Some businesses are required as part of their recruitment process to collect information from potential new employees that is specific to their roles. Others prefer to have electronic forms that new starters can complete with drop-down answer fields and check boxes.

Creating an Application in Microsoft Word 2003 or 2007

Start Microsoft Word.

In Word 2003, go to the File menu and click New.

In Word 2007, click the Office Button and click New.

Type ‘Employment Application’ in the search panel at the top of the box and click the magnify glass icon.

Some results will appear, select Employment Application 2-pp Online Form. Click the Download button, and an application will open as a new Word document. Please note you will need the internet for this step because the form is downloaded from Microsoft Online.

Insert your company logo on to the form by selecting Your Logo Here. Go to the Insert menu in Word 2003, point to Picture and click From File.

In Word 2007, go to the Insert tab and click on Picture. Find the logo on your computer and insert it.

Type the name of your business over Company Name and change any of the template example fields by selecting them and typing over the text. To alter the properties of a form field, double-click the gray area, and the Form Field Options dialog box will appear.

Select an option from a drop-down menu, or click the Add Help Text button for more options.

Save the application to finish.

Create an Application in Excel

Start Microsoft Excel. Open a new, blank workbook. Insert a company logo by going to the Insert menu in Excel 2003. Click on Picture and select From File.

In Excel 2007, go to the Insert Ribbon and click on Picture. Find the logo on your computer and insert it on the left side of the page. Enter a text box on the right side and type the name of your company inside it.

Type the desired questions into cells on the spreadsheet. Leave empty the adjoining cells for the applicants to type into.

Create Yes or No drop-down lists from which applicants can select an answer. To do this, go to the Data menu in Excel 2003 or the Data Ribbon in Excel 2007 and select Data Validation, then go to the Settings tab of the Data Validation dialog box.

Select List in the Allow drop-down list. In the Source field, type Yes,No. Click OK to apply the drop-down list.

Enter other data into the Source field of the Data Validation box to create custom lists remembering to type a comma between each list item. When applicants click in the cell, they will be presented with a list of options from which to choose.

Save the application to finish.

By Kelly Foxhall