Thomas, 32: "Laid off in July, signed at Doctolib in November — how I took back control"
Thomas Harris, 32, senior Business Analyst. Laid off in July 2025 as part of a restructuring, signed at Doctolib in November 2025. Four months in between, structured in a tight pipeline instead of an Excel that gets out of hand.
At a glance
| Metric | Month 1 (no system) | Months 2-4 (with Traject) |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Job seeker | Job seeker |
| Experience | 8 years (FinTech, consulting) | 8 years (FinTech, consulting) |
| Applications sent | 35 | 85 |
| Response rate | 11% (4 replies) | 27% (23 replies) |
| HR interviews | 2 | 8 |
| Offers received | 0 | 2 (Doctolib accepted) |
| Signed salary | — | €65k + variable + stock options |
| Hours of admin / week | ~12 h | ~4 h |
The starting point: an Excel that becomes a wall
Layoff in July, in the context of a SaaS vendor "cutting costs to prepare for its AI pivot". Thomas has 8 years of Business Analysis experience, mostly in FinTech and consulting. Solid profile on paper — but the first months get bogged down.
He starts with what everyone does: an Excel with one sheet per process step (sent, follow-up, interview, etc.). Very quickly, the Google Sheet has 35 rows, 14 columns, and he no longer knows who he followed up with when.
"I sent 35 applications the first month thinking volume would compensate. Three replies, two HR interviews, no follow-up. I was spending 12 hours per week managing my file instead of preparing for interviews."
The real problem: 35 applications, 35 non-comparable applications
- No measurement of response rate per channel. LinkedIn vs direct apply vs referral: no way to know what worked.
- Follow-ups by memory. Some opportunities died because the D+7 follow-up went out at D+20.
- Generic CV. Same version sent to a Business Analyst role at a scale-up, a Product Manager role at a corporate, a Data Analyst role at a consultancy — as if they were all the same job.
The shift: structure it like a project, not like a spreadsheet
Mid-August, Thomas switches to Traject. The starting logic: you search for a job the way you'll run a project on the job. A pipeline with stages, measured KPIs, tested hypotheses, piloted follow-ups.
The first diagnostic surfaces real market data for senior Business Analyst in Paris: median €62k (vs €55k he was targeting), most demanded skills (advanced SQL, Looker/Tableau, FinTech experience valued), and an Employability score of 74/100.
"The first thing that helped me was the 74 score. Not because it was high — because it was precise. For a month I felt like nobody wanted me. Turns out I was just poorly positioned on the ads."
What concretely changed
1. Kanban pipeline + KPI dashboard
All applications in one space, 4 synced views (Table, Kanban, Dashboard, Network). The dashboard measures in real time: overall response rate, rate per channel, average duration per stage, the stage where he converts most.
Discovery after 3 weeks: his response rate via direct application (LinkedIn or career site) is 18%. Via referral, 67%. Immediate decision: cap cold applications at 20 per week and concentrate 60% of his time on network activation.
2. ATS-friendly CV tailored per ad
Automatic generation in 2 minutes: one CV per ad, with keywords detected in the posting and the right angle (FinTech-focused BA vs SaaS-focused BA vs operations-focused BA). His response rate climbs from 11% to 27% in 4 weeks.
3. Automated follow-ups and templates per stage
Not a single forgotten follow-up. Templates per status (application follow-up, post-interview follow-up, thank-you, silent follow-up), send timing suggested at the right delay. Across 85 applications in months 2-4, zero applications "dead from forgetfulness".
4. Network activation
Import of 240 LinkedIn contacts (former colleagues, recruiters, FinTech contacts). Reactivation pipeline: 35 contacts qualified as "to activate", personalized messages across 4 weeks. Result: 11 introductions, 4 direct interviews without going through the public ad — including the one at Doctolib.
Results at 4 months
- 2 concrete offers: Senior Business Analyst at Doctolib (€65k + variable + stock options) and a position at a B2B scale-up (€60k + variable). Chose Doctolib for impact and equity.
- Salary negotiated +€5k over the initial proposal, leveraging the market range.
- Response rate from 11% to 27%.
- Admin time divided by 3: 4h/week instead of 12h.
- 60% of interviews via reactivated network, vs 100% via cold applications in month 1.
What Thomas tells job seekers
"Job searching when you have 8 years of XP isn't a motivation problem. It's a system problem. You can't pilot 80 applications in your head. The moment I accepted treating my search like a project — with KPIs, hypotheses, A/B tests on my CVs — everything accelerated."
Thomas has been at Doctolib for three months. He keeps using Traject to track his network and prepare his next internal evolution 18-24 months out.