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Please note: This article currently reflects the Selection Manager experience and will be updated on 6/9 to incorporate the new candidate pipeline being rolled out to customers. To review the candidate pipeline and how to process candidates through the stages, click here.

Hireology’s Job Approvals feature helps your organization maintain control over the hiring process by ensuring that jobs go through the necessary reviews before posting. Whether you need a simple one-step signoff or a multi-step workflow with sequential approvals, you can tailor the process to your organization’s needs.

In this article we will cover:

• Job Approval Access for Users
• Using Custom Fields for Approvals
• Creating an Approval Process

• Allow Child Accounts to Create Their Own Workflows

• Rules on Assigning Workflows to Jobs 

• Submitting a Job for Approval
• Taking Action on Job Requests
• Tracking Statuses
• Notifications & Activity Tracking
• Related Topics

Job Approval Access for Users

In order to create, edit, or manage job approval workflows or submit a job for approval, users must be granted the "Can manage approval settings" permission or be the true account owner at the Ultimate Parent organization.

What this permission allows:

• Access to the Job Settings > Job Approvals tab
• Ability to create and edit approval workflows
• Add or remove Approvers and Publishers (users or groups)
• Turn job approvals on or off

Who can assign this permission:

• Only true account owners can grant the "Can manage approval settings" permission to other users.

* True account owners automatically have this permission and will not see it listed in their own permissions profile.

How to assign the permission:

To grant “Can manage approvals settings”, click on 'Management' and then 'Manage Users' from the left navigation.

On the 'Users' page, select 'Edit Permissions'.

Scroll to the Individual Permission section and check the box for "Can manage approval settings". Your selection will be automatically saved

This permission can only be assigned to individual users and users must reside in the Ultimate Parent account.

Approving & Publishing Jobs: When adding individual users to a workflow, eligible Approvers and Publishers need the following permissions:

• Edit hiring steps
• View all jobs
• Open new jobs
• Edit existing jobs
• View compensation info
   

Using Custom Fields for Approvals

Organizations can include Custom Fields on the Job Details Form to give Approvers and Publishers more context when reviewing a job. These fields are configurable at your Ultimate Parent Account and are passed down to all children locations. They may include items like sign-on bonus, budget amount, or other job-specific details.

Adding these fields ensures decision-makers have the information they need upfront and in one place.

Learn how to set up and manage Custom Fields →

Creating an Approval Process

NOTE: Only users with the "Can manage approval settings" permission can access and configure approval workflows.

Click on 'Management' and then Job Settings from the left navigation (visible only to users with appropriate permissions)

Navigate to the Job Approvals tab.

If it is your first time creating an approval process, Click Get Started to begin. Otherwise you will see the option to 'Manage Workflows'. Select 'View' to preview the workflow and 'Edit' to make changes. 

Department  Step (Required): The first step in creating a workflow is selecting the departments that will use it.

• Departments can be used in multiple workflows at a time, however, prioritization rules may apply. See Rules on Assigning Workflows to Jobs below.
• You may select one or multiple departments
• A "Select All" option is available to apply to workflow across all departments 

Submitter Step (Required):  Control where the "Submit" button appears in the job creation flow. You can choose any of the following:

• Job Details (default)
   
• Job Description
   
• Hiring Steps
   

Submitters complete steps up to the configured point, then send the job to Approvers or Publishers for review.

Approver Steps (Optional, Multi-Step Available): Add up to 5 sequential approval steps. Each step can include specific users or user groups. Only one approval or decline action per step is required to move forward when reviewing a submitted job.

Adding Groups to Approval Workflows: In any step of a workflow (Approver or Publisher), you can assign a Group instead of individual users.

To add a Group: In the workflow modal, click into the search bar on the desired step. Toggle to Groups and select a Group from the list.

Groups can be added alongside specific users, and each step can contain a mix of both.

* If a Group has no active members, approval requests for that step will be routed to the account owner by default.

Need help configuring a group? Learn how to set up and manage Groups →

To create a simple workflow without approver steps, click Next on Step 1 without assigning users or groups. 

Publisher Step (Required): Once your workflow is enabled, only users or groups added to this step can publish jobs. At least one Publisher must be assigned. Use the search bar to add specific users or toggle to groups. Groups must have members assigned to be valid.

Inheritance Step (Required):For organizations with parent/child account structures, you’ll configure how the workflow applies across locations.

Options include:

•  
  •  
    • Apply to this location – Enforces the workflow at the current account.
    • Pass this workflow down to all child locations – Extends the workflow down your entire hierarchy.
      • Required – The workflow must be used at child locations.
      • Optional – Child accounts can toggle the workflow on or off for their local use.

Before saving: Ensure all steps have assigned users or groups, confirm the order of Approver steps,  give your workflow a unique name (max 100 characters), select 'Save Workflow'.

 

Once saved, toggle Approvals on to activate the workflow for your organization. 

