Pre-Employment Requirements

1. Concept

Pre-employment requirements – refer to those a prospective employer requires from a job applicant prior to being hired or engaged to work.

2. Pre-employment requirements

Labor law does not prescribe any specific pre-employment requirements that employers should ask from job applicants. Thus, employers may exercise their management prerogative in choosing which to require from employees. It is for this reason that each company or organization asks for different kinds of pre-employment requirements.

a. Documents

Employers may ask job applicants for photocopies of the following documents:

• Resume, CV, Bio-data

• Transcript of Records

• PNP or NBI Clearance

• Barangay Clearance

NB: The above list is just an example and is by no means required nor a complete list.

b. Medical Exams

Employers may ask job applicants to undergo medical exams:

• Drug Test

• Hepatitis B Test

• Alcohol Test

• Covid-19 Test

NB: The above list is just an example and is by no means required nor a complete list.

c. Written Exam or Practical Test

Depending on the nature of the role, job applicants may be required to under a written exam or a practical test to check or measure their competencies and/or proficiencies.

d. Interview

Employers may ask job applicants to undergo an interview. Usually, this is a one-on-one interview with an employer, hiring manager, or HR manager. While it is recommended that the one interviewing should be on the managerial team, there is no prohibition for a rank-and-file employee to conduct a job interview.

In some cases, it can be a panel interview involving several managers and/or employees of the Company to evaluate a job applicant.

It is also possible that the job applicant will undergo a series of different interviews with different personnel in the company. This usually happens if the role is a senior, technical, or sensitive position.