Small business owners may think an employment application form is outdated or just another pile of paperwork. However, the employment application form is a classic way to screen potential new employees who enter your business, such as if you own a cafe, a restaurant, or a clothing store. A good employment application form allows people to apply for the job and creates a pipeline of candidates for that day when you need someone ASAP. 

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Free Employment Application Template

Here is our free Employment Application Template. This is a good starting point but may need to be adapted for your business. Below the template, we elaborate on what questions you can/ should ask and why, as well as if your business needs an employment application.

You can cut & paste the below, download it as a PDF Here, or access it as a Word Document.

Legal Name: __________________________ Preferred Name: _____________________

Phone Number: ________________________ Email Address: ______________________

Position Applying For: _______________________________________________________

Why do you want this position? What makes you qualified for this role? ____________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

In your past experience, what was your favorite job & why?

If this is your first job, what has been your favorite class in school & why?

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

Describe yourself in 5 words.

___________________________________________________________________________

If we would like to interview you, what are the best days/ times for you?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

Please attach your full resume to this application.

If we are interested, we will be in touch via email within 72 hours to schedule an interview.

By signing the below, I confirm that the information provided on this application and my resume are accurate and truthful to the best of my knowledge.

Signature: ______________________________________ Date:__________________

What to Include and What to Avoid in an Employment Application Form

Green Light - Include This	Red Light - Avoid This	Why Avoid?
Full Legal Name	Marital Status, Salutations	Title VII / sexism & gender
Email Address	Physical or Mailing Address	Title VII / financial status
Phone Number	Social Security Number or Tax Status	Privacy / data security
Preferred Name	Race, Gender, and Age	Title VII
Military Service - Skill set acquired, dates of service	Military Service - discharge reasons	Title VII, HIPAA
Years of Related Experience	Date of Birth	Title VII, ADEA
Degrees Achieved & From What Institution, Specialties/Majors	Graduation Dates	Title VII, ADEA
Eligibility to work in the USA	Citizenship and Visa Status	Title VII
Job History & Skills Acquired	Reasons for Termination from a Previous Job	Title VII, HIPPA, legal issues like libel

21 Good Questions to Ask on an Employment App

The main thing to keep in mind when creating an employment application form is to ask targeted questions that will help you to get a keen understanding of the value a candidate has to offer your company.

The employment application form questions below will help you to identify traits such as communication skills, thoughtfulness, motives, and the candidate’s ability to work collaboratively. Stick to questions about performance, experience and behavior.

Pro Tip: 5 questions is usually plenty from the below.

While you don’t want to scare away applicants or make your application form unduly long, you do want to pick about 5 questions from the below to include. Including these questions lets you see the applicant’s written communication skills, thoughtfulness in responses, and ability to complete something quickly yet thoroughly.

Think about it – if an applicant isn’t willing to provide 5 short answers on an application, do you think he or she will make a good employee? Probably not!

Here are 21 questions you could ask on your form, feel free to modify!

1. What position are you applying for and why?
2. What about our company is most exciting to you?
3. Why do you want to work for our company?
4. How many hours can you work weekly/ what shifts are you available?
5. Are you able to commute to our location in a reasonable amount of time?
6. What were your best accomplishments in your last role?
7. Describe a time when you had to make a tough choice. What did you have to choose between and why did you choose it?
8. Provide an example of a time you worked collaboratively with a team.
9. Provide a detailed example of a time you demonstrated leadership.
10. Describe your relationship with your last immediate supervisor.
11. What would your most recent supervisor have to say about you?
12. Why did you move on, or why are you looking to move on, from your most recent position?
13. Describe your ideal manager.
14. Describe yourself in five words.
15. What accomplishment are you most proud of in your personal or professional life?
16. Provide a short list of your personal strengths. They do not have to be job-related.
17. Provide a list of your top 3 weaknesses.
18. Provide a one or two-sentence glimpse of your primary career goal.
19. If money were no object, what would you do as your career?
20. Describe a time when you “took one for the team”.
21. What was your favorite job in your past and why?

What Not to Ask & Why

On an application form, you want to avoid 3 types of questions that can cause legal headaches and that waste time.

1. Questions about protected characteristics, like race, gender, religion, etc.

You should avoid these questions because they relate to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and its amendments, which affect all employers with more than 15 employees. Questions like this can reveal if someone is a member of protected class.

2. Questions around confidential information, like medical conditions, Social Security numbers, tax status, etc.

Questions around confidential information like this can be asked either after hiring, or, if necessary, as a condition of the offer letter (like passing a background check or credit check).

3. Questions that won’t help you determine if an applicant is a good fit for the job (which wastes the applicant’s time and your time).

Avoid unnecessary questions by having a team member or the manager of the team read the application. Does everything matter to the role? Is anything extraneous?

Why Have An Employment Application Form At All?

After reading all of this, you might be wondering if you even need an application form for your small business. Here are some guidelines to consider:

• If you have walk in applications or walk in clientele, then, YES, you probably need an application form. For example, restaurants, clothing stores, cafes, daycares, and other brick & mortar businesses usually have people pounding down their doors to see if they are hiring.
• If you are primarily online or in an industry where clients do not walk into your office, you probably do NOT need an application form. You most likely will instead use job descriptions and job postings, which you can read about here, where candidates will submit resumes with cover letters over email or via a web system.

Depending on your type of business, the job application can be a way to not just find great talent that matches what you need, but also serves to create an on-demand pipeline if someone resigns, walks out, or is fired. You then have a list of emails and phone numbers to call, eliminating panic!  

Store the applications in a simple way – rejected, hired, and currently in the pipeline (in order of date). Three folders is all you need! But why keep all that paper when you can organize applicants digitally in an applicant tracking system like Breezy HR? Breezy in an incredibly user-friendly candidate management system that can save you time when deciding who to hire. Manage applicants for one job for free!

Next Steps

Now that you have your employment application form, you should consider posting a job ad on a free job board to attract talent. Try Indeed.com for the best results; they also give you $50 free to boost your post.

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