Approve roles and offers

Have a second person approve a role before it opens, or an offer before it goes to the candidate - and decide on what waits for you.

In short

An organization can ask for approval at two points: before a role opens, and before an offer goes to a candidate. Both are off until someone who manages hiring switches them on. An approver either approves - the role opens or the offer is sent at once - or sends it back with a note the poster reads.

Before you start

Who: people who manage hiring in the organization switch approval on and approve roles. An offer can have up to four approvers, one after another - any member of the organization, such as a finance lead, even one who does not hire. Nobody approves their own role or offer.
Plan: Jobs is part of every plan, Free included.
First: both approval switches are off until you turn them on in "Hiring settings".

Ask for approval before roles open

Open Jobs › "Hiring" › "More" › "Hiring settings" and choose "Approval".
Switch on "Roles wait for an approver".
Optionally press "Choose an approver" and add people. With nobody chosen, everyone who manages hiring here can approve.
Optionally pick a team under "Approver teams". Everyone in it who manages hiring can approve, including people who join the team later.
Press "Save". From now on, a role that would open stays a draft that shows "Waiting for approval".

Ask for approval before offers go

Open "Hiring settings" › "How you hire".
Switch on "Offers need approval" and press "Save". Every offer now names its approvers in order and goes to each of them before the candidate.

Approve or send back a role

Open Jobs › Hiring › "Approvals". The tab shows only while something waits for you, with a count.
Read the role: open its title to see it in full, or press "Show the approval history".
Press "Approve and open" - the role opens at once.
Or press "Send back", write "Why" (up to 1,000 characters) and press "Send back". The poster reads your reason on the role.

Approve or send back an offer

Open Jobs › Hiring › "Approvals" - offers waiting for you are under "Offers" - or press "Approve offer" on the applicant's card. Your inbox and Home link there too.
Read the terms, the pay, the start date and the approval steps so far, with any note an earlier approver left.
Press "Approve" - the next approver is told it waits for them. At the last step the button reads "Approve and send" and the candidate gets the offer at once. You can leave a note for the next people.
Or press "Send back", write "What should change" and press "Send back with this note". The offer returns to its drafter as a draft, and the whole chain approves again next time.

Good to know

Approval is for an organization's roles. A role in your Personal Workspace opens, and its offers go, without one.
Nobody approves a role they posted or an offer they drafted. Role approvers are people who manage hiring in the organization; an offer's approvers are any members of it. An approver who does not hire sees only the offer, never the role's pipeline.
While a role waits, nothing about it is public: not the job board, its link, the organization's page or the careers page.
A role sent back shows the reason on the role. Change it and publish again to ask once more. Once approved, it can close and reopen without asking again.
Switching role approval on holds back roles that open from then on, never one already open.
Approvers hear in the inbox what waits for them; the poster or drafter hears the decision. Every role request and decision is kept in its approval history, with who and when.
If an approver leaves the organization they leave every offer's chain; an offer waiting for them comes back to its drafter as a draft. Handing their work to another member passes their place in each chain. Nobody but the approver whose turn it is can approve.
A role that waits for approval or was sent back says so in its title row on the pipeline. Select it to see the steps so far: who asked, who approved or sent it back and why, and when.

If something goes wrong

"Someone else has to approve a role you posted." - the role says "You posted this role, so another approver decides."
"Only the approvers chosen for this organization's roles can approve or send them back."
"This role is not waiting for approval." / "This offer is not waiting for an approval." - someone already decided or the offer was withdrawn; reload the page.
"Approvers must be people who manage hiring in this organization." - when saving the approvers in Hiring settings.
"Offers for a role posted without an organization have nobody to approve them."

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