Requisition approval workflows let you require sign-off from the right people before a requisition can open — routed automatically based on rules like department, office, work type, or requisition type. This article covers how to configure those workflows and what actually happens as a requisition moves through approval, rejection, and reapproval.

Setting up an approval workflow

Requisition approval rules are step-based and can be configured to apply based on Department, Office, Work Type, or Requisition Type. When a new requisition is created, Kula matches it against your configured rules and routes it to the correct approval chain automatically.

A real, current limitation: only one approval flow can be configured per department today. If you need different approval chains for different teams within the same department (for example, separate approvers per team inside Engineering), the workaround is to structure those teams as sub-departments and configure a separate approval rule at the sub-department level — a requisition created under that sub-department will then route to the correct chain automatically.

Choosing approvers

Each approval step can include one or more named users as approvers. Unlike Job and Offer approvals, requisition approvals don't offer a generic dynamic "Hiring Manager (on job)" option — since the person creating the requisition is typically the Hiring Manager already, having them approve their own requisition wouldn't accomplish anything.

Instead, requisition approval steps can pull in an approver dynamically in a couple of other ways:

• Primary Recruiter (on job) / Primary Hiring Manager (on job) — recently added options that resolve to the associated job's primary recruiter or hiring manager at approval time, rather than a fixed name.

• A dynamic requisition field — an approval step can reference any custom field of type "User" on the requisition itself (not just the built-in Recruiter and Hiring Manager fields), so the approver is pulled from whatever value is set on that specific requisition.

What happens when you approve or reject

• Clicking Approve or Reject from a notification takes you to the requisition's details page, where its main fields are shown before you finalize the decision.

• Approving moves the requisition forward in its approval chain (and eventually to Open, once all required steps are complete); rejecting sends it back for edits — Kula automatically opens the requisition's edit view for the creator so it can be corrected and resubmitted.

• Approvers can leave a note when approving or rejecting, on both the first approval and any later reapproval.

Changing an approval workflow

Editing the approval workflow in Settings only affects requisitions created after the change — a requisition that's already pending approval keeps the approvers it was originally routed to, even if you update the workflow afterward.

When an approver is inactive

• If a requisition's active approval step has multiple approvers assigned, the remaining active approvers can still approve even if one of them becomes inactive, and a Super Admin can approve on behalf of an inactive user if needed.

• But if the inactive user was the only approver configured on that step, the requisition can get stuck with no one able to act on it. If this happens, support can either restart the approval process (so it picks up your current workflow configuration) or mark the requisition as approved directly if no further approval is genuinely needed.

What triggers reapproval

• Editing certain fields on an already-approved or open requisition can trigger a reapproval cycle, depending on which fields your account has configured to require it (see "Creating a requisition" for the field-level required-for-reapproval setting).

• Increasing the headcount on an already-approved Requisition Group is one common trigger — each newly added opening goes through approval on its own, independent of the group's earlier approval.

Good to know

• Only one approval flow can be configured per department today. Use sub-departments if you need team-specific approval chains within one department.

• Requisition approvals don't offer a generic dynamic "Hiring Manager (on job)" option the way Job and Offer approvals do — this is intentional, since the requisition creator is usually the Hiring Manager. Use named approvers, the Primary Recruiter/Hiring Manager (on job) options, or a dynamic User-type requisition field instead.

• Changing the approval workflow only applies going forward. Requisitions already pending approval keep their original approvers.

• A requisition can get stuck if its only assigned approver becomes inactive. Contact support to restart the approval process or have it marked approved directly.

• A Super Admin can approve on behalf of an inactive approver if a pending requisition needs to move forward.

• Approving directly from a notification can sometimes finalize the approval immediately rather than pausing for review — open the requisition itself first if you want to review it before deciding.

FAQ

• Where do I configure requisition approval workflows? Settings → Requisition Approvals.

• Can I have different approvers for different teams within the same department? Not as a single native option today. The workaround is to set up sub-departments per team and configure a separate approval rule for each sub-department.

• Why isn't "Hiring Manager (on job)" available as a dynamic approver option for requisitions? Because the requisition's creator is typically the Hiring Manager already. Use named approvers, the Primary Recruiter/Hiring Manager (on job) options, or a dynamic User-type requisition field instead.

• I changed the approval workflow, but a pending requisition is still routing to the old approvers — is that a bug? No — workflow changes only apply to requisitions created after the change. Requisitions already pending approval keep their originally assigned approvers.

• An approver on a requisition went inactive and now it's stuck — what do I do? If other active approvers are assigned to that step, they (or a Super Admin) can still approve it. If the inactive user was the sole approver, contact support to restart the approval process or have the requisition marked approved directly.

• Does increasing headcount on an approved requisition group trigger reapproval? It can — each newly added opening goes through its own approval, depending on your field-level reapproval settings.

• Can approvers leave a note when approving or rejecting? Yes, on both the first approval and any later reapproval.

Need help?

If you have questions or need assistance, reach out to us at support@kula.ai or use the in-app chat.