Applicant Document Review-Form A

The Applicant Document Review - Form A is a paper document used to complete the initial evaluation of applicants for USS and non-teaching UP positions. The document can be found on the menu under WSU Reporting and is located in the HR - Hiring Reports folder. You will need both the position number and posting number to locate your Applicant Document Review Form A. If you do not have access to this folder, please email the Talent Acquistion Team with your WSU ID to request access.

The Search forms are for the postings in the current PeopleAdmin applicant tracking system.


These instructions apply to USS and non-teaching UP searches.
For information on Faculty searches, please contact the Office of Academic Affairs.
Note: Any search committee member who is unable to participate in the evaluation of all applicants at any phase will have to recuse themselves from all input for that phase.

The Purpose of Applicant Document Review-Form A

The Applicant Document Review-Form A is used as the initial evaluating phase of the hiring process and involves the evaluation of applicant submissions. The Position Description criterion from PeopleAdmin is compared to each applicant's submitted documents to determine who most closely matches the essential and preferred requirements for the position.
The Applicant Document Review-Form A is broken down into 5 areas:

  • Education
  • Experience
  • Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
  • Written Communication Skills
  • Leadership (if applicable)

Applicants apply to positions based on information posted in the online Position Description. You cannot alter, infer or add criterion to screen out applicants for the Applicant Document Review-Form A process which were not part of the published Position Description. Conversely, you cannot alter, remove or exclude criterion to screen in applicants' for the Applicant Document Review-Form A process which were not part of the published Position Description.

The goal of this process is to provide you with a tool that will quickly allow you to categorize your applicants into three general areas:

  • No interview
  • May want to interview
  • Interview.

Once the evaluation of all applicants is completed using the Applicant Document Review-Form A form, the Search Chair and Search Team will make the final determination of candidates to contact for either phone/Skype interview or in-person interview.

[Top of Page]


How to Get an Applicant Document Review-Form A

  1. Go to
  2. Find the HR - Hiring Reports folder
  3. Select the UP and USS-Applicant Document Review-Form A link.
  4. Choose your position number from the Select Position Number in the drop-down menu.
  5. Choose your posting number from the Select Posting Number drop-down menu. If you don't know your posting number, choose the highest number between the hyphens.
  6. Your Applicant Document Review-Form A will populate in your browser.
  7. You cannot fill out or save this populated document at this point. You must export it to your computer to use it.
  8. From the Select a Format drop-down choose either Run Excel (spreadsheet) or Run PDF (document)
  9. A box will open at the bottom of your browser window asking if you want to Open, Save or Cancel.
  10. Press the Open button (you can save it to your computer later).
  11. At the top of your spreadsheet or document you may have a gold bar with a button to "Enable Editing." Press this button.
  12. You can now save the spreadsheet or document on your computer to a location and under a name of your choosing.
  13. This file will contain two spreadsheets.
    1. The first spreadsheet will list all of the position requirements from PeopleAdmin.
    2. The second spreadsheet will be used to document the review of applicant鈥檚 qualifications and will have all applicants names listed on the spreadsheet in alphabetical order.
  14. Some applicants may be annotated with a special symbol as outlined below:
    1. *Veteran's Preference
      • Policy 3.46 - Veterans with preference are not guaranteed jobs, but are guaranteed first level interviews if they meet all the minimum job requirements for the position applied. It is the University's intent to include in the interview process as many as possible who have served our country. As such the above is the minimum expectation. Search committees are encouraged to consider all veterans that meet minimum requirements.
    2. #Bumping Rights
      • Policy 7.20 - Bumping procedures shall begin as soon as possible after layoff notices have been given. A regular employee, or an employee considered permanent for layoff purposes, may bump into other positions at 红领巾瓜报. This only applies to USS position searches.
    3. ^Police-1
      • Used exclusively for Police searches only. An applicant with this annotation should be changed to "Under Review by Manager" on all other searches.
    4. @Police-N
      • Used exclusively for Police searches only. An applicant with this annotation should be changed to "Under Review by Manager" on all other searches.

[Top of Page]


