Free Plumbing Recruitment Checklist Template (Sequenced)

Build and download a free plumbing recruitment checklist that knows the ORDER matters. Six hiring phases, ordinary steps as checkboxes, and hold points that block a phase from closing and print the rule that blocks it — the FCRA standalone disclosure before the report, the pre-adverse-action notice before the adverse-action notice, the conditional offer before any medical exam, I-9 Section 2 within 3 business days. Mark a step done early and it tells you. PDF, Excel or Word.

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Build your recruitment checklist

Work the six phases in order. Ordinary steps are checkboxes, but a hold point blocks its phase from closing and names the rule doing the blocking — and if you close a step before the step it depends on, this sheet says so.

Recruitment Checklist

Plumbing hiring · timing hold points

Nothing recorded yet. No phase can close.

Steps

28

Done

0

Hold points open

15 / 15

Out of order

0

1Role, jurisdiction & employerThe jurisdiction is not optional here — two hold points cannot be resolved without it.

Checklist #

Date (as of)
Requisition #optional

Role title

Hiring manageroptional
Hiring state & city
Start date
Candidateoptional
Role drives a commercial motor vehicle
We participate in E-Verify

Your company

Phone

Email

License #optional
2Define the roleHold pointsThis phase cannot close — the blocking rules are listed below.
  • Cannot close — Essential functions are not documented — the pre-offer questions you are allowed to ask are defined against them.
  • Cannot close — No hiring jurisdiction named — the ban-the-box and pay-transparency timing rules cannot be resolved without it. No hiring jurisdiction is named, so there is no rule to check it against.
Hold pointOpen

Essential functions of the job written down before any interview question is drafted

Status

Date doneoptional
Recorded by / referenceoptional
Hold pointOpen

Hiring state and city recorded on this checklist

Status

Date doneoptional
Recorded by / referenceoptional
StepOpen

Pay range for the role decided internally

Status

Date doneoptional
Recorded by / referenceoptional
StepOpen

Whether the role drives a commercial motor vehicle determined

Status

Date doneoptional
Recorded by / referenceoptional
3Post & sourceHold pointsThis phase cannot close — the blocking rules are listed below.
  • Cannot close — Pay-range-in-posting requirement for the named jurisdiction not confirmed — several states require it and no federal rule covers it. No hiring jurisdiction is named, so there is no rule to check it against.
  • Cannot close — Ban-the-box timing for the named jurisdiction not confirmed — the question is barred until after a conditional offer in many places and there is no national rule. No hiring jurisdiction is named, so there is no rule to check it against.
Hold pointOpen

Pay range included in the posting if your jurisdiction requires it

Status

Date doneoptional
Recorded by / referenceoptional
Hold pointOpen

Criminal-history question kept off the application unless your jurisdiction allows it there

Status

Date doneoptional
Recorded by / referenceoptional
StepOpen

Equal opportunity statement in the posting

Status

Date doneoptional
Recorded by / referenceoptional
StepOpen

Posting free of age cutoffs and coded age language

Status

Date doneoptional
Recorded by / referenceoptional
4Screen & interviewHold pointsThis phase cannot close — the blocking rules are listed below.
  • Cannot close — A pre-offer medical or disability-related inquiry is prohibited outright — this phase cannot close until the question set is confirmed clear of them.
Hold pointOpen

No disability-related question and no medical examination anywhere before the conditional offer

Status

Date doneoptional
Recorded by / referenceoptional
StepOpen

Same core question set used for every candidate for the role

Status

Date doneoptional
Recorded by / referenceoptional
StepOpen

Work authorization asked; citizenship status not asked

Status

Date doneoptional
Recorded by / referenceoptional
StepOpen

Job-related interview notes kept for every candidate

Status

Date doneoptional
Recorded by / referenceoptional
5Conditional offerHold pointsThis phase cannot close — the blocking rules are listed below.
  • Cannot close — No accepted conditional offer on record — the medical examination, the I-9 and, in many jurisdictions, the criminal-history question may not run before it.
Hold pointOpen

Written conditional offer made and accepted, naming exactly which conditions remain

