Candidate Screening Form Template
A pre-interview filter that respects everyone's time. It settles work authorization, availability, and salary range before a single call is booked.
Five short questions before we book calls. They save you from interviews that were never going to fit, and a human reads every one.
PDF or Word, one file.
Every recruiter knows the sinking feeling of a great thirty-minute call that ends on a dealbreaker: wrong country, wrong salary band, wrong start date. A screening form moves those five facts to the front of the funnel, where they cost the candidate ninety seconds instead of costing both sides an interview. Done kindly, it reads as a courtesy rather than a wall.
Five facts up front. Name, email, and the position field tie the screening to an application, and the position stays free text with a paste-the-listing prompt because screeners often serve several open roles from one link. Work authorization and sponsorship are two separate questions because they are two separate facts: plenty of candidates are authorized today yet need sponsorship in two years, and merging them produces the exact surprise the form exists to prevent. Earliest start date catches notice periods and visa timelines. The salary dropdown offers ranges instead of a naked number, since ranges feel safe to answer and a range is all a screener needs; the "prefer to discuss" option keeps strong candidates who hate the question from bouncing. The resume upload takes one PDF or Word file, which is all a screen requires.
What a filter leaves out. Cover letters, references, and portfolio essays all wait. A screen is a filter rather than the application, and every minute added here gets paid back in abandoned funnels; the deep material belongs in the interview stage, where someone will read it.
Who screens with it. In-house recruiters running high-volume roles, staffing agencies qualifying inbound candidates before their clients see them, and founders hiring for the first time who need structure more than software.
Set it to your market. The built-in logic handles sponsorship with candor: candidates who need it see a different ending that sets expectations about an authorization review, instead of a generic thanks that later reads as a brush-off. Adjust that rule in the Logic panel to match what your company can sponsor, because straight talk here is employer branding. Swap the salary bands for your market, add a knockout question for licenses or shift availability, and turn on email notifications so screenings hit the recruiter inbox live. CSV export gives you funnel numbers, screenings per role per week, that no inbox can.
Keeping a public link clean. Posting a screening form on job boards invites two kinds of noise, bots and blast-appliers. The first is handled for you: honeypot fields, timing checks, and a proof-of-work challenge screen out automated submissions without adding a single hoop for a genuine applicant. The second is human and shows up as position answers that match nothing you posted; skim rather than delete, because a mass-applier and a promising candidate who pasted the wrong tab look identical until a human glances at the resume. Five seconds per row keeps the funnel clean at any volume.
Frequently asked questions
Why do candidates see different thank-you screens?
A logic rule routes candidates who need sponsorship to an ending that spells out the extra authorization review. A set expectation beats silence.
What resume formats are accepted?
PDF and Word documents up to 10MB. Keeping it to one file per candidate makes the responses table and CSV export clean.
Can one screening form serve several open roles?
The position field is free text, so link this form from every posting and filter responses by role in the table or the export.
Is this a legally safe set of questions?
The fields stick to widely used screening facts: authorization, availability, and expectations. Local law varies, so have counsel confirm the wording for your jurisdiction.