Attracting top talent hinges on providing a seamless and engaging candidate experience from the very first touchpoint. The candidate application form serves as the initial gateway for potential candidates to express their interest in your organization, making it crucial to craft a compelling and tailored experience.
Zoho Recruit's customizable application form can be embedded directly on your corporate career site or job posting pages. This allows candidates to seamlessly apply for open positions without leaving your website, providing a cohesive and branded experience throughout the application process. The form can also be shared as a unique link via email, social media, or other channels, ensuring maximum reach and accessibility.
By tailoring the application form to your specific needs and creating an engaging experience for candidates, you can attract and engage top talent more effectively, ultimately improving your hiring outcomes and strengthening your competitive edge in the talent acquisition landscape.
Customizing the candidate application form in Zoho Recruit enables you to:
- Capture Essential Information: Define the critical data points you need from applicants within the Candidates module. These include contact details, educational background, work experience, and skill sets, by configuring required and optional fields.
- Streamline the Submission Process:
Establish approval workflows for application reviews, integrate pre-screening assessments with specific job openings when they are published on the career site, and automate responses to acknowledge receipt and provide next steps.
Availability
- Navigate to the Setup section.
- Under the Career Website menu, click on Career Site > Candidate Application Form.
- Click on the more icon and select Edit to customize the default Candidate Application Form.
![](https://help.zoho.com/galleryDocuments/edbsna7caca769234b7f7cdaca8d1de9c76699ca3b7a7f851f3855ac460864a99fb83782d06e13ab8e3f1f10e15bff45939dc?inline=true)
In the Create Form section, you can add fields to and design your Candidate Application Form using Zoho Recruit's user-friendly Form Builder. Listed below are all the aspects of your Candidate Application Form you can customize in this section;
Managing Fields
- Use the Search bar to look up the fields from the selected module
![](https://help.zoho.com/galleryDocuments/edbsn07bb6f6fd0209decf74b36d65bd71226f14ff3ff1d5c67643a1ab0323fcb2177e700ce94fc07f2207da48353a900a6f6?inline=true)
- Add descriptions for the form section
![](https://help.zoho.com/galleryDocuments/edbsn2a07510515ff642fa366d0530703b2d2dc84628eeb79f0887670456da3dde7163570b2f2bd5cc3878f40ebb54d2c69a8?inline=true)
- Choose the layout for the application form. You can opt for either:
- Single-column Layout
The application section will be displayed in a single column.The Single Layout option allows candidates to focus on one field at a time, emphasizing each field individually. - Double-column Layout
The application section will be divided into two columns. The Double Layout renders a more compact form, reducing the need for excessive scrolling.
![](https://help.zoho.com/galleryDocuments/edbsndc19cb10d5714e3ac312993c738828bff05a496cf0803257211bea023d12747812ad9dd590ac0268ae835ce41f000ef9?inline=true)
- Add a CAPTCHA to prevent bots and junk entries.
![](https://help.zoho.com/galleryDocuments/edbsnf81849582e810bef08fd7997fd864a3e643d362ed960dc50093c0caf9a2b262011d9d7c4920ac5328b1b4f9f9eefc4d2?inline=true)
- In the Create Form section, you can customize the fields that appear on the application form.
![](https://help.zoho.com/galleryDocuments/edbsn50a8afc90b27b27c3772e453922d83610103c2f4ebda225fd69b12bbc9bc1e16c36807426e9aa04f389dd0a06db6c661?inline=true)
Required Fields
- Select the fields you want to mark as required for candidates to fill out.
- For each required field, you can:
- Add a hyperlink and text description by selecting Link and Text.
- Include only a text description by selecting Text Only.
![](https://help.zoho.com/galleryDocuments/edbsn9293729db3eb86fb5cafa66c76ab55074beca47b7f5bf133e905dd73ea7f08e460dba661193cde06fdcba5361cc83f30?inline=true)
Optional Fields
- Select the fields you want to include as optional for candidates.
- For each optional field, you can:
- Mark it as a hidden field (not visible to candidates) by selecting Mark as Hidden Field.
