in order from top to bottom.

Example (made-up numbers for illustration):

How to read it:

• Low reply rate: the resume, the targeting or the timing needs work. Compare resume versions and sources.
• Replies but few interviews: screening calls or the resume-to-role match may be off.
• Interviews but few offers: practise interview answers and ask for feedback.

The funnel is only reliable once you have a few dozen applications, so treat early numbers as a rough guide.

3. Sankey diagram: where applications go

A Sankey diagram draws flows between stages as bands whose width matches the number of applications. It shows, in one picture, how many applications ended in silence, a rejection or an interview.

How to build it: a free online tool such as SankeyMATIC takes simple text lines in the form Source [amount] Target. Paste your counts and it draws the diagram. Example input, using the same made-up numbers as the funnel:

Applied [48] No reply
Applied [12] Heard back
Heard back [6] Rejected
Heard back [6] Interview
Interview [4] Rejected after interview
Interview [1] Offer
Interview [1] Withdrew

Each stage's outgoing numbers should add up to its incoming number, otherwise the diagram will look wrong. In the example, 12 heard back, so 6 plus 6 leaves exactly 12.

If you share the chart, post only counts, never company names or recruiter details.

Which one should you build first?

• Starting out: a Kanban board. It costs nothing and keeps you moving.
• After about 30 applications: a funnel, to find the weak step.
• When you want to share or reflect: a Sankey diagram, because it is the easiest to read at a glance.

Skip the manual charts

Building charts means keeping the data clean and updating the formulas. Seekrly shows your applications, interviews, offers and response rate on a dashboard from the data you already track, so the visual is a by-product of tracking. Paid plans add more insights, such as resume performance and reply times.

To run the whole search as a plan rather than a pile of charts, read job application tracker project: run your job search like a project.