WordPress lets you do anything when it comes to content management. The only limitation is your imagination.
You can start a blog, create a forum or a business website or an eCommerce store, or literally anything.
So, today we are using WordPress’s infinite potential to get one more task done, and that is to create a job application form.
If you are running a business website, then you definitely have a “Career” or “Apply” or “Job” page on your site.
For those pages, it is essential to have a job or employment application form. Here’s how to create it:
Create a Job Application Form in WordPress
Since your site is built using WordPress, building a job application form will be a piece of cake.
You don’t need to write any codes, just follow the steps below and get it done even without any technical knowledge.
Step 0: Prerequisites
Below is what you need to create a job application form in WordPress:
- A WordPress site (obviously)
- WPForms Basic or higher plan (check the pricing here)
Once you make sure you fulfill both the requirements, proceed to the next step.
Step 1: Install & Activate WPForms
If you already have WPForms installed on your site with an active license, then skip this step and proceed to the next one.
WPForms is an essential WordPress plugin that I recommend installing to everyone. It’s not just a simple contact form plugins, it’s more than that.
This single plugin lets you do various things like accepting recurring payments, adding signature field forms, etc.
Go to your WordPress dashboard, then Plugins » Add new and search for “WPForms”
Once you find the plugin, simply install it and then activate it.
Then go to WPForms » Settings from the WordPress sidebar and paste your WPForms license key.
Press the Connect button, and your WPForms plugin will upgrade to the pro version with all features unlocked for the plan you bought.
Step 2: Install Form Templates Pack
WPForms comes packed with various prebuilt form templates for various use cases. That’s why I love this plugin the most.
It saves your time and gets the job done with minimal effort.
In this step, we have to install the Form Templates Pack that comes free with the paid version of WPForms.
To do this, go to WPForms » Addons from your WordPress dashboard sidebar and search for Form Templates Pack.
Once you find the addon, simply activate it.
Now we are ready to set up our form in the next step.
Step 3: Create a New Job Application Form
From your dashboard sidebar, go to WPForms » Add New to create a new form.
Name your form whatever you like and scroll down to the Additional Templates section.
There, search for “job”, and you’ll see the Job Application Upload Form.
Click on it to import its template to your form. This template has everything you’ll need in your job application form.
You’ll see all the contents of the form imported to yours as soon as you click the template.
We can finally proceed to the next step, where we will customize the form to better suit your needs.
Step 4: Customize Your Job Application Form
WPForms makes it easy for you to customize the form templates.
You can remove or modify the imported fields, or you can even add new ones.
You can add these additional fields to collect more details from your employees to better evaluate their application:
- Start Date: add a single line field to ask users when they can join
- Position: add a single line field or radio buttons with fixed options to ask users what position they are looking for
- Referral: you offer incentives to the employee referrals, then you can add a single line field to let users fill in the person’s name who referred them
Possibilities are limitless. You have complete flexibility over what kind of information you want to gather for the selection process.
Lastly, there is the file upload field that matters the most because that field will collect the user’s resume.
There are various options associated with this field that you want to change. To do this, click on the File Upload field and change the details:
- Label: Change the label, so people don’t get confused about what to upload
- Description: If there are any instructions, add them to the description
- Allowed File Extensions: Specify what file extensions you allow to upload
- Max File Size: If you want to restrict the file size, then enter a maximum limit. The default is 128MB
- Max File Number: If you want to let users upload multiple files, then change the default value from 1
- Required: Click the Required checkbox if everyone applying must upload a file
There are some Additional Settings as well that you can play around with.
An important setting here is Store file in WordPress Media Library. By default, WPForms stores all the uploaded files to its own folder.
But if you wish to store them in the WordPress media library instead, then tick the option.
I would suggest you to keep them in the WPForms’ default directory to keep WordPress’s media library clean.
There is a styling option for your file uploader. You can choose between the Modern and Classical styles.
- Modern Style: allows uploading of multiple files at once and can be used by clicking or drag-and-drop the files to it
- Classical Style: allows uploading of a single file at once and can only be used by clicking and selecting the file manually
If you want to select the classical style with the option to upload multiple files, then you’ll have to add multiple fields for each file and apply some conditional logic.
You can check the complete tutorial here.
Once done, you can press the Save button at the top right corner and proceed to the next step.
Step 5: Configure Form’s Settings
If you go to the Settings panel, you can see that it is divided into multiple sections like General, Notifications, Confirmation, etc.
General is the default tab, and we’ll play around with its settings first:
- Form Name: Change form’s name using this field
- Form Description: Add a description to your form
- Form CSS Class: If you want to add custom CSS to your form to style it, then use a CSS class. Leave it blank if you don’t know what it is
- Submit Button Text: Customize the text on the submit button
- Submit Button Processing Text: You can leave it as it is
- Submit Button CSS Class: Leave it blank if you don’t know what it is
- Spam Prevention: Stop contact form spam with the anti-spam feature, hCaptcha, or Google reCAPTCHA. The anti-spam checkbox is automatically checked on all new forms
- AJAX Forms: Enable AJAX settings so that your form submits without reloading the page
Click Save when you’re done.
You can leave the Notifications settings to default.
In the Confirmation tab, you can change the settings. It basically controls what your form does after it is submitted by a user.
WPForms has 3 confirmation types to choose from:
- Message: A message will be shown to the user after he/she submits the form. It’s the default confirmation type in WPForms. You can even change the message as per your liking.
- Show Page: You can show a Thank You page using this confirmation type. That way, whenever the user submits the form, he/she will be shown the page you set.
- Go to URL (Redirect): This confirmation lets you send your users to a different website.
Don’t forget to press the Save button after making all the changes.
Step 6: Add Your Job Application Form to Your Site
Now that your job or employment application form is ready, it’s time to add it to your site to show it on the frontend.
WPForms gives you the flexibility to add your form to multiple spots on your site, including posts, pages, and even sidebar.
So if you have a page dedicated to providing employment, then you can add your new form there or create a new page.
Go to Pages » Add New and click the Add WPForms icon.
WPForms’ widget will add to your post editor. You can then select the form you want to add to your page.
After selecting the form, publish the page and see the form in action live on the frontend.
To check all the form submissions, go to WPForms Entries, and it will display a list of all the form submissions.
That’s it! If you have any doubts or questions, then feel free to use the comments section below, or use our forum.
