Most vacancies start with a conversation: a manager who needs someone, a client who calls about a role, a team lead who mentions that a colleague is leaving. That conversation is not yet an approved vacancy. Your Applicant Tracking System should record, for every vacancy before sourcing starts, who approved it, on what basis, for what scope and on which date. Until that approval is recorded, the vacancy stays a draft: it can hold a brief and an owner, but no candidates are approached. That one rule prevents the most awkward call in recruitment, telling a good candidate that the role they interviewed for was never really open.
What counts as approval differs per segment. Recruitment agencies need a confirmed assignment from the client, in writing and from a person who is allowed to give it. Staffing desks work from a client request with a confirmed number of positions, dates and location. Secondment teams need the client to confirm the assignment before a professional is proposed. Executive search firms start the search only once the engagement is agreed. In-house recruitment teams need the headcount or budget approval from the people who own it, not only the wish of the hiring manager.
What goes wrong when roles open without approval
The same patterns show up on many desks:
- A recruiter starts sourcing on a verbal request, and two weeks later the budget turns out not to exist
- The role was approved as one full-time position, but the vacancy in the pipeline is searching for two, or for a different seniority
- A client contact asks for candidates without the authority to hire, and the decision maker has never seen the request
- Candidates are interviewed for a role that is then put on hold, and nobody can say who decided that or when
- Time-to-fill reporting starts on the day the vacancy was created, which may be weeks before anyone actually approved it
None of this is solved by working faster. It is solved by recording one decision before the pipeline starts to move.
What to record as the approval
- Approval status — draft, awaiting approval, approved, on hold or withdrawn, as a field on the vacancy rather than a remark in the description
- Approved by — the name and role of the person who approved it; for agencies, the client contact who confirmed the assignment
- Basis — the written confirmation, signed assignment, order or budget reference, attached to the vacancy so a colleague can find it
- Approved scope — the number of positions, type of employment, location and expected duration, matching the structured brief
- Approval date — the day the decision was made, which becomes the starting point for the target fill date
- Recorded by — the recruiter who entered the approval, so the record shows who checked it
The Applicant Tracking System records the decision; it does not make it. Whether a role is affordable or necessary stays with the business or the client. The system only makes sure nobody starts recruiting on an assumption.
Make approval the gate to sourcing
Configure the Applicant Tracking System so that a vacancy can only be published, linked to candidates or used for outreach once its approval status is set to approved. While the vacancy is a draft, the owner of the role can complete the brief and agree the target date, so the work is ready the moment the approval arrives. The change to approved is recorded like any other stage change: who set it and when. If an approval is still missing after a few days, the owner receives a next-action date to chase it, instead of quietly starting the search anyway. Repeated steps such as publishing can then be automated safely, because the gate ensures they only run for roles that are really open.
When the scope changes or the role goes on hold
- Record every change to the approved scope as a new approval entry with its own date and approver, rather than editing the old one
- When a role goes on hold, record who decided it, the reason and the date, and set a date to review it
- Inform the candidates already in the pipeline promptly and honestly, and record that they were informed
- When the role is withdrawn, close it with a documented close reason, so the history shows it was cancelled rather than filled or lost
- Keep candidates from a withdrawn role available for a later vacancy only within the retention date on their record
For agencies: approval lives on the client side too
An agency should know, per client, who may confirm an assignment and how it is usually confirmed. Record that on the client in the candidate and client relationship records beside the pipeline, together with the history of earlier assignments and how many were withdrawn after the search had started. When a client asks for “a few profiles to see what is out there”, record that as exploratory work with its own label, so it is never mistaken for a confirmed assignment in planning or reporting.
Report honestly on approvals
Once approvals are recorded, the Applicant Tracking System can show how many vacancies started sourcing with a recorded approval, how long it took from first request to approval, and how many approved roles went on hold or were withdrawn after candidates were already in the pipeline. Measure time to fill from the approval date, with the same definitions as in reliable time-to-fill reporting, and show the time before approval separately. Report actual counts from your own records, show how many vacancies sit behind each figure, and do not quote general benchmarks that you cannot verify.
Where artificial intelligence may help — and where it must not
Artificial intelligence may point out vacancies with candidates linked but no recorded approval, compare the scope in an approval email with the scope in the vacancy and flag differences, or draft a short reminder to the person whose approval is pending. It must stay secondary. Artificial intelligence does not replace recruiters, does not mark a vacancy as approved, does not decide whether a role is needed, and does not tell candidates that a role is on hold. The Applicant Tracking System holds the recorded decision; people make it.
A practical week to get started
- Add an approval status, approver, basis, scope and approval date to the vacancy record
- Agree per segment what counts as approval, and per client who may give it
- Block publishing, candidate linking and outreach for vacancies that are not approved
- Go through today’s open vacancies and record the approval for each one, or move it back to draft where nobody can find it
- Start measuring time to fill from the approval date for every new vacancy
Expect a few roles to move back to draft in the first week. That is not lost work; it is work you no longer do for nothing.
Approve first, then recruit
A vacancy is only as real as the decision behind it. Record who approved it, on what basis, for what scope and when, before the first candidate is sourced, and keep every later change on the record. Then explore the product or book a demo — we walk through vacancy approval and sourcing gates in BoldATS for your segment.