What Is a Job Requisition?

One of the most common terms in recruiting you’ll hear the term ‘job requisition’ thrown around a fair amount in the recruitment world.

A job requisition is a document describing the job opening, the department’s needs, and a description of each candidate.

What Is a Job Requisition For?

Job requisitions or “job reqs” are often required to be executed by a department manager that wishes to fill a position or positions, in which the former employee has resigned from, been terminated from, or is currently working in.

Requisitions are used by HR departments to find candidates who can fulfill the needs of the opportunity. Once a requisition has been approved, HR will begin the recruitment process and post it online or distribute it via email.

In the case that the job requisition is required when the employee is still currently employed, the department may require additional staffing.

It’s vital to notify decision makers within the organization of a request for hires. It’s then transferred to Human Resources for approval for the recruitment process to begin.

How Job Requisitions Are Used in the Hiring Process

The purpose of a job requisition process is to aid the position creation management within an organization.

Once a requisition has been approved, HR will begin the recruitment process. The recruiter will review the job description and make sure that it aligns with what you are looking for in an employee.

Once the recruiter has finished reviewing the requirements, they will start searching for potential candidates who meet those qualifications. They may use one of many methods including: LinkedIn searches, Google search results, job boards, referrals from current employees, or paid sourcing services.

Whenever a candidate is a good fit, the recruiter will pass their resume and application materials along to the hiring manager, and contact the candidate about scheduling an interview.

The Difference Between a Job Requisition and a Job Description

Job requisitions are a prerequisite to a job description. Talent acquisition teams use them to come up with a job description.

This execise is both a science and an art. A job description is an ad for your company, complete with a call to action asking candidates to become a part. To write a successful job description you have to think like a marketer.

Counterintuitively, most startups don’t put a lot of time and effort into the JD. Instead, they just slap it up on LinkedIn or AngelList and hope for the best. But a job description has to be strategic. It serves as an engaging, inclusive, descriptive acquisition tool. With that in mind, getting job descriptions right is the critical first step in hiring terrific talent. And the key to generating a candidate acquisition machine is about acing these JD fundamentals in three steps.

Other Things to Consider When Opening a Job Requisition

In the ideal scenario, hiring managers provide their counterparts一the talent acquisition team一perfectly crafted and concise job requisitions. However, for most companies, new hire initiatives are driven mostly by talent acquisition teams.

Here are some ideas of how to gather the extra information you might need beyond a job requisition:

• Sit in on internal team calls. This is an excellent way to observe what employees are doing and how they interact, giving you information for both the main tasks the new employee will eventually be performing and what the team dynamic is like.
• **Read the team’s internal documentation(s). **While this might be boring, it’ll give you insight as to the type of work candidates might be doing day-in and day-out.
• Survey team members about what competencies they’d like to see most in a new member of the team and use their answers to structure the desired skills portion of the JD.
• **Review long-term roadmaps or internal strategy **to align for the right skill sets needed.
• Ask whether additional headcount will potentially slow down the existing team. Will this trigger the need for additional management?