- Include a help link for candidates by selecting Include Help Link.
Off Fields
Click the Off Fields tab to the fields you want to exclude from the application form.
![Notes](https://static.zohocdn.com/zoho-desk-editor/static/images/file.png)
Note:
- After making your changes, remember to click Save to apply the new field configurations.
- You can add a maximum of 20 fields to the candidate application form.
- You can hide the salutation field (e.g., Mr., Ms.) by selecting Hide Salutation in the First Name field only.
Advanced Options
Include Assessment Option
The Include Assessment option enables you to combine pre-screening assessments with the candidate application form when an assessment is associated with the particular job opening a candidate is applying for.
![Notes](https://static.zohocdn.com/zoho-desk-editor/static/images/file.png)
Note: The layout preference option is not available for the assessments section of the application.
- In the Settings section, assign a Form Owner responsible for managing the form and collected data.
- You can also choose to have a Candidate assignment rule.
- Customize the Submission Message that candidates will see upon submitting the form.
- If you want candidate applications to be manually verified before being added to Zoho Recruit, enable the Request for Approval option.
- After customizing the application form, click Save to apply your configurations.
![](https://help.zoho.com/galleryDocuments/edbsn280ac9d81b58670e32e06b886bfb28431f62f8352251d25f57247d3bdb77b1ad72b53bea16bee0fe1ef0be972b13ca0e?inline=true)
To create Form Rules in Candidate Application form;
Go to Setup > Career Website > Career Site > Candidate Application Form.
Select Manage under Rules.
![](https://help.zoho.com/galleryDocuments/edbsnc4f3b8f359b43db9c3d7e5043f9edb25c1d51a36dcf525f6efee7c1540b6b09b1cc5912c7af269699d867e6901eb5630?inline=true)
Click New Form Rule.
![](https://help.zoho.com/galleryDocuments/edbsn9d00a86cb1520f11acc4ef010936cf1b9398be2a73c7b121cdd75485f00cc499561a70534c725bd4f235713d58f44e65?inline=true)
Enter a name for your rule, a description (optional), and choose a primary field that controls this rule. Define a condition based on fields within the application form, such as job type, location, highest qualification held, or experience, to trigger the rule.
![](https://help.zoho.com/galleryDocuments/edbsn4b8bdfb37b4e70a195435d16821fd4280a7650963019df31877a9e5681e95ad3bed5e50f8ea2ab7eca73357d6e3beee4?inline=true)
Choose the actions to be triggered when conditions are met, such as showing/hiding fields or setting fields as mandatory. Please note that the rule gets saved automatically after a condition or an action is added.![](https://help.zoho.com/galleryDocuments/edbsnc9738c68c51c6429b504f59cc7c91f33ba278163ac6b50042c552fa020c7a853698e46a9b598a7b746e6e77a373c6894?inline=true)
Once you're finished setting up the rule, click Done.
![](https://help.zoho.com/galleryDocuments/edbsn078690e20cdc138a9c8bfcaf761aed3cdbf8d95c13342737647a200f6cef723e662d16d21eb324de28d60d7893a3c153?inline=true)
![Notes](https://static.zohocdn.com/zoho-desk-editor/static/images/file.png/)
Note: The Candidate Application Form can have up to 3 form rules, each with a maximum of 5 conditions. Conditions cannot repeat within the same rule.
Actions
You can trigger actions in a form rule when specific conditions are met. Triggerable actions include:
![](https://help.zoho.com/galleryDocuments/edbsn195975fb863d4e24b30509339a9614726432a723be44fe80f04056a73137a41d345ad16f1c17a704c16d17ba693dae83?inline=true)
Show Fields or Sections: Personalize the form layout based on conditions.
Set Mandatory Fields: Ensure crucial details are always captured.
Request Attachments Dynamically: Collect specific documents when needed.
Show Tabular Views: Organize structured data like previous job history in an intuitive format.
Note: A single condition can include up to 25 actions.You can manage form rules in the candidate application form just like in webforms. Learn more.