Status

Date doneoptional
Recorded by / referenceoptional
StepOpen

Pay, classification, start date and at-will status stated in the offer

Status

Date doneoptional
Recorded by / referenceoptional
6Background & verificationHold pointsThis phase cannot close — the blocking rules are listed below.
  • Cannot close — FCRA §604(b)(2) requires a document consisting solely of the disclosure, signed before the report is ordered — no report may be pulled until it exists.
  • Cannot close — Report not yet ordered, or ordered before the standalone disclosure — the disclosure has to come first.
  • Cannot close — FCRA §604(b)(3) requires the pre-adverse-action notice, a copy of the report and the CFPB Summary of Rights before any adverse action.
  • Cannot close — The adverse-action notice follows the pre-adverse-action notice after a reasonable interval — no statute fixes the number of days, so record the dates you actually used.
  • Cannot close — A record was returned and no individualised assessment is on file — a blanket exclusion is the Title VII exposure here, not the timing.
  • Cannot close — A medical examination may only follow an accepted conditional offer, and only if every entrant to the job category takes it.
  • Cannot close — Plumbing licence or apprentice registration not verified with the issuing board — licensure is state and sometimes city law, so there is no national rule to fall back on.
Hold pointOpen

Standalone written FCRA disclosure signed and authorization obtained — before any report is ordered

Status

Date doneoptional
Recorded by / referenceoptional
Hold pointOpen

Background report ordered only after the standalone disclosure and authorization

Status

Date doneoptional
Recorded by / referenceoptional
Hold pointOpen

Pre-adverse-action notice sent with a copy of the report and the CFPB Summary of Rights

Status

Date doneoptional
Recorded by / referenceoptional
Hold pointOpen

Adverse-action notice sent only after a reasonable interval — record both dates

Status

Date doneoptional
Recorded by / referenceoptional
Hold pointOpen

Individualised assessment run on anything found in the criminal record — never a blanket exclusion

Status

Date doneoptional
Recorded by / referenceoptional
Hold pointOpen

Medical examination run only after the conditional offer, and required of all entrants to the job category

Status

Date doneoptional
Recorded by / referenceoptional
StepOpen

Drug test for current illegal drug use, if you require one

Status

Date doneoptional
Recorded by / referenceoptional
Hold pointOpen

State plumbing licence or registered-apprentice status verified with the issuing board

Status

Date doneoptional
Recorded by / referenceoptional
7Onboarding & recordkeepingHold pointsThis phase cannot close — the blocking rules are listed below.
  • Cannot close — I-9 Section 1 is due no later than the first day of employment, and may not be completed before the offer was accepted.
  • Cannot close — I-9 Section 2 is due within 3 business days of the first day of work for pay — a fixed federal deadline, not a target.
Hold pointOpen

I-9 Section 1 signed by the employee no later than the first day of employment

Status

Date doneoptional
Recorded by / referenceoptional
Hold pointOpen

I-9 Section 2 completed by the employer within 3 business days of the first day of work for pay

