Custom fields

Create reusable questions once under Settings > Custom Fields, then add them to application forms and the job details form.

Custom fields are your organisation's own reusable questions. You build one under Settings > Custom Fields, and it then appears in a picker wherever you build a form, so you do not have to retype the same question on every job. This article covers the settings page itself: creating, editing and deleting fields, every response type, and what happens when a field is added to a form.

Who can manage custom fields

System Admins and HR users can open the page, create fields, edit them and delete them. Everyone else who tries to open it sees the message "Only admins and HR can manage custom field definitions." The library that appears when you choose From Library on a form is also only available to System Admins and HR.

If your organisation is part of a group, a company selector at the top of the page lets you choose which company's fields you are working on.

The two tabs

The page has two tabs. Each field belongs to exactly one of them, and a field only shows up in the picker for its own tab.

Application Form: questions candidates answer on a job's application form.
Basic Information: fields for the job details form, the first step when you create a job. These are filled in by your team, not by candidates.

If a field is missing from the picker, check it was created on the right tab.

Create a field

Go to Settings > Custom Fields and choose the Application Form or Basic Information tab.
Select Add Field at the bottom of the list on the left. A Short Text field called "New Field" is created straight away and opens in the editor on the right.
Choose a Response Type.
Type a Field Label. This is the question people see. It cannot be empty.
Turn Required on if the field must always be answered.
On the Basic Information tab, you can choose a Form Section: None, Job Details, Location Information, Salary Information, or any other section you have added to the job details form.
Complete the settings that belong to the response type (below).
Check the Field Preview at the bottom of the editor, then select Save. A "Saved successfully" message confirms it.

Because "New Field" exists from the moment you select Add Field, one you never rename stays in the list. Delete it if you did not mean to keep it.

Response types

Response Type	What it is
Short Text	A single line of text.
Email	An email address.
Phone	A phone number.
Long Text	A multi-line answer.
File Upload	A file chosen by the candidate.
URL	A web address.
Dropdown	Pick one option from a list.
Checkbox	Tick boxes from a list of options.
Number	A number.
Date	A date.
Multi-select	Pick several options from a list.
Repeatable	A group of questions that can be answered more than once.
Photo, Video, Content Block	Content displayed on the form, not a question.

Settings for each type

Text-style types

For Short Text, Email, Phone, Long Text, URL, Number and Date, the box below the label sets the placeholder, the grey example text in an empty field. New fields start with "Enter response". File Upload has nothing extra to set.

Dropdown, Checkbox and Multi-select

Type the choices into Field Options, separated by commas, for example "Option 1, Option 2". The editor notes that the first value will be the default. Save stays greyed out until there is at least one option. If you switch a field to Checkbox and it has no options yet, the editor fills in "Yes, No, I'm not sure". For Dropdown or Multi-select it fills in "Option 1, Option 2". Replace these with your own wording. Once a list passes 12 options the editor shows the first four with a count, and a Collapse button to tidy the list away again.

Repeatable

Use this when a candidate may need to answer the same group of questions several times, such as previous employers. Give the group a Repeatable Section Name, then build it with Add Sub-field. Each sub-field has its own label, type, Required switch and, for Dropdown and Checkbox, a comma-separated list of options. Sub-fields can be any type except Multi-select and the content types.

Choosing Repeatable pre-fills seven employment history sub-fields: Employer Name, Position/Title, Start Date, End Date, a combined "Town/City, Country" field, Responsibilities and Reason for Leaving. Edit or delete any you do not want. A group always keeps at least one sub-field.

Photo, Video and Content Block

These show something to the candidate rather than collecting an answer, so Required is switched off. For Photo and Video, enter the URL of the image or video and, if you want, a Caption. Save is unavailable until the URL is filled in. For a Content Block, write the text in Body, with an optional Caption. The Field Preview shows the result.

Edit a field

Select the field in the list on the left, change what you need and select Save. With nothing selected, the editor reads "Select a field on the left to edit."

Delete a field

Select the bin icon beside the field. The "Delete Custom Field" box asks whether you are sure and warns that this action cannot be undone. Choose Delete to confirm. Deleting removes the field from the library only. Copies already placed on forms stay where they are.

Use a field on an application form

Open the job's application form, either while creating the job or from the job's Application Form tab.
On the page where the question belongs, select Add Field and then From Library.
In the Add from Library dialog, search by label ("Search fields...") and tick each field you want.
Select Add Selected. The button shows how many you ticked, and a message such as "2 field(s) added from library" confirms it.

If the dialog says "No custom fields available. Create them in Settings > Custom Fields.", the Application Form tab of your library is empty. "No fields match your search." means your search found nothing.

Use a field on the job details form

Go to Settings > Job Details Form.
In the section where the field should sit, select Add Field and then From Library.
Tick the fields and select Add Selected.
Select Save Changes. Nothing is kept until you do.

The field lands in the section you added it from. The Form Section saved on the library field does not move it.

Once it is on the form, the field appears when your team creates a job. The value they enter is shown on the job's Details tab under Additional Information, with a dash if it was left empty.

What is copied to a form

Adding a library field places an independent copy on the form. Editing or deleting the field in the library afterwards does not change forms that already have it. To change a live question, edit it on the form itself.

Not every setting travels with the copy.

On an application form, the label, type, Required setting, placeholder and options are copied. Number is added as Short Text.
Repeatable, Photo, Video and Content Block fields are added to an application form as ordinary Short Text fields with the same label. To put a photo, video or block of text on a form, use the form's own content options instead.
On the job details form, only Short Text, Number, Dropdown and Checkbox are kept. Any other type is added as Short Text, and options are carried across for Dropdown only.

Pick types that suit the form you are adding to, and check the field on the form afterwards.

How custom fields differ from other fields

The Add Field menu on a form also offers Blank Field, a one-off question that exists on that form only, plus pre-built fields and compliance packs supplied with Recruit. Library fields sit between the two: your own wording, saved once and reused, but not linked to the forms they end up on. The article "The company field library" walks through the same page from the form builder's side.

Offer fields are a separate feature. They are defined under Settings > Offer Fields and filled in by recruiters when sending an offer, and they are not part of this library.