A job requisition helps hiring managers strengthen their workforce and attract high-quality candidates. However, many struggle to communicate job requirements, obtain approvals and balance team needs with organizational limitations. Read on to learn about the job requisition process that helps hiring managers address common challenges and draft a successful recruitment strategy.
What Is a Job Requisition?
A job requisition is an official internal document a department manager sends to the human resources team to fill a new or existing position in a company. The requisition initiates the recruitment process of seeking a qualified applicant. It describes the job details so both the hiring team and prospective applicants know the position’s responsibilities.
Key Components of an Effective Job Requisition
When creating a job requisition, consider the following components:
- Position title and department: Create a working job title within 80 characters and identify the relevant department.
- Job description: Draft a detailed abstract to describe the role’s purpose and provide clear expectations for applicants.
- Key responsibilities: Include a list of primary duties and tasks associated with the role so candidates can determine whether they fit the position.
- Required qualifications and skills: Add a list of relevant qualifications and skills to streamline the recruitment process and improve candidate quality.
- Salary range and benefits: Be transparent about the salary range and summarize the company benefits, such as health insurance and retirement plans. Around 69% of employees would choose one job over another if offered better benefits that foster trust and reduce negotiation hurdles.
- Reporting structure: Mention the supervisor’s title and if there are subordinates to demonstrate organizational hierarchy and team dynamics.
- Start date or timeline: Provide the expected start date or hiring timeline to clarify the process for recruiters and candidates.
- Justification for the new hire: Include the reason for seeking a new hire, such as company growth or employee departure. This can help in budget approvals and decision-making.
- Budget information: Provide budget information, such as salary, benefits and other costs related to the position. This helps align finances with the organization’s resources and prevents surprises during recruitment or onboarding.
- Work location and modality: Mention if the role is in-office, remote or hybrid and include location details. This helps attract candidates whose preferences match the organization’s policies.
The Job Requisition Process
Job requisitions help fill positions within an organization. Here’s the usual process.
Identify the Need for a New Position
The hiring manager determines when a company needs a new role, whether to create a new position, replace employees or update job responsibilities. After conversations with team members and department heads, they decide whether the role is necessary based on the workload, team goals or strategic priorities.
Draft the Job Requisition
After identifying the role to fill, the hiring manager drafts a job requisition form, including all relevant details, such as the job title and reason for hire. This clarifies the role and its requirements and standardizes the hiring process across the organization.
Collaborate with HR and Other Stakeholders
Stakeholders collaborate to define the budget, reporting structure and job scope. This includes the HR team, finance team and department head.
Obtain Necessary Approvals
The requisition travels through a job requisition approval workflow. The department head reviews the requisition, the finance team approves the budget allocation and HR or senior leadership signs off.
Finalize the Job Requisition
After reviewing and finalizing it, HR assigns the job requisition a number. They also make revisions during approvals to avoid delays in recruitment.
Initiate the Recruitment Process
HR posts the job on internal systems or external platforms to begin sourcing candidates upon approval. The hiring manager may also help define recruitment strategies or conduct initial screenings.
Common Challenges and How to Overcome Them
Here are some common challenges in requisition and practical solutions to overcome them:
- Balancing specificity with flexibility in requirements: Make the job descriptions detailed and flexible enough to attract diverse talent. Divide the requirements into must-haves and nice-to-haves, and add specific examples for responsibilities.
- Aligning requisitions with rapidly changing business needs: Update job descriptions, as they may quickly become obsolete as business priorities shift. Acquire regular feedback from stakeholders, and conduct periodic reviews to align them with current business objectives.
- Navigating internal approval processes: Streamline internal approvals to make authorizations faster and simpler.
- Addressing skill gaps in the current job market: Define relevant skills and provide upskilling and reskilling initiatives to help candidates acquire in-demand skills.
- Collaborating effectively with HR and recruitment teams: Work with HR and recruitment teams to develop hiring strategies that align with long-term workforce development plans.
Overcoming the Big Disconnect
The disconnect between HR and hiring managers can be frustrating and make it difficult to fill open positions. Since there could be an average of 40-60 open requisitions per recruiter, collaboration helps. Hiring managers can implement clear roles, use a team-wide approach and strive for systematic communication to improve recruitment.
Mastering the Art of Job Requisitions
Job requisitions can attract candidates who help an organization thrive. Requisitions clarify the requirements and expectations for the people involved in the recruitment process. Here’s a summary of what this article has covered so far:
- Balance specificity and flexibility: Create detailed, flexible job descriptions that bring in a diverse pool of candidates.
- Stay agile: Review and update job requisitions to keep them aligned with evolving business requirements.
- Collaborate: Keep communication open and check in regularly with recruitment and HR.
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