Status

Date doneoptional
Recorded by / referenceoptional
StepOpen

W-4 and state withholding forms collected

Status

Date doneoptional
Recorded by / referenceoptional
StepOpen

Hiring records filed, including for candidates you did not hire

Status

Date doneoptional
Recorded by / referenceoptional
StepOpen

Handbook and safety orientation acknowledged in writing

Status

Date doneoptional
Recorded by / referenceoptional

Sign-off

Completed by

Date

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What's included

  • Six phases in hiring order — define the role, post and source, screen and interview, conditional offer, background and verification, onboarding and recordkeeping — so the checklist reads as a sequence instead of a pile
  • Ordinary steps as plain checkboxes that gate nothing, and hold points that block their phase from closing and print the rule doing the blocking
  • The FCRA two-step encoded as four separate hold points in order: the standalone written disclosure and authorization under §604(b)(2), the report order, the pre-adverse-action notice with a copy of the report and the CFPB Summary of Rights under §604(b)(3), and only then the adverse-action notice
  • An explicit statement that no statute fixes the waiting period between the pre-adverse-action and adverse-action notices — the FTC says it varies with the job and the business, so the 5-business-day figure appears as common practice and is labelled as practice, not law
  • The I-9 timing split correctly: Section 1 signed by the employee no later than the first day of employment and never before the offer is accepted, Section 2 by the employer within 3 business days of the first day of work for pay, and E-Verify's separate 3-business-day case deadline shown only if you participate
  • The ADA rule stated as the EEOC states it: no disability-related question and no medical examination before a conditional offer — not even a job-related one — and after the offer only if every new employee in the same job takes it
  • A drug test treated as an ordinary step and not a medical exam, because the ADA says a test for the current illegal use of controlled substances is not a medical examination, while an alcohol test is
  • Ban-the-box and pay-range-in-posting held open until you name the state and city, because there is no national timing rule for either and this checklist will not invent one
  • EEOC guidance on arrest and conviction records as its own hold point: an individualised assessment on anything the report returns, never a blanket exclusion
  • FMCSA hold points that appear only when you mark the role as driving a commercial motor vehicle — the verified negative pre-employment controlled-substances result before any safety-sensitive function, the pre-employment Clearinghouse query, and the driver qualification file with its 30-day MVR and previous-employer inquiries
  • A trade credential hold point for state licence and apprentice-registration verification, cited to State licensing board — jurisdiction-dependent
  • Out-of-order warnings: mark a step done while the step it legally depends on is still open and the sheet names both by description
  • Every statute reference lives in the ⓘ tooltip, not as a wall of legal text on the page
  • Export to PDF, Excel (.xlsx) or Word (.docx) — blank fields print as blanks, never as dashes, and steps you never touched do not appear at all

How to use this template

  1. 1

    Name the role and the jurisdiction

    The job title, the start date, and — this one is not optional — the state and city you are hiring in. Two of the hold points on this checklist cannot be resolved without it, because ban-the-box timing and pay-range-in-posting rules are state and city law with no national rule underneath them. Leave the jurisdiction blank and those two holds stay open and say why.

  2. 2

    Switch on the conditions that apply

    Mark the role as driving a commercial motor vehicle and the FMCSA hold points appear — the pre-employment controlled-substances test, the Clearinghouse query and the driver qualification file. Mark yourself an E-Verify employer and its own deadline appears alongside the I-9 one. Leave them off and they never clutter the sheet.

  3. 3

    Work the phases in order

    Six phases: define the role, post and source, screen and interview, conditional offer, background and verification, onboarding and recordkeeping. Ordinary steps are checkboxes. Hold points are not — a phase will not read complete while one of its hold points is open, and it prints the rule that is blocking it rather than a count of unticked boxes.

  4. 4

    Record the dates on the FCRA steps

    The standalone disclosure, the report order, the pre-adverse-action notice and the adverse-action notice each take a date. Those four dates in that order are the entire compliance record for a background check, and the order is what gets audited.

  5. 5

    Read the out-of-order warnings

    Mark a step done while the step it legally depends on is still open and the checklist says so by name: a report ordered before the standalone disclosure, a medical exam before the conditional offer, an I-9 started before the offer was accepted. This is the finding a checkbox list structurally cannot produce.

  6. 6

    Download it and file it

    PDF, Excel or Word. The verdict line prints at the top, each phase prints its own close-out state and the rules blocking it, and every out-of-order warning prints in full. Keep it with the requisition — it is the record of what you did and when.

The hiring steps that are unlawful when done in the wrong order

A recruitment checklist is the easiest document in the world to write badly. Post the job, screen the resumes, interview, check references, hire — five boxes, any order, and it looks like process. The problem is that hiring is not a list of tasks that happen to be written down in a sensible sequence. Several of the steps are lawful or unlawful depending entirely on what has happened before them, and a checklist that treats every box as equal will happily let somebody tick them in an order that creates liability. That is why this builder for plumbing contractors hiring a service plumber, a journeyman or a registered apprentice is built as a sequence with hold points rather than a grid of checkboxes.

