Application Form - Create

Creating the Elements to Appear on the Application Form

When you create the fields that will make up your volunteer profiles and your application form(s), you’ll be able to specify which fields are visible to volunteers in their profile and which ones will appear on your application form(s). Optionally, you can also indicate where a value is required for a Custom Field or Qualification:

If you are not sure which type of field to create, here are some tips:

  • There are a number of contact information fields already built into the system. These include: (title salutation, legal first name, preferred first name, middle name, last name, postal address (lines 1 and 2), town/city, state/province, country, post/postal/zip code, email addresses (primary and secondary), mobile email address, telephone numbers (home, work, cellular), phone preferences, language/regional preference, date of birth, Twitter handle, Linked-in address).
  • Custom Fields: These enable you to collect information about your volunteers in a variety of formats (text, number, date, file, checkbox, drop list). (If the information relates to a certification or requirement for an Activity, it would be best created as a Qualification.)
  • Qualifications: You can use answers in the Qualifications fields to create rules around which volunteers can see the schedules for specific roles and whether or not they can self-schedule in those roles. In most organizations, every training or orientation is a qualification. Certifications, licenses and specific skills are typical qualifications. Age range is frequently one too. Soft skills, such as “works well with others” are not typically added as qualifications..
  • General Interests: Picture a typical application form and the section that asks, “What kinds of things would you like to do in our organization?”. These are added as General Interests. Volunteers can tick these boxes as part of the application form.

Further reading: Which type of field should you create?

Creating / Editing Your Application Form

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  1. Go to: Configuration >> Organization Settings >> Application Form Settings
  2. Select the desired application form to customize
  3. Customize the options available in:
    • General Settings
    • Step One Settings
    • Step Two Settings
    • Application Complete Settings
  4. Click on the [Save] button to save the changes you have made.

Once you have saved any changes, you can click on the [Interactive Sample Form] button to see what your application form would look like to new applicants.[/alert]

Part 1: General Settings

Customize the options in the “General Settings” section:

  • New volunteers require approval: If checked, the new volunteer profile will be created with a status of “Applicant”. If not checked, the profile will be created with a status of “Accepted”.
  • Automatically send an email to new volunteers after the volunteer application form is filled out: Check this box if you wish Volunteer Impact to send out an email automatically to each new applicant when they complete your application form. Enter the text of your message in the “New Volunteer Email Message” field.
  • Disable this application form: Check this box to prevent applicants from signing up using this application form. Enter the text to display to them in the “Disabled Application Form Message” field.

Continue to the “Step One Settings” section or click the [Save] button (at the top or bottom of the page) if you are done.

Part 2: Step One Settings

Customize the options in the “Step One Settings” section:

  • Show the birthdate field on the application form and require volunteers to enter it: If checked, the birthdate field (usually not included on your application form) will be displayed to applicants and they will be required to enter a complete date value.
  • Only show required contact information fields on the application form: If checked, only the required fields in the Contact section of the application form will be displayed to your applicants. These fields include the name, address and email information along with at least one telephone number.
  • Require volunteers to accept your volunteer policies as the first step in filling out the volunteer application form: If checked, this will display a button requiring your applicants to click and accept your volunteer policies before they can continue to apply to your organization. Enter the text of your policies in the “Volunteer Policies Text” field.
  • Display Acceptance Policy in page: If you have created volunteer policies, you can display the text of your policies at the top of the user registration page. This will make your policies more prominent to your applicants.

Continue to the “Step Two Settings” section or click the [Save] button (at the top or bottom of the page) if you are done.

Part 3: Step Two Settings

Customize the options in the “Step Two Settings” section:

  • Show General Interests: Display all General Interests that have a status of “Active” on the application form
  • Show General Availability: Display the General Availability choices to the applicant
  • Classifications: If your organization is part of an enterprise, select the type(s) of Classifications to display on the application form
  • General Availability Form Header: Enter the text that will display above the General Availability section of the application form
  • General Interests Form Header: Enter the text that will display above the General Interests section of the application form
  • Qualification Form Header: Enter the text that will display above the Qualifications section of the application form
  • Custom Field Form Header: Enter the text that will display above the Custom Fields / Additional Information section of the application form
  • Override notice to complete application form text: If desired, customize the default message that will remind applicants to complete the entire application form
    • Put this message inside a “notice” container: If you check this box, your text (above) will be placed inside a notice container so it is styled like all other notices in the system. (The default message will always be in a notice container.)
    • Also include this message at the bottom of the application form: If you check this box, your text (above) will be displayed at the top and bottom of the application form. (The default message will always be shown at the bottom of the application form.)

Continue to the “Application Complete Settings” section or click the [Save] button (at the top or bottom of the page) if you are done.

Part 4: Application Complete Settings

Customize the options in the “Application Complete Settings” section:

  • Text to show if there are no activities for the volunteer to sign up for: You can customize the message that will display to applicants if there are no opportunities available for them to sign up for after completing the application form
  • Text to show if there are activities for the volunteer to sign up for: You can customize the message that will display to applicants if there are opportunities available for them to sign up for after completing the application form

If you are finished, click the [Save] button.

Click the [Interactive Sample Form] button if you want to see what the application form would look like to your new applicants.

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