What is a Job Requisition? Everything You Need to Know

Updated October 2024

t’s the time of year when organizations are assessing next year’s budgets and determining their headcount needs to ensure they’re well-prepared for the challenges ahead. Are you a hiring manager feeling the pressure of expanding your team? If so, you’re not alone! There are other hiring managers facing the same challenge.

Whether you’re looking to backfill a vacant position, grow your team to meet business demands, or just find top talent with a specific skillset, we’ve got you covered! But the first step is to create a job requisition (job req).

What is a job requisition, exactly? In this post, we’ll review everything you need to know about job reqs, including:

• What a job requisition is
• Why a good job req is so important
• How it differs from a job description/posting
• How to build your own job req so you can start finding (and hiring) qualified candidates

Once you’ve read through this article, you’ll be able to:

• Identify your ideal candidate
• Submit a job requisition that your HR department will approve
• Attract the best talent

Let’s get started!

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What is a job requisition?

By definition, a job requisition is a formal request submitted by recruiters or hiring managers to the HR department to create a new position or fill a job vacancy.

But a job requisition goes beyond just listing a job description and job title. A strong job req also includes information like:

• Team/department

• Justification for new hire

• Job description

• Budget for the role

Once HR approves your job req, you can finish up any additional details to the job description, get it posted on job boards of choice (we recommend our job board), and proceed with the recruiting and hiring process.

While job requisitions are typically limited to businesses who use traditional HR practices, companies of any size, in any industry, can utilize them in their hiring process.

The Importance of a Job Requisition

Job requisitions bring efficiency to the hiring process and the business as a whole. Although you know what’s best for your department, it’s always good to get input from knowledgeable colleagues or higher-ups when it comes to major decisions. And hiring an employee involves a process that’s certainly worthy of a second set of eyes.

Filling out a job requisition triggers an inclusive effort that can span multiple parties or departments, including:

• Legal
• HR
• Finance
• Management

Together, the hiring process will get off to a good start and will result in a productive addition to your team. In essence, a job requisition is important because it covers many angles involved in ensuring that it’s indeed beneficial to hire a new employee and that the right person is hired.

Benefits of a job requisition

Using job requisitions to fill or create positions offers numerous advantages. A key benefit is that they help identify potential issues before you even begin the candidate search. Here are some of the main benefits:

Confirming the Need

Are you sure you need to hire? Can implementing various forms of software and technology lighten the workload of your current employees, thus removing the need? Perhaps you can make do with part-time help?

Putting what you require in writing and reviewing it allows others to confirm or critique your thinking. It brings another level of assurance that you’re making the right decision.

Getting the Details

A job req contains a lot of information that needs to be precise. The description of candidate characteristics, duties, and qualifications expected of whoever fills your vacant role must be accurate. Otherwise, you may end up with someone under qualified for the job or not a good fit with your team. Getting input early on will lead to a better job description, a better slate of candidates, and, ultimately, a better hire.

Budget Allocation

A new hire might not fit in your department’s budget. Even if you’re filling a position someone resigned from, the anticipated pay for the new employee might be higher. A job req gives finance and HR notice so they can confirm the funds are actually available in your budget and if they can accommodate you should they not be available.

Legal

There are many legal issues surrounding a new hire. For example, when unions are involved, there may be grounds for a grievance if the future employee will assume responsibilities currently held by an existing employee. HR can help tie up such loose ends or bring matters to an attorney when necessary.

All of these benefits ultimately save your company time and money.

Job: Requisition, Description, and Posting

A job requisition is just one part of acquiring top talent. The job description and job posting are also part of the hiring process. Though most use these terms interchangeably, they are actually three different concepts.

Let’s break down the differences.    

Job Requisition

First, a job requisition is an internal business document that makes a specific request to hire a certain individual for an existing or new role.

Job Description

A job description is a written account of the prerequisite skills and experience, job responsibilities, and authority associated with a particular position title.

A job description typically includes a list of tasks that are expected to be performed by the candidate chosen for the job as well as any essential qualifications.

