The Art of Requisition: Management for Organizational Success

Key takeaways

Job requisitions provide the basis for finding the right employee for an open position within your organization.

• An effective job requisition clearly articulates why you want to hire a new employee and the benefits the hire will bring to the organization.

• Before creating a job requisition, ensure you know the details, including salary expectations, proposed start date, contract type, and department.

• You can optimize your recruitment processes and attract the right talent to drive organizational success by strategically approaching job requisition management.

Learn what requisitions are, explore the types of job requisitions, and learn what to include to ensure yours are effective. To further maximize your company’s competitive advantage, discover how you can use GenAI to drive innovation with Coursera for Business.

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What is a requisition?

In broad terms, a requisition is simply a formal request for something, usually a product or service, that you know won’t be automatically available. Requisitions are typically submitted using a standardized document that you can later use to meet reporting needs and improve efficiency and accountability. 

What is a job requisition?

When you want to hire a new employee, a job requisition is the formal document you submit to request additional staff on your team. This request can be to fill a vacant position or to open a new role entirely within your organization. 

For example, if you were on a software development team at a start-up company, you might begin with a small team of three or four. As the start-up grows and requirements change, your original team might need help to handle the workload more effectively. If you and your team decide that adding more personnel would be an effective way to boost productivity and meet demands, you would submit a job requisition to begin the process of bringing someone new to the team.

The recruitment process can’t begin until the job requisition has been approved. This typically involves a human resources (HR) review before a final sign-off from the leadership team. If you need to fill a position quickly, writing a strong and effective job requisition is vital to streamline the process and avoid delays.

Tracking your job requisition

While each organization will have its own methods, companies usually have a way to track job requisitions online. Typically, you will see three options:

• Open: The job requisition is active. 

• Filled: The company has selected a candidate for the position.

• Closed: HR canceled the job requisition with the position unfilled. 

What does a job requisition include?

A job requisition should include all the necessary information for your human resources department to hire an appropriate person. Continuing the start-up example, imagine you need to expand your software development team to handle an increased workload. On the job requisition, you might clarify the new role’s job responsibilities, expected salary range, required skills, and other information to help identify the right candidate. You would also include information on why this new hire is necessary, how it would benefit the company, and details on duration, start date, and official position title.

As you might imagine, if you sought a highly experienced software developer and HR hired someone without a programming background, it wouldn’t be particularly helpful for your team. On the other hand, if you sought an entry-level developer to help with basic tasks and a senior-level developer joined your team, this could be equally difficult to navigate. The job requisition is your opportunity to clarify everything about the position and your team’s needs to avoid obstacles down the line.

What is the purpose of a requisition? Job requisition snapshot

The purpose of a job requisition is to justify the need for the hire, secure budget approval, and define how the role fits into the workforce structure. To ensure your job requisition serves its purpose, you should do some homework, ensuring you have a clear idea of each of the following descriptors, and that you and your team are aligned. Consider the following checklist:

• Department you’re hiring for

• Person in charge of hiring for the new position

• Reason for hiring

• Salary expectation and range

• Proposed start date

• Contract duration (temporary versus non-temporary)

• Contract type (full-time versus part-time)

• Desired candidate skill set and qualifications

• Job description with detailed tasks and roles

• Timeline for hiring

Using an applicant tracking system (ATS)

Many organizations use an applicant tracking system (ATS), which is software that tracks the recruitment and hiring process. This software typically has a built-in job requisition system and automated functions throughout the recruitment process. 

If your company uses an ATS, you will follow the standard procedure when creating a job requisition. If your company does not use an ATS, consider looking into available software and how it might benefit your recruitment efforts. ATS systems often have built-in tools to help you source more qualified candidates, increase engagement on your posts, and lower hiring costs over time.

Types of job requisitions

You create a job requisition whenever you hire a new employee, whether for a new position or to fill an open existing position. Each has its own purpose and requires a slightly different emphasis within the job requisition.

New hires

Typically, you create requisitions for new hires when you clearly need to expand within the company or when starting a new project that requires additional resources. Hiring for a new position usually involves more steps in the requisition process than hiring for existing positions. When creating a new position, you might encounter legal or financial concerns about where it fits within the company’s organizational structure. Creating a job requisition can help you anticipate potential challenges in this area before moving to the next stage of the hiring process.

Existing positions

You use this type of requisition when an existing role becomes vacant due to employee turnover. The goal of the requisition is to hire a new person to take over the former employee's responsibilities. Because the company approved this position and an employee occupied it, the job requisition process might be more streamlined than for new hires. If you need to change the role responsibilities or pay for the existing position, indicate that in your requisition.

Read more: Understanding Attrition and Its Implications for Business

Tips to create an effective job requisition

When writing a job requisition, clearly indicate why this new hire should be a high priority for your organization. You can include how the role will influence business productivity. You may also want to engage key stakeholders early in the process and define goals the candidate will help meet to boost overall company success.

If you have buy-in from your coworkers and management, your requisition is more likely to be approved quickly. If you can, have your colleagues sign the job requisition to support the urgency of your request.

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