Once requisition approvals are switched on, a requisition becomes the first step of every hire. This article follows one all the way through: raising the request, getting it approved, opening the job, and filling the openings it permits.

Note: Requisition approvals are available on the Optimize plan and need to be enabled first. See Set up requisition approvals for the setup and the permissions each role needs.

Create a requisition

Click Requisition in the left-hand navigation. This is where every requisition in your company lives — filter the list by All requisitions, the ones that need my approval, or requested by me.

1. Click New requisition.

2. Choose Blank requisition, or Duplicate an existing one to reuse the details of a similar request.

3. Give it a title, then — depending on your setup — pick a department or an approval flow.

4. Click Save. Your requisition is created as a draft.

Note: If your company assigns flows by department, choosing the department selects the right flow for you. Set the Department value in the Details tab.

Tip: Drafts only need a title and, where relevant, a department. Save early and use the draft as the place where you and your colleagues gather budget, headcount, and justification — you don't have to have every answer before you start.

What's in a requisition

A requisition has eight tabs:

Details — the fields your company requires. These come from the requisition form in your settings, and all of them must be filled in before you can request approval. This is also where you set the number of openings the requisition permits.
Approval flow — the approvers and steps. Shows which step the request is on, and lets you edit the flow while the requisition is still unapproved.
Notes — discussion before and after approval.
Files — supporting documents.
Jobs — the jobs linked to this requisition. Available once it's approved.
Hires — the people hired against it. Populates once hires are made.
Team — everyone working on the requisition.
Activity — the full log.

Add team members

Requisition team members collaborate on the request and follow it through to hire. Some are added for you:

Approvers are added automatically once a flow is assigned, and start getting notifications when the status becomes Pending. Edit the flow and the new approvers are added too.
Hiring manager and Recruiter are added automatically if those fields are on your requisition form and filled in.
Administrators already have access to every requisition in the company.

Anyone else — a finance partner, a second interviewer — you add manually. Manage the team from the top-right corner of the requisition or the Team tab.

Note: Access follows hiring roles, and so do notifications. Someone without requisition permissions won't see the requisition or hear about it. See Set up requisition approvals for the three permissions.

Requisition statuses

Status	What it means
Draft	Created but not yet sent. Only the title and, where relevant, the department are required, so you can collaborate while gathering requirements.
Pending	Sent for approval. Review has started but isn't finished. Track the step in the Approval flow tab.
Rejected	An approver declined. The reason is mandatory and appears in the Details and Approval flow tabs. Update the request and re-submit.
Approved	Every required approver signed off. You can now open jobs against it, and the Jobs and Hires tabs become available.
Filled	Every opening has been filled. You can't hire against this requisition any more.

Send a requisition for approval

1. Fill in every field in the Details tab.

2. Click Request approval.

3. Optionally, write a message — why this role, why now. Add notes or files if approvers need more context.

4. Click Request approval to send.

Your message is visible only to the approvers attached to the requisition.

Important: Once a requisition is sent, you can't edit it. To change something, cancel the approval while it's pending, make your edit, and send it again.

Note: You can't request approval until a flow is assigned. If the button won't work, open the Approval flow tab and select one.

Note: You can cancel an approval request at any time. The requisition returns to its previous status — draft or rejected.

Approve or reject a requisition

Approvers are notified in the order the flow sets out. Everyone in a step hears about it at the same time; the next step is only notified once the current one clears.

1. Open the requisition from the notification, or go to Requisitions tab and filter by Need my approval.

2. Read the Details tab. If the hiring manager wrote a message, it's at the top.

3. Click Approve or Reject at the top of the page.

If you reject, you must explain why. Your explanation is visible to everyone with access to the requisition.

Replace an approver

For a short absence, swap the approver on the requisition itself: open the Approval flow tab, find the step, click Edit, and assign a colleague with comparable authority.

Note: Only Administrators can do this — unless Approvers can edit this step is enabled for that step, in which case its approvers can reassign it themselves.

For a long absence or someone leaving, remove them from the flow in your settings and assign a replacement. That change applies to all new requisitions, plus any in draft or rejected status still using the flow.

If a removed approver isn't replaced, they're skipped in the chain rather than blocking it — approval continues to the next step.

