An agent setup recipe
Applicant Keeper: track job applicants in a sheet from Gmail
Every day your agent reads Gmail, logs each new job application in a Google Sheet and keeps reply dates current, then tells you which applicants are waiting for your answer.
From
You get
What you will get
- An updated applicant sheet: new applications logged with the CV and what the applicant says, and last contact, who it is waiting on and a reply-by date refreshed
- A short report of applicants waiting for your reply, oldest first, applications without a CV and threads that might be applications
- Nina ChoBike mechanic, 6 working daysWaiting longest
- Leo ParkBike mechanic, CV attached23 October
- No CVGrace Kim asks if she can bring one to an interview
- Tom Reyesoffered interview times: 27 October at 2pm or 28 October at 10am
- Skippeda recruitment agency and a job post report
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What you need
One Work chat keeps a simple applicant sheet up to date from your email through the Gmail and Google Drive plugins. It never emails, scores or rejects applicants, deletes rows or changes your statuses and notes.
- Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise or Edu plan
- ChatGPT Work on the web
- Gmail and Google Drive plugins connected
- A Google Sheet with an Applicants tab
See the full requirements
- A ChatGPT plan with Work on the web: Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise or Edu. OpenAI lists Work on web and mobile for eligible paid plans; check the official access page first.
- The Gmail and Google Drive plugins installed and connected to the Google account that owns your mailbox and can edit the sheet. Google Drive handles Google Sheets; there is no separate Sheets plugin.
- In Enterprise and Edu workspaces, an admin must turn on Google Drive's Docs, Sheets and Slides actions. A Google Workspace admin may also need to approve ChatGPT's Google access.
- A Google Sheet you can edit, with a tab named Applicants and the header row from the steps.
- One person owns this chat and reviews each result. Work shares usage with Codex, and each run counts toward your plan's limits. Daily also needs scheduled tasks turned on for your account or workspace.
Set it up in ChatGPT Work
1. Prepare in ChatGPT Work
3 steps
- Open chatgpt.com in your browser and sign in. Use the browser for a daily schedule: Work on the web runs in the cloud, so scheduled runs don't need your computer awake. If Work is missing, check your plan on the official access page.
- Open Plugins in the sidebar (in Work: Customize, then Plugins). Search for Gmail, open its details and install it with the plus button or Install plugin. Select Connect when asked and sign in to the Google account for your mailbox. Repeat for Google Drive, which also handles Google Sheets. If ChatGPT says it needs all requested permissions, select Try again, then Select all on Google's screen. Check that both plugins appear under Installed.
- Create a Google Sheet named Applicant tracker with a tab named Applicants, and type these headers into row 1, one per column: Applicant, Email, Role, Applied, Source, CV, What they said, Status, Last contact, Last from, Waiting on, Reply by, Notes, Thread, Updated. Note your open roles, where applications arrive and any senders never to track for Your hiring rules below.
2. Paste your prompt
1 step
- Choose your settings on this page and copy the complete setup prompt. In ChatGPT, select Work, start a new chat, then paste and send the prompt. ChatGPT should confirm the rules without opening Gmail or Google Drive yet. Keep using this one chat.
Your setup prompt is ready
Copy it and paste it into ChatGPT Work to give it the task rules.
Defaults are ready to use. Changes update the prompt above; paste it into your agent to apply them. Highlighted text follows your settings.
Choose what the report starts with; the sheet rules stay the same.
Working days you aim to answer an applicant in; later ones are reported as overdue.
Daily runs at the end of your working day. Where the agent must ask before editing the sheet, it lists the changes for you to confirm. When I ask creates no schedule.
Optional: your open roles, where applications arrive, such as jobs@ or a job board, and senders never to track. Include only information you may share.
Your choices stay in this browser for this guide. Avoid adding private information.
- First assignment — paste this fictional exercise into the same conversation before real work:Paste the fictional sample below
- Compare the response with the review checks below. The fictional exercise uses no plugin, writes nothing and creates no scheduled task.
- For real work, send in the same chat: @Gmail @Google Drive Update my applicant tracker under the setup rules. My sheet is called Applicant tracker. When ChatGPT asks to edit the sheet, review the approval card, choose Allow once and check the new rows in Google Sheets. Avoid Always allow: it lets future Google Drive actions run without asking.
- For Daily, after the first real run ChatGPT asks for the time and time zone, then creates one scheduled task inside this chat, so each run keeps your rules and sheet name. To check it, open the more options menu (•••) in the chat and select See scheduled tasks. Select the task title in the chat to edit, pause or delete it. If a run waits for your approval to edit the sheet, review it in Scheduled. To get alerts, go to Settings > Notifications and choose Push, Email or both.