Job Posting

A job posting is an online announcement indicating that a position is available. It typically includes the job title, responsibilities, and qualifications. This is your opportunity to advertise the open role to potential applicants, whether through a dedicated website or an email blast to active candidates.

Most postings will also feature a link for applicants to submit their applications.

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4 Tips for Creating a Strong job requisition

There are a variety of ways to make your new employee request more likely to be authorized, even if most of the information is simple. Keep these ideas in mind as you complete your next job requisition. 

1. Identify the Gap

Thoroughly evaluate your team, your projects, and any gaps in skill or human labor. Ask hard questions about what changes would best improve your team. You need to know if you really do need more employees or if you just need more from your existing employees. These questions can help you determine your justification for a job requisition.

• Why is my team struggling? Is the workload too high? Are our systems inefficient? Is the current workload temporary or permanent?
• What goals or projects could we achieve with more employees? How could my team better support the company?
• Is my team missing a skill set or experience that could be found in a new type of employee? Or does my team need more people in a similar role?
• What impact could this role have on the overall team?

As you work through these questions, you will see what changes your team needs to make to succeed. If this includes a new hire, you will also know if they should be temporary, part-time, or full-time.

2. Review the job description

When writing a job requisition, it’s important to have a general idea of the job description, but keep in mind that it can evolve throughout the process. As you draft the job description, consider the following questions.

• Look at the existing job description (if applicable). What is still relevant? What needs to change?
• Think about your ideal candidate. What is their level of experience? Which certifications do they have? What are their skills? How does their personality fit with your team? What else do they bring to the table?
• Determine the minimum qualifications needed for this role. What skills do they need to have already, and what skills can they learn on the job? What certifications do they need (often required by law), and what training can you offer? For example, a medical provider needs specific degrees and licenses, but many IT professionals are self-taught.
• Outline job duties on a daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis. What are the expected outcomes? What are the relevant deadlines?
• Place this role within your existing team. Is this an entry-level position, an executive position, or something else? What will be the reporting structure?

Overall, you want to be both realistic and flexible with the job description.

3. Talk to your team

Feedback from colleagues in your department is always priceless, but even more so when you’re looking to hire a new employee. Department heads and managers see things from a different angle than employees. Your team members might:

• Add responsibilities or qualifications to the job description you might have missed
• Suggest alternative ways of covering some of the tasks
• Request to take over some of the proposed duties
• Alert you if someone will feel slighted by the hire and possibly help you do some damage control

You can learn a lot from your employees—they have a wealth of institutional knowledge. But even more importantly, by talking to those who work for you, you can gain a different perspective on what you need and how a new addition to the team might affect operations and team chemistry.

4. Take the time to write a good job requisition

Every employee plays an important role in your team and the overall operations of your company. A job req is the foundation of obtaining a vital addition to your workforce. You want to ensure that you actually need that employee, have room in your budget for them, and end up with the right person for the job.

Working diligently and patiently on the job requisition will help you do what’s right for your team and keep them happy. It will also give the others who collaborate with you throughout the hiring process clear, concise information to work with.

Take your time as you work through the facts and details. Doing so will give you the best shot at successfully adding a productive employee who will benefit you and your organization.

While each business will have different needs, typically the job requisition document should include:  

• Job Title and Job Code (used to track applications)
• Department
• Hiring Manager
• Job Description (job duties, skills needed, etc.)
• Minimum Qualifications (education, licensing, experience, etc.)
• Justification (reasoning for job req)
• Type of Employment
• Salary Range and Associated Costs (i.e. benefits)  
• Union status (if applicable)  

The most important thing is to make sure that this document accurately reflects the duties of the open position, as well as your company culture. 

Job requisition template

Check out our graphic below for a job requisition template!

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Job Reqs Are Vital to the Hiring Process

There are certainly managers out there who wish they could skip the job requisition and just post a position online whenever they want to hire. But the above information should shed light on the importance this document plays.

A job requisition gets the hiring process rolling in the right direction, and a lot is riding on making the right decision about who to hire. When done correctly, a job requisition can smooth a lot of kinks along the way in an otherwise tricky, delicate, complex process and produce excellent results for your company.

If you need some help filling some open positions, fill out the form below, and we’ll connect you with top talent.