Own your job search.

I met Anna nearly 10 years ago. Sweet person, sharp mind, “get it done” attitude. We worked together for two years, and honestly? She is one of the smartest people I know. Last time I checked, she had a solid job.

So when I ran into her a few weeks ago, I was surprised — she told me she was looking again. But the market is brutal right now.

Naturally I asked for her CV. Shared it with my network. Her friends did the same. Months passed. Lots of effort, almost no result. Companies ghosted her. Some just vanished after a single interview did not go perfectly.

No feedback, no humanity — nothing. And the thing is… I went through the exact same pain last year. In this economy, it is not just about skill anymore. It is about network, visibility, timing — and how well you brand yourself. Once I realized that, something clicked.

There had to be a better system. A smarter way. Because neither Anna nor I — nor anyone — should waste hours crafting AI-slop CVs, rewriting the same cover letter, and throwing applications into the void.

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

And that is where this story begins.

By this point, it was obvious we needed a system.
Something better than sending CVs into the void and hoping for the best.

So I started digging.
Reddit threads, communities, articles — anything that hinted at a smarter approach.
Funny enough, a lot of people were already doing something clever:
tracking their job applications in spreadsheets.

So I jumped on one of those templates.
Anna did too.
And honestly? It helped.
Not magically — it wasn’t night and day — but suddenly we could see.
Which applications failed. Which ones moved forward.
Where we got stuck.
What patterns kept repeating.

That’s when this quote hit me like a brick:

“There are only patterns, patterns on top of patterns, patterns that affect other patterns.
Patterns hidden by patterns. Patterns within patterns.
If you watch close, history does nothing but repeat itself.
What we call chaos is just patterns we haven’t recognized.”

— Chuck Palahniuk, Survivor

And that’s when we realized: spreadsheets weren’t enough.
We needed a real system. So we built one.

With this new workflow, Anna and I finally mapped every pipeline she cared about. We even curated best practices from the web and combined them into our own system.

We logged each job posting with details like: Recruiter name(s), compensation, location, key skills to highlight, interview timeline and of course… color-coded statuses The spreadsheet lit up like a Christmas tree — messy, but at least it was structured. And as Anna progressed, new problems started to appear.

She could get interviews now… but she couldn’t track them properly.

Her interview notes were scattered everywhere. Emails buried inside threads. Contacts lost. Networking opportunities slipping through the cracks.

She told me a story that stuck with me:

She was interviewing at a new company when she realized a recruiter she had a great connection with had changed jobs. She messaged her, hoping for a referral… but had no central place to track these relationships.

As her needs grew, our spreadsheet began collapsing under its own weight.

It became messy.Unmanageable.Tangled.

Because logically — how do you track: applications tied to companies, email chains, interview notes, take-home assignments, networking contacts, job offers, tasks, follow-up reminders, …all inside a single spreadsheet?

You don’t. It’s impossible. And that’s when we realized: The system needed to evolve.

Anna and I became the first users — the guinea pigs. We built HireLedger out of necessity, tested it on real chaos, and refined it until her job search finally made sense.

Within weeks, she wasn’t just applying anymore — she was progressing. Every interview had context. Every recruiter stayed visible. Every opportunity was tracked, followed up, and closed properly.

And eventually… she landed the offer she wanted.

Proof that the system works — not because we’re geniuses, but because we built something the process desperately needed.

HireLedger wasn’t designed in a meeting room. It was designed in the middle of the struggle — by people who needed help, for people who need it now.

And until the full version launches, it’s name your own price. If money is tight, just pick it up. Use it. Win. When things improve, you can always come back and support it.

You’re not alone in this. Now you have a system.