Spreadsheets are love.Last week, I talked about how to make your resume and cover letter stand out by choosing your words carefully. Even as you’re preparing to get your internship and job materials up to snuff, it’s important to keep all of your stuff organized. With all of internship opportunities that you’ll be looking into, sometimes keeping track of which internship or job has which requirement and which due date can get overwhelming.

Yesterday, as I was trying to knock some applications out over my spring break, I found it almost impossible to keep everything organized. I tried keeping a list, and even as much as I love lists, it just wasn’t cutting it. Finally, I ended up spending about a good hour making a spreadsheet listing all of the internships I hoped to apply to and everything that I needed to know about it. When you’re trying to remember all of the components of the many internships you’re applying for, try making a spreadsheet of your own.

I included the following columns on my spreadsheet:

• Web page specifying instructions
• Due date
• Position that I’m implying for
• Address to send application materials (whether an email or physical address)
• Required materials to send
• Status of application (sent, need to print and mail, etc.)
• Other Information (for instance if there’s a link to an application form to fill out)

It was a pain in the ass to compile, but once it was done, I could clearly see everything that I needed to do and which materials I needed to include in my application. Being organized is one key thing that you’ll need to master in order to get a great job, so start practicing early by making your own internship application spreadsheet.

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