Who Decides Whether a Job Is Reposted?

Numerous factors can contribute to the reposting of a job

One on one job interview

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Table of Contents
Table of Contents

A hiring manager decides whether to repost a job in most cases, and she then informs the organization’s human resources department of her decision. The hiring manager or human resources staffer screens job applications after the post closes to eliminate applicants who don't meet the posting’s minimum qualifications, then the manager looks more closely at the remaining applications to determine which applicants will move to the next step in the hiring process.

Why Jobs Get Reposted

A hiring manager might look at the screened-in applications and find that none or very few of them possess the qualifications to move on to the next step. He must decide at this point whether to proceed with the applicants who have already responded or ask human resources to repost.

The hiring manager has conflicting incentives in making this decision. On one hand, he wants the best applicants he can get, and this might require reposting. The ideal candidate is out there somewhere, and it might take a while for that person to stumble across the job posting.

On the other hand, the manager usually needs to hire someone relatively quickly. A company's work isn’t going to stop or even slow down just because a position is vacant. This compels the manager to keep the hiring process moving along.

Changes in Job Description

The hiring manager will instruct the human resources department to make changes before reposting if she finds that she needs to change the job description. For example, she might decide to adjust the salary range to attract more qualified candidates.

She has two options for this. She can shift both the minimum and maximum salary, or she can increase only the maximum. The first option means the new hire will likely earn more from the start than the hiring manager originally expected to pay. This is a significant issue for some organizations.

The second option makes it more likely that the hiring manager can stay within her original salary expectations. The higher top end salary will attract new candidates, as well as those who applied the first time around.

Unsuitable Candidates

A manager might decide to repost later in the hiring process as well. He might decide that none of the candidates he's interviewed are appropriate. He can then decide to interview more applicants from the original pool, or he can repost the position.

Interviewees should not reapply if the manager decides to repost and the posting doesn't change significantly.

The hiring manager’s decision regarding those already interviewed has already been made clear if you weren't offered the job.

Someone Said "No, Thanks"

Reposting can also happen when the top candidate turns down the job offer. Negotiations between the hiring manager and the top candidate can take up to a week or two. The hiring manager will terminate negotiations with the first candidate and begin negotiations with the second candidate if the two parties can't come to an agreement within this time. This can happen as many times as necessary, going down the ranking of candidates. Human resources policies dictate how long after a posting closes a hiring manager must secure a candidate’s acceptance of an offer in some organizations.

Some candidates might no longer interested in the position by the time the manager works his way down to them, and this can also affect whether the job is reposted.

Human Resources Got Involved

The hiring manager doesn't decide to repost in a vacuum. The human resources department plays a part. In addition to actually doing the legwork to repost a job, human resources staff will typically give the hiring manager advice on whether to revise the wording of the posting, how long to keep the posting open, and whether to advertise the job in ways outside the organization’s standard methods.