1 job requisition for multiple identical positions

[Preij]

We are using Position Management 1:1, meaning that each employee has its own position, even for people with exact same jobs. If a hiring manager wants to recruit for 10 positions, we need to create 10 job reqs. For reporting purposes we should post all of these same reqs, sometimes resulting in candidates applying to multiple same positions. This leads to confusion and double work for TA team and hiring manager, as same candidates are to be processed on multiple reqs.

How can we do this in a better way, while still seeing the correct information in our funnel report (number of candidates in the various basic stages, e.g. Application / Recruiter Review / Hiring Manager Review etc etc.

Evergreen / child reqs initially seemed to be useful, but those are really to have an open channel to attract  applicants and create a talent pool, even if there is no vacancy posted.

Copying the req e.g. 10 times also does not seem a good solution; it looks as if it's tied to the original position and when trying to select and assign another position, we see all positions we have in system, literally thousands. Hence the question: how do other companies deal with this challenge?

Hope someone can advice, thank you!

Best regards, Paul Reij

[ernlin]

Dear @Preij ,

You will be pleased to know that in SuccessFactors Recruiting, you can use 1 Requisition to be tagged to and fill multiple Positions. I always recommend and setup this solution for my clients and have been tremendously welcomed, e.g. consulting firms who have evergreen and bulk hires for Audit Associates, or healthcare industry who have bulk hires for healthcare workers.

Prerequisites:

- In the Requisition template, you must use the standard Position object field, plus define it as "multiselect" (this itself is the key)

- In your Offer Approval, define the standard Position object field as a mandatory field

The outcome and process for this:

Let's suppose the 10 Analyst positions are identical or near-identical, better still they are reporting to the same Hiring Manager

1. Let Hiring Manager create the 1st Requisition from 1 Position first. Position-Requisition integration will ensure the necessary Position details gets populated to this 1 Requisition.

2. Let Hiring Manager state in the Requisition that he/she needs other reporting positions to be filled as well because they are identical positions (10 Analyst openings to be filled)

3. When the Requisition is routed to the Recruiter, let the Recruiter tag additional Positions to the same Requisition. 10 Analyst positions are now tagged to this 1 Requisition. Increase the number of opening to 10. Reserve these edit permissions to only the Recruiter.

4. Recruiter post this 1 Requisition and look out for 10 suitable Analyst candidates. 

5. When Recruiter raises the Offer Approval, the standard position object in Offer Approval template will list out the 10 Positions tagged in Requisition. It should be a mandatory field such that Recruiter needs to state which of the 10 Positions each of the 10 selected Analyst candidates needs to be hired into. This is crucial to be done before initiating onboarding. Recruiter must tag 1 Candidate to 1 Position at this point in time, without any crossover. Thereafter initiating onboarding, there will not be any issues for the same Recruiter or Onboarding team to process the candidate through onboarding and manage pending hires. Remember in Employee Central, you cannot hire 2 employees into 1 Position.

6. Recruiter can keep the 1 Requisition posted and use it as an Applicant Pool for future Analyst positions for the same Manager. As the Positions are filled, Recruiter can untag those Positions from the Requisition. As new identical Positions to be hired come up, Recruiter can tag them to the Requisition, which by now already accumulated the Applicant Pool and Recruiters have a headstart in considering the existing applicants for the new Positions tagged! Then, just keep increasing the Number of Openings accordingly as new Positions are tagged. Do not reduce it as the candidates parked in Hired status in the Requisition will still count towards the Number of Openings filled.

7. Recruiter can decide how long they want to keep this Requisition as an Applicant Pool, example, at max 6 months or 1 year, depending on the applicants accumulated. This is because the applicant count can increase to the thousands and even more. Also, the applicant pool becomes "old" over time. At certain points in time, the Requisition becomes hard to operate and it is better to start afresh in a new requisition.

I always recommend this approach and implement this solution to my clients who are frequently concerned with having bulk or evergreen recruitments for identical positions. For example, a Recruiter for a Consulting Firm cannot be posting 200 Requisitions for essentially the same Audit Associate entry level position for 200 headcount in a year. The External Career Site will be unnecessarily flooded with job postings of the same position. Or, a Recruiter for a Hospital cannot be posting 80 Requisitions for Nurses in the same department.

However, Recruiters should be aware to use 1 Requisition for only identical/near identical Positions, otherwise it will be hard for Recruiters to manage. Keep in mind that:

- 1 Requisition means 1 set of Job Description posted; hence the Description only attracts the candidates that it is intended to. E.g. you cannot have an Entry Level Analyst Job Requisition whose Job Description you hope will fill your multiple tagged Positions ranging from Entry Level, to Junior, Senior or even Lead Analysts. You need different Requisitions for Positions that differ meaningfully from each other.

- 1 Requisition means it stores only 1 set of Position details, i.e. same Department, Division, etc. If the multiple Positions are of different attributes (e.g. belonging to different Departments, etc), it can cause issues for Recruiter in managing the candidates if they are referring to the 1 Requisition for Position details.

- 1 Requisition means it stores only 1 Hiring Manager, that flows to Onboarding. Ideally it should be the same Hiring Manager throughout the candidate's recruiting and onboarding journey. In the Onboarding Review New Hire Data step, the Manager of onboardee should be made to be repopulated with the Manager of the onboardee's Position. 

Hope this helps!

Best Regards
Ernest Lin

[Preij]

Thank you Ernest, this is very much appreciated! I have my TA people analyze this and then we'll try to configure in our UAT system. I'll let you know the outcome. Best regards, Paul

[peri]

@ Preij,

Hello and good day. We are on the same boat and would also like to use 1 requisition to fill multiple positions of the same title. Would it be alright if you can share how you configured yours in UAT/D environment?

Regards,

Louie

[Preij]

Hello @peri, I'm not technical so can you specify what you would like to know? We configured bulk reqs per the above recommendation and found it helpful although it does come with quite a few peculiarities that require high process-discipline from the recruiting team. I.e. only assign the primary position to a a candidate if all other added positions are filled. Also don't have a higher number of openings than the number of assigned positions, otherwise the job req will not close.

best regards, Paul