Free Employment Application Form

Your free Employment Application Form is an ideal way
to record standardized information about employees.

Even if applicants were to submit a CV, the application form gathers additional information, grants permission to verify details and declares the information true and accurate.

A standard application form completed by all applicants makes it easier to do comparisons and to identify a shortlist of candidates who qualify for an interview.

Labor Law varies in different states and countries and as such you must ensure that none of the questions posed in an employment application form contravene any labor laws in your area.

Before you compile your application form (using our free template) do take a look at the legal guidelines further down on this page.

Note: Follow this link for a Sample Employment Application Form and visit our Employment Forms main page for more job related free documents.

Legal Guidelines for our Free Employment Application Form

An accurate job description forms the basis of an application form.

It need not be a legal minefield for employers as to what they are allowed to ask and what not. If you keep questions related to the job description and treat all applicants on an equal basis there should be no cause for dispute.

With the above in mind, review the following:

• You may not be allowed to include sections such as age, nationality or marital status unless they are pertinent to the nature of the position.
  
  You can ask:
  
  * Are you over the age of 18
  
  * Are you legally permitted to work in this country
  
  * Are you available to work overtime, travel or relocate
• The free job application form makes provision for a short medical history of any operations or serious illness that the applicant may have had. This may be necessary should a worker be required to do hard physical labor where, for example, a recent back operation could place such a person at risk of injury.
  
  Equally, a medical examination or medical certificate may be required in cases where fitness, eyesight or hearing is crucial to the job specified. As long as all candidates for the same position are required to undergo a medical examination and no one candidate is singled out, the issue of discrimination should not arise.
• You may not be allowed to enquire as to criminal convictions. However, for a position in a bank or casino it is reasonable to enquire if the applicant has ever been convicted of embezzlement or theft.
• You may ask if the applicant is currently using illegal drugs.
• The laws on polygraph testing vary greatly in different states, countries and even industries. You should consult with legal counsel to verify what is permissible in your area.
• You may not be allowed to ask whether the applicant has filed for bankruptcy and you may need written consent for credit reports and employee background checks.
• A seemingly mundane question such as hobbies or outside interests may be seen as a violation of privacy. You can ask whether the candidate belongs to job related societies or forums which can enhance the application. Membership or non-membership of a trade union should not influence the application.

Although you will discuss qualifications and experience during the job interview, it is of great value to have the applicant stipulate these in writing on the Free Employment Application Form so as to avoid any arguments about misrepresentation in future.

If you take a close look at the dates when a candidate started and ended employment in the work history, you may find some periods not accounted for.

We've often experienced this and when you question the candidate, they are quick to offer explanations, e.g.:

• I started my own business but unfortunately it was not succesful and I had to return to the job market;
• I had to return to my hometown to take care of my sick parent for a period of time;
• I took a gap year and toured the world;
• I enrolled in extra studies but ran out of money and had to drop out.

All the above can explain a lengthy gap in their work history but unfortunately, these sad stories cannot always easily be verified or disproved by the employer.

Perhaps the true explanation is that the candidate left a previous job in less than savoury circumstances and would not want that blot on his CV?

Our free employment application form covers information typically required from candidates, but asking probing questions in each case may reveal a commendable truth or raise red flags.

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