I Replaced My Job Application Spreadsheet With a Privacy-First Tracker

Like most job seekers, I started with a Google Sheet. Columns for company, role, date applied, status, notes. It worked for the first 10 applications.

By application 30, the spreadsheet was chaos. Outdated statuses, missing links, duplicate entries. I'd open it, feel overwhelmed, and close it without updating anything.

The Problem With Existing Tools

I tried Huntr, Teal, and a few others. They all had the same issue: they wanted my CV uploaded to their servers, parsed by their AI, stored in their databases. As someone who builds software, I know what happens to that data.

What I Built Instead

Dossier takes a different approach:

1. Local-first storage — your data stays on your device
2. PII sanitisation — before any AI processing, personal details are stripped
3. Smart matching — AI-powered job-CV matching without exposing your identity
4. Simple tracking — applied, interviewing, offered, rejected. That's it.

The Technical Bits

The PII sanitisation layer uses named entity recognition to identify and mask personal information before it reaches the matching engine. Your name, address, phone number never leave your device.

The matching itself runs against the sanitised version of your CV, comparing skills, experience patterns, and role requirements.

Early Results

I've been using it for my own job search for 2 weeks. The biggest win isn't the AI matching — it's just having a clean, simple view of where I stand. No spreadsheet anxiety.

Would love feedback from other developers who are job hunting. What would you want from a tool like this?

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Dossier is open source and free. Check it out on GitHub