Start with the background check, because it is the one that generates the most litigation. Section 604(b)(2) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires a clear and conspicuous written disclosure, made before the report is procured, "in a document that consists solely of the disclosure" — and separately, the applicant's written authorization. Folding that disclosure into the application form, the handbook acknowledgement or a liability waiver is the single most-sued background-check mistake there is, and no amount of later paperwork repairs a report that was pulled first. Then, before taking adverse action based on the report, §604(b)(3) requires the employer to give the person a copy of the report and the written summary of rights the CFPB prescribes. Only after that comes the adverse-action notice. Four steps, one order. This checklist makes them four separate hold points with four dates, and it will tell you if the report order date sits before the disclosure date.

On the waiting period between those last two notices, this builder deliberately declines to state a number. There is no statutory deadline. The FTC's own position is that how long an employer should wait "will vary depending upon the circumstances, such as the nature of the job involved and the way that the employer does business." Five business days is a widely used practice, and it is printed here as exactly that — practice, labelled as practice, next to a field for the dates you actually used. A template that prints "wait 5 business days (required by law)" is teaching its users something false about a statute, and that is worse than leaving the box blank.

The I-9 is the opposite case: the deadlines are fixed and often misremembered. The employee completes and signs Section 1 no later than their first day of employment, and may do it earlier only after accepting the offer — never before. The employer completes Section 2 within 3 business days of the date of hire, meaning the first day of work for pay: start Monday, Section 2 due Thursday. If the job is shorter than that, Section 2 is due on the first day of work for pay. E-Verify, if you participate, has its own separate deadline — the case is created no later than the third business day after work for pay begins — and it also cannot run before the offer is accepted, because the case is built from a completed I-9. Those are two deadlines, not one, and this checklist keeps them apart.

Two more federal timing rules sit around the conditional offer. Under the ADA, an employer may not ask a disability-related question or require a medical examination before a conditional offer — not even a job-related one. Afterwards it may, in the EEOC's words, "condition a job offer on the applicant answering certain medical questions or successfully passing a medical exam, but only if all new employees in the same job have to answer the questions or take the exam." A drug test is a different animal and this builder does not lump them together: the ADA states that a test for the current illegal use of controlled substances is not a medical examination, so the pre-offer prohibition does not reach it, while an alcohol test is a medical examination and is gated like one. Outside DOT-regulated roles the timing of drug testing is state law, so it stays an ordinary step here rather than pretending to a federal rule.

And then there are the rules where this builder refuses to give you an answer, on purpose. There is no federal private-sector ban-the-box law. Many states and cities bar the criminal-history question until after a first interview, many until after a conditional offer, and they do not agree. There is likewise no federal pay-transparency requirement for private job postings, while several states require a pay range in the posting itself. So the checklist asks for the state and city, and until you name them those two hold points stay open and print the reason: no jurisdiction named, no rule to check against. Whatever the timing turns out to be where you hire, EEOC guidance on arrest and conviction records still expects an individualised assessment — the nature and gravity of the offence, the time elapsed, the nature of the job — rather than a blanket exclusion, and that is its own hold point. If the role drives a commercial motor vehicle, the FMCSA requirements switch on: a verified negative pre-employment controlled-substances result before the driver performs any safety-sensitive function under 49 CFR 382.301(a), a pre-employment Clearinghouse query under 382.701(a), and a driver qualification file under 391.51 whose MVR and previous-employer inquiries are due within 30 days of the start date.

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Recruitment Checklist FAQs

What makes this different from a normal recruitment checklist?

Order. On an ordinary checklist every box is equal, so nothing stops somebody ticking them in a sequence that creates liability. Here, ordinary steps are checkboxes that gate nothing, and hold points block their phase from closing and print the rule that is blocking it — not "3 of 5 done" but "FCRA §604(b)(2) requires a document consisting solely of the disclosure, signed before the report is ordered". On top of that, marking a step done while the step it depends on is still open raises an explicit out-of-order warning naming both. That is a finding a checkbox list structurally cannot produce.

Two pairs. Before the report: a clear and conspicuous written disclosure made before the report is procured, in a document that consists solely of the disclosure, plus the applicant's written authorization — that is §604(b)(2), 15 U.S.C. 1681b(b)(2). Before adverse action: a pre-adverse-action notice that includes a copy of the report and the CFPB's "A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act", then a reasonable interval, then the adverse-action notice — that is §604(b)(3). The builder holds each of the four as a separate step with its own date, because the dates in order are the compliance record.

