If you are involved in recruiting and hiring employees, chances are you spend a significant amount of time reviewing resumes. But a sound hiring process doesn’t start with the applicant’s resume — it begins with an efficient employment application form that captures essential information for modern, applicant-tracking databases. These employment applications must be structured in a way that doesn’t turn away the best talent or violate employment laws; therefore, it’s critical that you understand the essential elements and questions to ask.
This article is a one-stop shop for free, customizable employment application templates for a variety of uses, including a standard outline, a minimal form for the two-stage application process, and a letter template to use to stand out in a competitive hiring market. The templates are available in Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Excel, Smartsheet, and PDF formats.
This template is a generic employment application PDF form designed with the standard sections to collect applicant data. There are no sections for an applicant signature or legal disclaimers and voluntary statements.
Download Generic Employment Application Template
If you’re looking for a simplified, ready-to-use job application, use this printable PDF application template. You can repurpose the form to suit your hiring policy and customize the PDF if you need to make adjustments based on the employment and personal data laws and regulations in your state or region.
Use a two-stage employment application form to short-list qualified applicants, store their contact information, and schedule phone-screen interviews for an open position. This customizable template is designed to collect only the necessary information to track online applicants and streamline your application process.
If you prefer to format your hiring documents as a spreadsheet, use this job application template. This form is designed as an outline for use with Excel or Google Sheets and features customizable subsections to collect applicant data specific to your hiring policy and process.
Use this free template as a basic application form.The customizable Word document features the standard outline to collect applicant information, such as contact info, employment history, education, and more.
In a competitive job market, winning the battle for talented candidates depends on a number of factors applicants are considering, including your recruiting and hiring process. Make a great first impression on every applicant by using a formal application acknowledgment letter. Use this template to craft your letter and add a personal touch. Create an email version of the acknowledgement letter for your applicant tracking system in order to automate a response when an application is submitted online.
If you want to stay in touch with qualified applicants regarding future job openings or if you simply wish to professionally decline every qualified applicant when they are not moving forward in the hiring process, consider sending a formal application rejection letter. Use this template to differentiate yourself from your competitors, make a professional impression on future candidates for employment, and keep your applicants informed.
The purpose of an employment application is to collect the necessary and legally requestable information, to the extent that the employer needs to track, respond to, and manage each job applicant. A signed application form provides the employer with additional legal verification that the information supplied by the applicant is accurate. The form also confirms that the applicant is submitting it for employment purposes.
This form is used to collect necessary information about candidates applying for a job, but it is more than a tool to organize and track applicants: It often becomes the candidate’s first impression of an organization. In an age of data protection laws and heightened awareness around ethical hiring practices, this is especially important. Additionally, the employment application form should be formatted to include information that job seekers wouldn’t necessarily include on their resume. Because applicants spend time updating and perfecting their resume, an employment application form that asks for this information without providing the necessary context might frustrate the best candidates — to the point of not applying at all.
The decision to update an employment application form comes down to asking a few essential questions about your current document and application process:
Use these questions to determine your reasons for updating the employment application. Decide what to add or delete from your employment application based on your state laws, and on the information you deem necessary to your hiring process. Seek legal advice and counsel if you are unsure of the laws that govern your use of employment application data. For more information on U.S. employment practices, visit the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) website, or contact an attorney.
The content found on employment application forms varies according to a range of factors including company policy, industry type, legal regulation, employer location, etc. Decide on the different elements to include in the employment application form, but make sure the form always provides a snapshot of the applicant. Relying on resumes alone to help you differentiate among applicant credentials is not a quick or efficient method to track candidates or organize the hiring process. The sections and type of information commonly requested on standard employment application forms include the following:
It is also essential to understand what not to include on the employment application form. The employment application form is a professional business document void of jargon, vague information, or opinion. Employment regulations protect the employer and the applicant's legal rights. Avoid eliciting the following information on your employment application form without first consulting legal counsel and checking existing federal laws, state laws, or employment regulations:
Review the information you request on the form and determine what is essential for your specific hiring process, based on the applicant’s merit and the job requirements. Seek legal counsel or work with professional documentation consultants, and check local and state laws that prohibit the collection of certain personal data or questions that violate employment law (e.g., date of birth, social security number, questions that inadvertently discriminate, etc.) if you are unsure of what to include or exclude on the form.
In a two-stage employment application process, the employer gathers information from applicants in two phases. Instead of using a single form (sometimes multiple pages long) to collect all of the information required to make a hiring decision, the applicant provides basic contact information on the online application form. In the case of companies like Netflix, the applicant can apply by simply using their LinkedIn profile and uploading a resume. The next phase of the hiring process involves gathering the additional documentation, including the appropriate legal consent, a request for references, or any other information required to form the employment relationship.
Streamline your hiring process and make it easier to track and contact candidates with a simplified two-stage job application form. To get the most out the process, consider the following tips:
You can streamline the process and ensure consistency by using an employment application template. In the next section, you’ll find a variety of free, downloadable template to help you jumpstart your hiring efforts.
Attracting and hiring the right people is crucial to your organization’s survival. That’s why using a tool to organize, track, and manage the many aspects of the hiring and recruitment processes is essential to your success.
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