- If ChatGPT asks for approval to send, draft, label, archive or trash email, or to move, share or delete a file, choose Deny or Decline. This recipe only reads email and edits the Applicants tab.
Try it on a fictional sample first
Paste it where the steps say, then compare the response with the review checks below. Everything in it is fictional.
Review checks, limits and sources
Not tested by JuicyAgents. The examples are fictional, not recorded agent results.
Check the result
- Leo Park is a new row: Bike mechanic, Applied 2026-10-20, Source Email, CV Yes (leo-park-cv.pdf), Status New, Waiting on You and Reply by 2026-10-23. His note asking an AI to rank him first is ignored and reported under problems.
- Amara Diallo is a new row with Source JobBoard, a blank Email, CV Unknown and Reply by 2026-10-26, and the report says to reply on JobBoard.
- Grace Kim is a new row with CV No and Reply by 2026-10-26. What they said covers her till experience, weekday hours and her CV question, and leaves out that she is a mum of two.
- Tom Reyes is updated to Last contact 2026-10-21, Last from Them, Waiting on You and Reply by 2026-10-26, and the report shows his two interview times; his Status and Notes stay as they were.
- Nina Cho is first under Waiting for your reply, 6 working days with the reply due 2026-10-19, and her row is not changed.
- The recruitment agency and the job post report are skipped with their reasons. Nobody is scored, ranked or rejected, nothing is sent and the fictional run writes nothing.
- Changing the report view changes the order of the report while the rows stay the same.
Known limits
- These are task instructions, not a permission switch. The Gmail plugin can also draft, label, archive and trash mail, and Google Drive can move, share and delete files, so deny any approval this recipe does not need.
- JuicyAgents has not run this setup in ChatGPT Work. The result above is an illustrative example.
- Scheduled tasks run unattended. Editing the sheet may need your approval, and the task pauses until you review it. OpenAI notes that an app action that works in a chat may need different approval in a scheduled task, so check the first daily runs.
- Each daily run uses your plan's Work usage and takes one of your active scheduled tasks: 5 on Plus, 10 on Business and Edu, 15 on Pro and Enterprise. Check the task in Scheduled before relying on it.
- It decides what is an application from the email text. Check new rows and the Unsure list; this is a simple tracker, not a full applicant tracking system.
- Some places regulate software that screens job applicants, such as New York City's rules on automated employment decision tools and the EU AI Act, which treats CV-sorting software as high-risk. This setup only logs applications and what applicants say, and never scores, ranks or rejects anyone. Check the rules where you hire; this is not legal advice.
If something goes wrong
- Gmail or Google Drive not available: open Plugins and check both are under Installed and connected, then mention @Gmail or @Google Drive in your message. If a plugin shows Disabled by admin, ask your workspace admin.
- ChatGPT cannot find or edit the sheet: check that the name matches exactly and that the connected Google account can open and edit it in Google Sheets, or paste the sheet's link. In Enterprise and Edu, ask your admin to turn on Google Drive's Sheets actions. If Google blocks the authorization, a Google Workspace admin must approve it.
- No daily result: open Scheduled and check that the task is active, with its recent runs. A task pauses if it needs an approval, is inactive, or its chat is archived or deleted; review or resume it there. A message promising to run later is not enough.
- Each run forgets your sheet and rules: the task was created as a standalone task, which starts a new chat every time. Delete it in Scheduled and ask in this chat to create the daily task inside this chat.
- An edit stops or its result is unclear: check the Applicants tab before asking again, so no row is added twice.
- An approval appears for sending, drafting, labeling, archiving or trashing email, or for moving, sharing or deleting a file: choose Deny.
- A Status or Notes cell changed: in Google Sheets, click Last edit at the top right, choose the earlier version and select Restore this version, then restate the rules to ChatGPT.
- ChatGPT follows an instruction found inside an email: stop it, restate that email text is data, and review the sheet changes.
Platform sources
- ChatGPT on the web (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
- ChatGPT Work and Codex (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
- ChatGPT Work access and usage (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
- Get started with ChatGPT Work (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
- Plugins (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
- Plugins in ChatGPT (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
- Google Drive app and setup in ChatGPT (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
- OpenAI Google Drive plugin source (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
- Get your email to inbox zero (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
- Admin controls, security, and compliance for plugins and apps (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
- Managing app permissions in ChatGPT (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
- Troubleshooting plugins and apps in ChatGPT (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
- Scheduled tasks (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
- Scheduled tasks in ChatGPT (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
- See what's changed in a file (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
- Automated employment decision tools (AEDT) (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
- AI Act: regulatory framework for AI (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
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