Application Form Questions
About this Guide
This guide explains the features that are available for system administrators to manage additional
application form questions and pre-application questions for their organisation’s use on NHS Jobs.
Please note the features described in this guide are only available to system administrators.
Overview
The facilities are covered in the following order:
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Application Form Additional Questions
Pre-application Questions
Application form additional and pre-application questions are set up and managed from the ‘Admin’
section by system administrators, and will be selectable when creating vacancies by those users who
have been given access to create or edit vacancies.
Having the ability to tailor the application form by including additional questions can assist you in
gathering key information to support you when sifting/long-listing applications or when shortlisting.
In particular, a recruiter can use the additional questions with the new filtering tools to filter
applicants in or out depending on their answers. That can be a very quick and convenient way to
narrow down a large number of applications.
Pre-application questions can be used to prevent applicants who do not meet some essential criteria
from progressing to the application form. Please be aware the inclusion of these questions needs to
be used carefully. If an applicant has genuinely made a mistake with a pre-application question,
however, it is possible for system administrators within your organisation to reset the applicant’s
application attempt enabling them to start again.
Application Form Additional Questions
Where to start
To add or manage additional application form questions select the ‘Application form additional
questions’ option in the Admin section of the left hand navigation.
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Overview
The system provides a set of core, system-wide questions. These are available to all organisations
and cannot be edited.
The questions are grouped in the following categories:
General
Nursing
Medical
Psychologists
AHPs/Healthcare Scientists
Dental
Safeguarding
Driving
Welsh Language
Internal Vacancies
System administrators have the ability to create up to 100 additional questions for their
organisation, associating them with the relevant category from the above list.
Secondary organisations will be able to use any of their primary organisation’s additional application
form questions, but they will not have the ability to edit the questions or answer options in any way.
When you access the ‘Application form additional questions’ section, you will see the following:
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Adding an Additional Application Form Question
To add an additional application form question, select the ‘Add an application form additional
question’ button from the top right hand side of the page.
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You must choose a category in which the question should appear. Use General if none of the
others apply.
You must add text for the English question. This is the actual question that the applicant will
be asked on the application form within the supporting information section, so be careful to
ensure it makes sense and contains no spelling or grammatical errors.
You must choose the answer type you require.
If you choose, you can add Welsh versions of the questions and answers too.
Answer Types
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For single or multiple select answer types, you must add at least two possible answer
options, for example Yes/No
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‘Single select’ answer means that the applicant may only select one answer from the list of
answers you offer them.
‘Multiple select’ answer means that the applicant may select more than one answer from
the list of answers you offer them.
Long and short free text answer types mean the applicant can write their own answer within
the word or character limit specified for the answer type selected.
Viewing, Editing and Deleting Application Form Additional Questions
To view, edit or delete an application form additional question, select the relevant link from the
‘Application Form Additional Questions’ page.
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The standard system-wide questions are only viewable. These cannot be edited or deleted.
You should only edit a question to fix minor errors without changing the meaning of the
question.
Any edits made will take immediate effect on vacancies that have yet to be published.
Published vacancies will NOT be affected by your edit.
We would recommend that if you wish to change the meaning of a question, please add a
new question rather than editing an existing question.
When editing or deleting questions, you will be informed of how many vacancies are
currently using the question, and will be offered the option to list those vacancies.
Order of Questions
To change the order in which the questions appear within each category, simply change the number
in the ‘Order’ column on the right hand side of the ‘Application Form Additional Questions’ page,
then save using the green ‘Save’ button.
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Pre-application Questions
Where to start
To add or manage pre-application questions select the ‘Pre-application questions’ option in the
Admin section of the left hand navigation.
Overview
The system provides a number of core, system-wide questions. These are available to all
organisations and cannot be edited.
System administrators can also create up to 20 organisation-specific pre-application questions.
Secondary organisations will be able to use any of the primary organisation’s pre-application
questions, but they will not have the ability to edit the questions or answer options.
When you access the ‘Pre-application questions’ section, you will see the following:
Adding a pre-application question
To add an additional pre-application question, select the ‘Add a pre-application question’ button
from the top right hand side of the page.
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You must add text for the English question. This is the actual question that the applicant will
be asked on the pre-application form, so be careful to ensure it makes sense and contains no
spelling or grammatical errors.
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You must add at least two possible answer options.
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At least one must be marked as "correct" so that applicants choosing that option will
be allowed to continue their application (there can be more than one ‘correct’
answer).
o
At least one must NOT be marked as "correct", i.e. it will prevent applicants to
continue with their application (there can be more than one ‘incorrect’ answer).
If you choose, you can add Welsh versions of the questions and answers.
Viewing, Editing and Deleting Pre-Application Questions
To view, edit or delete a pre-application question, select the relevant link from the ‘Pre-application
questions’ page.
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The standard system-wide questions are only viewable. These cannot be edited or deleted.
You should only edit a question to fix minor errors without changing the meaning of the
question.
Any edits will take immediate effect on vacancies that have not yet published.
Published vacancies will NOT be affected by your edit.
If you wish to change the meaning of a question, please add a new question rather than
editing an existing question.
Implications of Using Pre-Application Questions
It is important to understand how pre-application questions work. If a potential applicant selects an
answer that is not marked as ‘correct’ they will be stopped from applying for the position and will
not be able to complete an application form for the vacancy.
It is your responsibility as a system administrator to ensure that any pre-application questions you
set up for use within your organisation are not in breach of employment legislation.
You should also ensure that all recruitment team staff understand how to use these questions and
the implications of using them. They need to be aware that any pre-application questions used for a
vacancy must be relevant to the post advertised and in line with the requirements of the person
specification.
Resetting Pre-Application Answers For Stopped Applications
If a potential applicant selects an answer that is not marked as ‘correct’ they will be stopped from
applying for the position and will not be able to complete an application form for the vacancy.
The applicant will be shown a message on screen explaining that their application has been stopped
and directing them to contact the recruiting organisation if they have any questions about applying
for the position.
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NHS Jobs users who have permission to manage applications for the vacancy are able to reset an
applicant’s pre-application answer at their discretion. This will enable the applicant to answer the
questions again.
It is up to you to decide what your local policy will be with regard to resetting stopped applications.
If you wish to reset an applicant’s pre-application answers, this is done via the ‘Applications’ page for
the vacancy, by selecting the ‘Actions’ button for the application, and then using the ‘Reset
application’ action. The applicant will then be able to answer the pre-application questions again.
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