We Tried Everything: Why Current Solutions Fall Short

When I hit interview #47 during my last job search, my “system” was a complete mess. Three spreadsheets, two Notion databases, a Trello board I’d given up on, and a calendar that looked like digital chaos. Sound familiar?

I’ve tried pretty much every tool out there. Maybe you have too.

The Spreadsheet Spiral

I started with Google Sheets. Color-coded columns for company, role, stage, notes. It worked fine for the first 10 applications. By application 50, I was:

Manually copying interview times between sheets and calendar
Missing interviews because I forgot to update the “Next Step” column
Losing track of which version had the latest notes
Spending 20 minutes every morning just syncing information

The breaking point: Realizing I’d been prepping for the wrong interview because I hadn’t updated my spreadsheet after a reschedule email.

The Notion Experience

“Notion will solve everything!” I thought. I built an elaborate job search dashboard with Kanban boards and filtered views. It looked great and had tons of features. But it was completely disconnected from my actual workflow.

Reality check: When you’re interviewing at 15 companies simultaneously, you don’t have time to manually update properties and drag cards around. You need something that just knows when your Google interview moves from Tuesday to Thursday.

The Trello Attempt

Trello felt promising. Visual, simple, mobile-friendly. But managing interview processes isn’t like managing projects. When a recruiter says “can we move this to next week?”, you need:

Instant calendar updates
Timezone conversion (was that 3 PM PST or EST?)
Context from previous conversations
Reminder adjustments
Document access (which version of my resume did I send them?)

Trello cards just sat there. Nice to look at, but disconnected from the reality of interview scheduling.

The “Professional” Job Trackers

Yes, I tried those too. Huntr, JibberJobber, and other purpose-built interview trackers. They work well for tracking applications. But once you’re actually interviewing? They become just another place to manually update information you’ve already recorded elsewhere.

The pattern: Every tool forced me to be a data entry clerk for my own job search.

The Real Problem Nobody Talks About

Here’s what actually happens when you’re deep in interview season:

Monday, 9 AM: Recruiter emails about rescheduling Wednesday’s interview

Monday, 2 PM: Different recruiter Slacks you about adding a system design round

Tuesday, 11 AM: Calendar invite arrives for Friday (wait, which company was this?)

Wednesday, 4 PM: “How did your interview go today?” (IT WAS RESCHEDULED)

Thursday, 10 PM: Realize you have two interviews booked at the same time tomorrow

The tools we use aren’t built for this reality. They’re built for a world where:

Interviews happen in neat, sequential order
You have time to manually update everything
Calendar integration means “can export to .ics file”
One company = one process (not 5 rounds with 12 people across 3 weeks)

What’s Actually Missing

After trying all these tools, I could see what was missing:

Real calendar sync - Not just exports, but actual two-way sync with your schedule
Email integration - Your inbox has all the details, but they’re stuck there
Time zone handling - When interviewing globally, “3 PM” needs context
Quick updates - If it takes more than 10 seconds, it won’t happen
Interview context - Who you’re meeting, what to prepare, what you discussed before

The worst part? We’re all pretending this is normal. We maintain these complex systems, miss opportunities, and burn out from the admin work instead of focusing on actually preparing for interviews.

There Has to Be a Better Way

After missing that final round interview, I had to face facts. Looking at my screen full of tabs, spreadsheets, and calendar conflicts, I thought: “There has to be a better way to handle this.”

That’s when I decided to stop trying to make existing tools work and start building something specifically for this problem. Something that understands how tech interviews actually work. Something that integrates with your calendar and email. Something that lets you focus on interview prep instead of admin work.

Building Something Different

Next in the series: How we’re building Odysi to be the interview management tool that actually works. No more juggling spreadsheets. No more missed interviews. Just a clear view of where you stand.

Are you drowning in interview admin too? Join the conversation in the comments or follow us on Twitter for the next post.

Ready for something better? Join the Odysi beta waitlist and be among the first to try interview management that actually works.

Less time on admin. More time on what matters: preparing for and landing your next role.