How to Complete an Applicant Document Review-Form A in Excel

Basic Excel skills are necessary to use and format the Search forms. Extra columns or formulas are not needed. Do not add, change or remove criteria columns.
  1. Download the Applicant Document Review-Form A as outlined above.
  2. Do not add, change or remove criteria columns on the form. All relevant information should be evaluated using the columns provided.
  3. You will now need to review the applicant applications. Applications can either be printed or reviewed online through PeopleAdmin.
    1. Printed: A quick guide for printing applicant documents is available here. It is recommended that you do not print documents 2 sided. PeopleAdmin does not know when one document ends and another begins. The back of page 1 for one applicant might be the first page for the next applicant.
    2. Online:
      1. Log into PeopleAdmin
      2. Change to the Applicant Tracking module (blue header)
      3. Select the appropriate role - Search Chair or Search Committee Member and hit refresh
      4. Go to the Postings tab and select either USS or Unclassified/Faculty
      5. Find your position number and click on it
      6. You will be taken to the Summary tab. Click on the Applicants tab to the right in the middle
      7. In the applicant list box, check the box on the far left side slightly above the Last Name column header. This will select all applicants on the page and give you an option for selecting all applicants on the posting
      8. Click the Actions button on the far right side of your screen above the applicant list box and select Download Applications as PDF
      9. The Select Document Type box will appear on the screen. It should default to Application and All Documents. If this is not selected, click beside this option
      10. Click Submit. A Generating File message will appear on your screen. Do not close the window while the file is generating. Depending on the number of applications, this process may take a few minutes to complete
      11. Once the process is complete, a PDF file will open on your screen. This file contains all of the application data for all selected applicants. This file may be reviewed online or may be printed. Use caution when printing as the file could be VERY large. In the upper left corner of the document, you will see the number of pages in the file. This information may be helpful in deciding whether to print.
  4. To begin reviewing applicants, you will need both spreadsheets from the Applicant Document Review-Form A and your applicant application information.
  5. Review the applicant materials to determine if the applicant meets the educational requirements. Remember that applicants should only be eliminated if they do not meet the minimum educational requirements.
    1. If the applicant does meet the minimum requirements, you will move on to the Experience column of the Applicant Document Review-Form A.
    2. If the applicant does not meet the educational minimum requirements, place an X in the education box. Over in the NOTES section, you will enter a note outlining why the applicant does not meet this qualification. For example, if the position requires a degree and the applicant does not have a degree, you would simply enter NO DEGREE.
    3. In the Interview column, you would enter N for applicant who do not meet the minimum requirements and move to the next applicant.
  6. Review the applicant materials to determine if they meet the experience requirements for the position.
    1. If the applicant does meet the minimum requirements, you will move on to the Knowledge, Skills and Abilities column of the Applicant Document Review-Form A.
    2. If the applicant does not meet the experiential minimum requirements, place an X in the Experience box. Over in the NOTES section, you will enter a note outlining why the applicant does not meet this qualification. For example, if the position requires 4 years of administrative or clerical experience and the applicant has only 2 years documented on the application materials, you might enter ONLY 2 YEARS ADMIN EXPERIENCE.
    3. In the Interview column, you would enter N for applicants who do not meet the minimum requirements and move to the next applicant.
  7. Review the applicant materials to determine if they meet the Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSA) required for the position.
    1. If the applicant does meet the minimum requirements for the Knowledge, Skills and Abilities, you will move on to the Written Communication Skills column of the Applicant Document Review-Form A.
    2. If the applicant does not meet the Knowledge, Skills and Abilities requirements, place an X in the Knowledge, Skills and Abilities box. Over in the NOTES section, you will enter a note outlining why the applicant does not meet this qualification. For example, if the applicant did not meet the KSA of General knowledge of problems facing low-income and foster care students, you might enter NO EXPERIENCE WORKING WITH LOW INCOME STUDENTS.
    3. In the Interview column, you would enter N for applicants who do not meet the minimum requirements and move to the next applicant.
  8. Using the submitted application materials, you will now assess the applicants written communication skills.
    1. If the applicants written communication skills are deemed acceptable for this position, you will now move to the Leadership (if applicable) column of the Applicant Document Review-Form A.
    2. If the applicants written communications skills are not acceptable, place an X in the Written Communication. Over in the NOTES section, you will enter a note outlining why the applicant does not meet this qualification. For example, you might enter POOR GRAMMAR
    3. In the Interview column, you would enter N for applicant who do not meet the minimum requirements and move to the next applicant.
  9. If this position will be responsible for supervising others, you will also need to complete the Leadership (if applicable) column. If this position is for an individual contributor, proceed to step 10.
    1. If the applicant does meet the minimum requirements for the Leadership, you will move on to step 10.
    2. If the applicant does not meet the Leadership requirements, place an X in the Leadership box. Over in the NOTES section, you will enter a note outlining why the applicant does not meet this qualification. For example, if the applicant indicates that they have supervised 2 people in their career and this position would be supervising 20, you might enter a note such as VERY LIMITED SUPERVISORY EXPERIENCE.
    3. In the Interview column, you would enter N for applicants who do not meet the minimum requirements and move to the next applicant.
  10. Once you have completed all columns for an applicant, you will now need to determine whether you want to interview this applicant.
    1. If you know that this is an applicant you want to pursue further, enter a Y in the Interview column field.
    2. If you are unsure, you may enter a question mark here and come back to make a final decision once all applicants have been analyzed.
  11. Once all are reviewed, you will revisit any applicants who do not yet have a Y or N in the interview field.
    Note: If a candidate selected for interview has prior WSU work experience (other than as a student), the search chair should contact Employment to determine rehire eligibility before scheduling the interview.
  12. Once the final candidate pool is determined, the Search Chair and/or Search Team can determine whether to use phone/Skype interviews or proceed directly to in-person interviews.
  13. The Search Chair will sign and date the bottom of the Applicant Document Review-Form A.
  14. The Search Chair will email a copy of the completed and signed document to Employment at employment@wichita.edu.
  15. Using the completed Applicant Document Review-Form A, Employment will disqualify all applicants not selected for interview within PeopleAdmin. NOTE: When this action is taken, candidates disqualified will receive email notification that they are no longer being considered for the position.
  16. No further approvals are needed. The Search Chair may now begin scheduling phone/Skype interviews or in-person interviews
Note: If phone/Skype interviews are done, they must be done on all applicants that could move to in-person interviews. Applicants going to in-person interviews cannot skip the phone/Skype interviews and go directly to in-person interviews if phone/Skype interviews are done.

[Top of Page]


Important Notes To Remember:

  1. Human Resources will be available to assist Search Chairs throughout the process.
  2. The Search Chair is ultimately responsible for completing the search in a compliant manner.
  3. Search Chairs are also responsible for completing all documentation and saving search file documentation in case of a legal challenge or federal audit.
  4. Search files must be retained for three (3) years.
These instructions apply to USS and non-teaching UP searches.
For information on Faculty searches, please contact the Office of Academic Affairs.

[Top of Page]

SME: MH/JW/MJ/MW/LH

Revised: 12/01/2023 NH