Important: Requisitions using a custom for this requisition flow aren't updated by settings-level changes. Replace the approver manually in any draft, pending, or rejected requisition with a custom flow.

Tip: Hiring managers should turn on the Requisitions are reviewed notification under Settings > Recruitee > My account > Notifications. It's off by default, and it's the only way to see each approver's decision as it lands.

Open a job against an approved requisition

There are three routes, and all three need the requisition to be approved first.

From the requisition

Open the requisition, go to the Jobs tab, and click + New job. Recruitee takes you to the job editor with the approved details already filled in — you add whatever the requisition doesn't cover, such as the job description, and click Publish. The Requisition tab in the job editor confirms the link.

While creating a new job

Go to Jobs, create a new job, and choose From requisition in the pop-up. Then pick the requisition to tie it to.

On an existing job

Go to Jobs and open a draft job. Requisition section is in the first tab of the job editor — scroll to it and click Assign requisition, then choose from your approved requisitions.

Note: Recruiters don't need requisition permissions to assign an approved requisition to a job.

Important: Don't overwrite the details that came from the requisition. Those figures were approved by your stakeholders, and keeping them consistent is what makes the reporting — and the approval — mean anything. If job and requisition data don't match, Recruitee shows you a dialog listing exactly which details differ so you can copy them across.

If you assign a requisition to a job that already has hires

Two things can go wrong, and both block further hiring until you fix them:

Too many hired candidates — more people have been hired than the requisition permits. Assign an additional requisition that still has openings available.
Candidates not assigned to openings — the requisition has openings free, but the existing hires aren't attached to them. Click Assign to job openings, select one or more requisitions, and open the job back up.

Hire candidates and fill openings

The number of hires a job allows comes from the openings on the requisition tied to it.

When you move a candidate to the hired stage, you'll be asked which requisition and which opening the hire belongs to. Recruitee then reduces that requisition's available openings by one.

You can see where things stand in three places:

The job header shows remaining openings.
The Requisitions list shows hires made against available hires, per requisition.
The Jobs list.

To change a hire's assigned opening, open the candidate's profile, and click Edit hiring details.

Once every opening on a requisition is filled, its status changes to Filled and you can't hire against it again.

Release a job opening

Openings are only ever released in two situations:

The hired candidate was permanently deleted from your account.
The job they were hired for was deleted.

Important: Releasing an opening can flip a requisition from Filled back to Approved, and that shows up in your reports. If someone leaves weeks or months after joining, raise a new requisition for the replacement rather than reopening the original — your reporting will reflect what actually happened.

Delete openings you won't fill

If you decide not to fill every opening, remove the spare ones:

1. Open the requisition.

2. Go to the Details tab.

3. Scroll to Job openings and delete the ones you don't need.

Note: Deleting the last unfilled opening can move the requisition to Filled, which is reflected in your reports.

Use one requisition across several jobs, or several on one

One requisition can back several jobs. That's useful when you want to test two versions of the same role — two job posts, one approved headcount, no duplicate paperwork.

Important: The openings are shared. Hire someone through one of those jobs and the available openings drop for every job on that requisition.

The reverse also works: if a job needs more hires than one requisition permits, assign an additional approved requisition to unblock more openings.

FAQs

Can I edit a requisition after sending it for approval?

No. Cancel the approval while it's pending, edit, then send it again.

Can I open a job before the requisition is approved?

You can draft one, but if requisitions are required in your company you can't publish it until an approved requisition is assigned. Scheduled auto-publications will fail too.

What happens if an approver leaves the company mid-approval?

Remove them from the flow in your settings and assign a replacement. If you don't, they're skipped rather than blocking the chain — but requisitions using a custom flow need updating by hand.

Why can't I hire anyone else for this job?

Its requisition has no openings left. Assign another approved requisition to the job to unblock more.

Someone we hired has left. Do I reopen the requisition?

We'd advise against it. Raise a new requisition for the replacement — releasing the original opening changes its status and distorts your reporting.

Who can see a requisition?

Administrators see all of them. Everyone else sees the requisitions they're on, and only if their hiring role includes requisition permissions.

Set up requisition approvals

Hiring roles

Notifications

Use requisition approvals in your hiring process