Job Requisition Form Template
Every mis-hire announces itself months late, but the cause is usually visible on day one of the search: the request said “senior marketing person, ASAP” and never said what the person would actually do. Recruiters can only source against the picture they’re given. This job requisition form template is the fifteen-minute exercise that replaces a vague request with a real brief — one that produces sharp shortlists instead of familiar disappointments.
Think of it as the hiring manager’s half of the partnership: the recruiter brings market knowledge; the brief brings the truth about the role that only the manager holds.
The Six Answers That Define a Role
Why the role exists. A long text field for the one-paragraph purpose — the gap this hire fills. If a manager struggles to write it, that’s a finding in itself: some “openings” are workload distribution problems that a hire won’t solve.
What the person does all day. Not the aspirational list — the real five responsibilities in plain verbs. This section later becomes the backbone of the job advertisement, so specificity here compounds everywhere downstream.
What they must bring — separated from what’s nice. Two distinct fields, and the distinction is the craft of the whole section: true must-haves (things you’d reject a strong candidate over) versus preferences (things that tip a close call). Blending them is the most common requisition failure — a ten-item “requirements” list reads as a wish list and measurably shrinks applicant pools, because strong candidates who match six of ten simply don’t apply.
Where the role sits. A short text field for the reporting line, a dropdown for employment type, and a multiple choice for work arrangement. Reporting and location drive compensation bands, interview panel composition, and onboarding plans — capture them now, not in week three.
What success looks like. The most skipped and most valuable prompt: “twelve months from now, what will this person have achieved that makes you certain the hire was right?” The answer becomes the foundation of your interview scorecard — and it screens out managers who haven’t yet thought the role through.
Anything the last JD missed. For backfills, a file upload accepts the old description — with the firm recommendation that it be treated as raw material for rewriting, not a template to recycle, since the role’s reality may have drifted far from its paper trail.
Requirements Discipline
Three rules worth printing next to the form: if you wouldn’t reject a candidate for lacking it, it isn’t a requirement — move it to preferences. Question every degree and years-of-experience line, because inflated proxies exclude capable people, often unevenly. And write the title as candidates would search for it — complicated internal titles surface in no search and benchmark against no market.
From Brief to Open Search
Polish the brief before it travels: preview the form as a hiring manager would experience it, and enforce the essentials — purpose, responsibilities, must-haves — with required settings so no hollow brief reaches a recruiter. Run one copy per department using duplicated forms with renamed requisition numbers, and the response list becomes the recruiter’s queue of defined briefs waiting to be filled. Deeper in the pipeline, a webhook can push each completed brief into your ATS so every search opens with its source document attached.
When a brief is approved and the search begins, the surrounding hiring paperwork — applications, screening, offers — lives in the job application collection and the broader recruit talent library, with more role-based formats in the recruit talent sub-category.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a job requisition the same as a job description?
No — think source document versus published article. The requisition is the internal brief: why the role exists, what it genuinely requires, who it reports to. The job description is the outward-facing text derived from it, written to attract rather than specify. Writing the ad first and the brief never is how searches end up advertising a role nobody actually defined.
How many requirements should a brief contain?
Three to five true must-haves is the disciplined answer. If the must-have list runs longer, it’s a preference list wearing a costume — and it will shrink applications measurably, since capable candidates rarely apply when they match only part of a long list. Everything worth keeping but not worth rejecting over belongs in the preferences section, where it can still guide shortlisting.
Can the form handle internal promotions and transfers?
Yes — and internal moves deserve their own copy. Duplicate the form into an internal variant that emphasizes stretch and development: what the person will grow into, what support the transition carries, and how their current duties get covered. Internal moves are the cheapest good hires a company makes; a brief built for external sourcing undersells them.
How specific should the job title be?
Searchable, honest, and level-signaling — in that order. Candidates search ordinary words, so exotic titles surface in nothing and benchmark against nothing. One level signal helps (“Senior,” “Lead”) and one function word helps (“Analyst”); beyond that, specificity belongs in the responsibilities section. Save creative titles for the careers page, not the requisition.