Form templates / Recruiting & Staffing
Candidate Application Form
A candidate application form should ask what you'll actually shortlist on. Five screening answers and two open questions beat a form nobody finishes.
For recruiters, staffing agencies and in-house talent teams.
The screening answers are the whole form
Recruiters shortlist on the same handful of facts every time: relevant experience, location, right to work, notice period and salary expectation. Everything else is read after the shortlist exists, if at all.
So those five are required here and each is a fixed option, which means a hundred applications sort in a spreadsheet rather than being read twice. The two open questions are where judgement happens - and candidates write better answers when there are only two.
Fair, because it's identical for everyone
When applicants are asked different things, you're comparing presentation as much as substance - and the confident writers win. One form, one set of questions, and the answers line up next to each other.
It's also a record you can point at later: what was asked, what was answered, when it was submitted.
Comparable candidates, not forty differently-formatted CVs
The slow part of hiring isn't reading CVs - it's normalising them. Availability, location, right to work, salary expectation and notice period asked identically make a shortlist a sort rather than a project.
It's also a better candidate experience: a five-minute form that clearly asks what matters beats an inbox that never replies.
Export it and work how you already work
Every response downloads as a spreadsheet, so shortlisting can happen wherever your team already does it, with the same columns for every applicant and nothing typed in twice.
Edit it like a document, publish like a link
Add questions, remove questions, change the order and the wording, set your accent colour. When you save, the form is live at its own address - share it by link, QR code or a button on your site, and read the answers in your dashboard.
What this template asks
- Full name
- Email address
- Phone number
- Where are you based?
- Link to your CV, portfolio or LinkedIn
- Which role are you applying for?
- What are you looking for?
- Where would you like to work?
- Would you relocate for the right role?
- Years of relevant experience
- What's the most relevant thing you've done?
- Why this role?
- Which of these have you done?
- I have the right to work in the country this role is based in
- Notice period
- Salary expectation
- Do you need any adjustments to the interview process?
- How did you hear about the role?
More Recruiting & Staffing forms
Questions
Can candidates attach a CV?
Not yet - ask for a link to a CV or profile. For most roles the structured answers screen better anyway, because they're directly comparable.
Should I ask about salary history?
No - it's restricted in a growing number of jurisdictions and it anchors offers unfairly. Ask what they're looking for instead.
Can applicants attach a CV or document?
Not yet - file uploads are on the roadmap. Most people ask for a link (to a portfolio, a CV in cloud storage, or a profile) which works today and keeps the form fast.
Can I close applications on a deadline?
Yes. Close the form and anyone with the link sees a short closed page instead of the questions, so nobody fills in an application that can't be considered.
Can more than one person review them?
Yes - invite your team into the same account and they'll see the same responses. You can also export to a spreadsheet and score them wherever you like.
Can candidates attach a CV?
Not yet - uploads are on the roadmap. Asking for a link to a CV or profile works today, and the structured answers are usually what you screen on anyway.
Publish your candidate application form today
Start from this template and change anything you like. Free to begin.