Creating an Onboarding form

Admin users can create digital versions of forms that new employees need to complete as part of their onboarding process. You can upload any PDF form and map out fields that your employees or managers need to complete.

Forms that already exist in your account

CareerPlug automatically creates the Form I-9, W-4, and state-specific tax forms in your account. You are responsible for creating any other forms you need, or you can contact our Hiring Experts team to request assistance from CareerPlug's Managed Services.

Creating a form

Navigate to Account > Settings when you are in Onboarding.

In the Forms section, click the New Form button.

A pop-up will appear for you to choose the type of form you want to create:

Acknowledgment Form: This form is a brief statement that the employee must read and confirm receipt (with a signature). Example: Acknowledgement that they have reviewed the employee handbook.
Document Form: This type is a document an employee downloads, prints/scans or otherwise modifies, and re-uploads the filled out form.
Employee Record Form: The form is tied to the employee’s record in Onboarding. The fields the employee updates on this form will also be updated in their employee record.
PDF Form: This adds fields to an existing PDF document to allow managers or employees to complete the form electronically. This is the most common type of form used in Onboarding.
Question/Answer Form: This type allows you to build your form with our question editor.

Select the type, then click Continue.

After you select your form type and click Continue, follow the on-page instructions to finish creating your form.

At the bottom of the page, adjust the form settings:

Completion Priority: Who should complete the form first (if there are fields that both employee and manager are responsible for)
Document Category: This is the category on the employee’s record where the completed document will appear
Document Visibility: Select which user types can view the completed document.
Select the Does Not Require Manager Review checkbox if employees can complete the form without a manager reviewing it. This means an employee will complete the form and it will immediately be stored on their Documents tab rather than going to the manager's checklist for review.
You can select to exclude this form from the combined Onboarding document that is generated when all forms are completed.
You can select to make this form optional.
You can choose which, if any, checklists you'd like to add the form to at this time. You can also add a form to a checklist at any time by editing the checklist from the Settings page as well.
You can make this form Assignable as a Single Form. This means you can have an employee complete this form without it being tied to an Onboarding Checklist.
Notify on Complete: Put any additional email address (besides the person's who is the checklist signer/approver) that should be notified when this form is complete.

Click the Save button at the bottom of the page.

Adding fields to PDF forms

If you choose to create a PDF Form, you’ll first need to name the form and choose a PDF file to upload.

After you click Save, your form will load and be ready for you to map fields. Add any instructions that you wish the employee to see before they begin to complete the form.

Note: Form loading may take a few minutes.

When your PDF loads, select the Add Form Field button at the top right of the PDF to begin mapping fields. You will see a drop-down menu to choose the field type.

The form field types include:

Open Text Response - allows the employee to enter any data
Signature Area - requires a signature
Date - includes a date-picker and will only accept a date as data
Checkbox - adds a single checkbox that can be left checked or unchecked by the person filling out the form
Select - Choices - adding this field type creates two small boxes as answer options (although you can add more than two answer options when you edit the field). When you use a Select - Choices type field, the person filling out the form must select only one of the given answer choices. If you have a group of options on a PDF form and the person filling it out can select any number of the options, use checkbox field types instead, as Select-Choices will require that the person filling out the form select only one choice.

After you select a field type — for example, Open Text Response — a field will be added to the form. Move the field by clicking it and dragging. You can resize the field by hovering over any edge and manipulating the box. Adjust the placement of the form field. Keep in mind that the order of the form field ranks by height, then placement from left to right on the page. For example, if one field is higher than the other, that question will be shown first. If two fields are the same height, the one to the left will be shown first.

Once the field is placed on the form, edit the field by selecting the pencil icon to the right of the field.

Name: Rename the field to reflect the response needed. For example, if the field requires the employee to input their First Name, the field name should be “First Name." Correctly naming fields is essential when employees/managers are completing or reviewing the forms.
Type: You can change the original field type you selected (open text response in our example)
Required: Select this checkbox if this field is required.
Responsible: Select who is responsible for completing this field, the employee or the manager. If this is an employee only form, all fields should be set to “Employee Completes Field.” If this is a manager only form, all fields should be set to “Manager Completes Field.”
Prefill From: You can select to prefill this field from existing information in the employee record. For example, First Name and Last Name are common prefills that save the employee time when completing the form.
Font Size: You have the option to set a default font size.
Overflow: You have options on what will happen if the response to the field overflows the field area. The default is to reduce the font size.
Align: Select the alignment of the text in the field.
Opaque: If you check this box, the field will be opaque. Leaving it unchecked will keep the field transparent.

Add as many fields as you need. For the field on this example form that asks you whether the account is a checking or savings account, we would use a Select-Choices field, which creates two small boxes as fields. The person filling out the form can choose which one applies.