Document templates
A document template is a contract or form you upload once. TalentPulse fills in the new employee's details, has them sign it digitally, and files the signed copy in their dossier.
You manage them in the app under Settings → Documents. Only super admins can open that screen.
How it works
- You prepare a PDF or Word file and type a placeholder wherever a personal detail belongs.
- You upload it once as a document template. TalentPulse scans the file and turns every placeholder into a real, fillable field.
- You add a document signing step to onboarding and point it at the template. Steps are set per labour type, so a freelancer can get a different contract than an employee.
- When a new employee reaches that step, TalentPulse makes a personal copy, fills in everything it knows about them and asks them to sign.
- The signed document is stored in the employee's dossier.
Signing runs through SignNow, our e-signature provider. Your employee does not need a SignNow account: they sign straight from TalentPulse and land back in the app afterwards.
Prepare your document
Write your contract or form the way you always do and type a placeholder wherever a personal detail has to appear. A placeholder is the name of the value between double curly brackets:
Employer: {{tenant_name}}, established in {{tenant_city}}.
Employee: {{full_name}}, born on {{date_of_birth}},
residing at {{address}}, {{city_and_postal_code}}.
This agreement starts on {{contract_start_date}}.
Signed in {{signing_city}} on {{signing_date}}.
Signature employee: {{signature}}When you upload the file, every placeholder is replaced by a field in exactly that spot. Text fields are filled in automatically; the signature field is where the employee signs.
Rules for placeholders
- Type them exactly as in the list below: lowercase, no spaces inside the brackets.
- Keep a placeholder on one line and in one piece of formatting. If half of it is bold, or Word splits it in two, it is not recognised.
- Use plain brackets. Autocorrect that turns them into something else breaks the placeholder.
- The field takes the place of the placeholder, so give it enough room on the line.
- You can use the same placeholder as often as you like. Every occurrence gets the same value.
- Only the placeholders below are recognised. Anything else stays in the document as literal text.
- Your document needs at least one
{{signature}}. Without it the upload is refused, with a message that the document must contain a signature text tag.
Available placeholders
Values come from the employee's own details and from your organisation settings.
| Placeholder | What it fills in |
|---|---|
{{signature}} | The box where the employee places their signature. Required at least once; you can add more. |
{{full_name}} | Full name of the employee. |
{{first_name}} | First name. |
{{last_name}} | Last name. |
{{internal_id}} | The employee number TalentPulse assigned. |
{{email}} | Email address. |
{{address}} | Street and house number. |
{{postal_code}} | Postal code. |
{{city}} | City. |
{{city_and_postal_code}} | City and postal code together, on one line. |
{{phone_number}} | Phone number. |
{{date_of_birth}} | Date of birth, as DD/MM/YYYY. |
{{chamber_of_commerce_name}} | Company name registered with the Chamber of Commerce. For freelancers. |
{{chamber_of_commerce_number}} | Chamber of Commerce number. For freelancers. |
{{contract_start_date}} | First working day from the employee's details, as DD/MM/YYYY. Falls back to today when it is not set. |
{{signing_date}} | The day the document is prepared for signing, as DD/MM/YYYY. |
{{signing_city}} | The employee's city, for a line such as ‘Signed in …’. |
{{tenant_name}} | The name of your organisation. |
{{tenant_city}} | The city of your organisation, from your general settings. |
Employees fill in their details during onboarding, so the data is there before the document is made. If something is still unknown, a freelancer without a Chamber of Commerce number for instance, that field is left empty and the employee can complete it before signing.
Upload the template
- Open Settings → Documents and click Add template.
- Pick a type. Cooperation agreement and Tax form only fill in a name for you, Custom template starts empty. The rest of the process is identical.
- Give the template a name you will recognise later: you pick it by this name when you set up onboarding.
- Upload your file. PDF, DOC or DOCX, up to 10 MB.
- Click Create. Uploading and converting takes a few seconds.
Use the template in onboarding
A template does nothing on its own. It becomes active as soon as an onboarding step points at it.
- Open Settings → Onboarding steps and choose the labour type you are setting up.
- Add a step and choose Document signing.
- Select your document template and save.
- Drag the step to the right place in the order. A labour type can have up to five steps.
Every labour type has its own list of steps, so a freelancer can be asked for a cooperation agreement while an employee signs something else. A labour type without a document signing step gets no document at all.
Changing and removing templates
- Renaming: You can rename a template at any time. It only changes the label, not documents that already exist.
- New version: Use Replace in the edit screen to upload a new file. Documents that were already prepared or signed keep the version they were made with; only employees who start after the change get the new one.
- Deleting: Deleting cannot be undone. Point the onboarding step at another template first, otherwise that step has nothing left to prepare.
Troubleshooting
- The upload is refused: Your document has no signature placeholder, or the file is larger than 10 MB or not a PDF, DOC or DOCX.
- A placeholder shows up as text in the signed document: The name is misspelled, it is not in the list above, or formatting split it in two. Fix it in the source file and upload it again with Replace.
- A field stayed empty: TalentPulse had no value for it. Check the employee's details, that is where every value comes from.
- No document is prepared for a new employee: The onboarding step for their labour type does not point at a template, or they have not reached that step yet.
Looking for the emails and WhatsApp messages TalentPulse sends to applicants? See Communication templates.