Reference Forms: Feature Overview

Reference forms allow hiring managers to create different types of questions in a single form that can then be sent to an applicant’s provided references for completion. This feature provides more flexibility and allows a company to get more insightful feedback on their candidates.

This feature enables users to develop highly-customized forms containing select questions to be used in the job applicant reference check process. The form is presented to each reference upon initiation of a reference request (whether manual or automatic based on your System Settings). Returned reference responses will always be uniform and consistent, as the form remains the same for every reference to whom it is issued.


​Feature Set-up

User Permissions

In Admin > User Roles, System Administrators may select which user role types can create and edit forms. Check the user role you wish to edit, then click Take Action > Edit > System Settings.

Step #1 -- Creating Reference Forms

To create a new form along with any number of customized questions, navigate to Library > Forms > Reference Forms. Click the ‘+New’ button to build the form.

From here, name the form and click “Add Item” to create the first question that is to appear on the form. Type in the question content. Optionally, you may add a Response Tip to provide context relative to the question. Next, select a Question Type from the dropdown. The question types are as follows:

1. Text

2. Multiple Choice

3. Checkboxes

4. Date

5. Scale

6. Grid

Lastly, determine if you want to make this a required question. Click Done to complete your question. There is no limit to the number of questions or the type of questions you can create in a form. You can reorder the questions by simply dragging and dropping them to a different location within the form.

All saved Reference Forms will be stored here and may be assigned to positions throughout your system. (See Step #2 below.)

Question Types

​Text - an open text box enables the reference to provide a free-form response



Multiple Choice - the reference may choose only one of the provided answers



Checkboxes - the reference may select one or more of the answers

Date - the reference may pick a date from the calendar or manually type in a date



Scale - the reference may only choose one answer from the horizontal scale



Grid - displays columns and rows allowing multiple selections per column

Step # 2 -- Assigning Reference Forms To A Position

To use a reference form, it must first be added to the reference position element when creating/editing a position. From the dropdown menu, you can use one form for professional references and another for personal references.

Forms are optional. If you do not select a form, the reference will be given a blank text box to add comments. Responses received back into the system will, therefore, be different from reference to reference based on how they elected to reply.

Viewing Reference Forms

When a reference has completed and returned a form, it can be found within the associated applicant file under the References tab. Multiple References can exist depending on the amount of Professional or Personal References used for the position template.