No statute says. That is the honest answer and this template gives it rather than inventing a deadline. The FTC's position is that the reasonable time varies with the nature of the job and the way the employer does business — the purpose of the notice is to let the person see the report and tell you if it is wrong, so the wait has to be long enough for that. Five business days is a widely used practice and the builder prints it as practice, explicitly not as a statutory number, next to fields for the dates you actually used. If you want a number you can rely on, that comes from your counsel and your jurisdiction, not from a template.

The employee completes and signs Section 1 no later than their first day of employment. They may complete it earlier, but only after accepting the job offer — never before, which is why the I-9 hold points in this builder depend on the conditional-offer hold point. The employer completes Section 2 within 3 business days of the date of hire, where date of hire means the first day of work for pay: work starting Monday means Section 2 is due Thursday. If the job lasts fewer than 3 days, Section 2 is due no later than the first day of work for pay.

No — it is its own deadline, which is why the builder shows it as its own hold point and only if you switch on that you participate. A participating employer creates the E-Verify case no later than the third business day after the employee starts work for pay. You may create a case for a start date up to 90 business days in the future, but not before the offer is accepted, because the case is built from a completed Form I-9.

Different answers, which is why they are different steps here. A medical examination or any disability-related inquiry is barred before a conditional offer — the ADA prohibits it outright, not merely unless it is job related — and after the offer it is permitted only if all new employees in the same job have to take it, per the EEOC. A test for the current illegal use of controlled substances is not a medical examination under the ADA at all, so that prohibition does not reach it and you need not show it is job related; an alcohol test, by contrast, is a medical examination. Outside DOT-regulated roles, drug-test timing, notice and marijuana rules are state law and vary, so the builder keeps the drug test as an ordinary step rather than pretending to a national rule.

That depends on where you are hiring, and this builder will not answer it for you. There is no federal private-sector ban-the-box law. Many states and cities bar the question until after a first interview, many until after a conditional offer, and they disagree with each other. So the checklist asks for the state and city, and until you name them the ban-the-box hold point stays open and prints the reason. Whatever the timing rule turns out to be, EEOC enforcement guidance on arrest and conviction records still expects an individualised assessment on anything you find — the nature and gravity of the offence, the time elapsed, the nature of the job — rather than a blanket exclusion, and that is a separate hold point that does not go away.

In several states, yes; federally, no. There is no federal pay-transparency requirement for private employers, and the states that have one differ on whether it covers external postings only, internal postings too, and what counts as a good-faith range. Same treatment as ban-the-box: name the jurisdiction and the hold point tells you it is your jurisdiction's question; leave it blank and the hold point stays open rather than asserting a rule that may not apply to you.

Three FMCSA hold points, only when you mark the role as driving a commercial motor vehicle. A verified negative pre-employment controlled-substances result must be in hand before the driver performs any safety-sensitive function (49 CFR 382.301(a)). A pre-employment Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse query must be run before you employ the driver in a safety-sensitive function (382.701(a)). And a driver qualification file must be opened under 391.51, with the licensing-authority MVR and the previous-employer safety-performance investigation both due within 30 days of the start date and both looking back three years (391.23(a)). Note that the two thresholds differ: a CDL is required at 26,001 lb GVWR or GCWR, while the driver qualification file is pulled in at the lower 10,001 lb threshold — a service truck can need the file without needing the licence.

No, and every export says so. The federal timing rules here are stated from the primary sources — the FCRA statute text, USCIS and E-Verify on the I-9, the EEOC on medical examinations and criminal records, the FMCSA regulations. What no template can do is resolve the state and city law that sits on top of them, or tell you the waiting period no statute fixes. Have counsel review your hiring process against every state and city you hire in before you rely on it.

You hire in the right order. Larry answers the phone while you do.

We will run your numbers on the call and tell you if the maths does not work for a shop your size. That happens, and it is a cheaper conversation than finding out three months in.

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