Follow the prompts to enable job approvals 

Allow Child Accounts to Create Their Own Workflows

From the Ultimate Parent Account, you can enable an option to “Allow child accounts to create their own workflows.”

• When enabled, this permission only passes down one level in the hierarchy.
• If you want multiple levels to have workflow creation access (e.g., Corporate → Regional → Store Level), each parent level must explicitly allow it.
• If the permission is not granted, child accounts can still view and use inherited workflows, but they cannot create their own.

Example Scenario

Let’s say your organizational hierarchy looks like this:

• Corporate (Ultimate Parent)
  → Region A (Sub-Parent)
  → Location 1 (Child)

If Corporate enables “Allow child accounts to create their own workflows”:

• Region A can now create its own workflows.
• Location 1 cannot—unless Region A also enables the same setting for its children.

If neither Corporate nor Region A enables this permission:

• Location 1 will only see inherited workflows, with no ability to create or manage its own.

How to Enable Workflow Creation for Child Accounts

Go to Management > Job Settings > Job Approvals from the Ultimate Parent account. At the top of the page, you’ll see “Child locations cannot create their own workflows.” Click “Allow.”

(Optional) If you’re a sub-parent and want to pass it down further, repeat the same step from your account.

Once enabled, users at child accounts with "Can manage approval settings" within child accounts will see a “My Workflows” section and can:

• Create new workflows
• Configure departments, approvers, and publishers
• Manage workflows independently

Rules on Assigning Workflows to Jobs 

When both sub-parent and child accounts can create workflows, it’s possible for the same department to appear in more than one workflow across the hierarchy.

• A single organization can now use the same department on more than one workflow. Example: If a parent account creates a workflow for the Service department, a child account may also create a workflow for Service—but only one per child account.
   

Workflow prioritization still follows these inheritance rules:

• If a parent workflow is optional, the child’s workflow takes priority.
   
• If a parent workflow is required, the parent’s workflow takes priority.
   
• In all cases, the workflow must be active to be considered.
   

If more than one workflow still qualifies for a job after these rules are applied, the workflow with the earliest creation date (created_at) will be used.

Submitting a Job for Approval

When Approvals are active, the job creation flow includes a Submit Job button based on the Submitter step settings. 

Submit Options: Depending on how your workflow is configured, submitters will see the Submit Job button at one of the following steps:

• Job Details
• Job Description
• Hiring Steps

Upon submission, the job’s status becomes Pending - Submitted. The job is routed to Approvers or Publishers depending on the configured workflow.

Taking Action on Job Requests

Approvals can be completed in multiple areas for convenience:

Action Center: The “Submitted for Approval” tile will show any jobs that are awaiting action and not yet published.  

Email Notifications: Approvers and Publishers receive notifications with a link to review the job. Emails reflect the current step in the approval process.

Jobs Page: Jobs in Pending (submitted, approved or declined) status will display an Approvals Tracker (e.g., 2/5 steps complete). Click View Request to review and take action.

Applicant Tab: When viewing a job in the applicants tab, a View Request button will appear if the job is in an active approval process.

Action Buttons For Approvers:

When it's your turn in the workflow, you’ll see action buttons when viewing the job request :

Approve — with optional comment field

Decline — comment required to explain why you’re declining.

Only one Approver action is needed to complete each step.

For Publishers:

When all steps are approved or a step is declined:

• Review & Publish — Edit and post the job
• Reject & Close — Close the job and provide a required comment
• Place on Hold — Leave the job in pending status with optional comments. Only visible on the Job Status & Visibility page and the status dropdown when on a specific job.

Tracking Statuses 

Jobs with active workflows include enhanced status tracking:

Pending Status

• Submitted – Waiting for Approver/Publisher action
• Approved – Waiting for Publisher action
• On Hold – Request paused
• Declined – Waiting for final Publisher decision (i.e. reject & close)
• Draft – Not yet submitted

Closed Status

• Rejected – Job was closed by Publisher
   

Status changes appear in:

• Jobs Page filters
• Job Activity History
• Email notifications

Notifications & Activity Tracking

All key actions trigger notifications and are logged in the job’s activity feed.

Notifications include:

• Submission success (to Submitters and Hiring Team)
• Step-by-step approval progress (to Approvers)
• Job rejection or hold (to Submitters)
• Job publication (to all involved)

Activity Feed entries:

• Track approval steps completed
• Show who approved/declined with comments
• Visible to all users with access to the job

Job Comments

To keep all job discussions in one place, you can now use @ mentions to tag individual users or entire groups directly in job comments. This helps your team stay aligned, creates a clear audit log of conversations, and reduces the need to communicate about jobs outside the platform.

You can add comments (with @ mentions) from:

• The Selection Manager details tab
   
• The Job Request page or Job Request drawer
• The Action Center drawer

Learn how to use Job Comments →

Related Topics

• Opening a Job
• Editing an Open Job