# Personnel Request and Job Approval: Time-to-Hire starts before the vacancy is advertised > The requisition process as an underestimated time sink: reporting a need, reviewing, approving, advertising. How a digital workflow saves weeks and integrates workforce planning. URL: https://techport.ai/en/hr-beratung/recruiting/personalanforderung --- 1. [HR Consulting](/en/hr-beratung)/ 2. [Recruiting](/en/hr-beratung/recruiting)/ 3. Personnel Request and Approval [Recruiting](/en/hr-beratung/recruiting) # Personnel Request and Approval By Redaktion techport.ai, HR-Beratung · Last updated on 21 August 2026 A manager needs a new employee. They send an email to HR. HR asks for the job description. The manager sends the one from four years ago. HR asks controlling if the position is within budget. Controlling asks the departmental head. The departmental head is on holiday. Three weeks later, the position is advertised, and the time-to-hire officially begins. The personnel request is the invisible start of recruitment. It is rarely measured because it occurs before measurement starts. And it is the part of the process that is easiest to accelerate because it consists almost entirely of coordination. ## How to spot it * No one can say how many open personnel requisitions there are currently and where they are held up. * Jobs are advertised that were not foreseen in the workforce plan, and others that were foreseen never materialise. * The job description for the advertisement is reinvented every time. * Approvals happen via email, phone, or informal conversations. In case of doubt, no one knows anymore who approved what. ## Why this happens The personnel request involves four parties with four systems: the manager with their email, HR with applicant management, controlling with the budget, and senior management with their calendar. As long as the process does not run in a single system, it is a relay race without a baton. Each handover costs days. ## Our approach 1. **Measure the process.** We analyse the past twelve months: how long from the initial need to advertising, where the waiting times were, how often follow-ups were required. 2. **Define approval logic.** Which requests need which approval? A backfill within the plan requires fewer signatures than a new role outside the budget. We define three to four paths, not one for everything. 3. **Set up a workflow.** The request becomes a form in the HR or applicant management system, pre-filled with the job description, level, and salary band from the job architecture. Approvals run in the system with reminders and deputisation rules. 4. **Link to planning.** Every request is checked against the workforce plan. This shows whether recruitment is implementing the plan or deviating from it. ## What you gain * The time from need to advertisement decreases from weeks to days, without anyone needing to work faster. * Every advertisement has an up-to-date job description, a salary band, and documented approval. * Senior management can see at any time which positions are open, why, and since when. ## From our projects When tracing the path from needs assessment to advertising, waiting time for approval in many companies often exceeds the actual processing time and is not captured by any key performance indicator. The most effective single step, in our experience, is differentiating by pathways: a planned backfill does not require three signatures. This alone often halves the lead time. ## Frequently asked questions Does the works council (Betriebsrat) have to be involved in the personnel request? Not for the requirement itself. The works council must be involved in the advertisement process if it has requested an internal advertisement, and also in the hiring process. A digital workflow that generates usage data may be subject to co-determination. We recommend including it in the works agreement for the HR system. What if we don't have an applicant tracking system? Then the personnel requisition is a good opportunity to introduce one. The workflow is included in almost every system. We help with selection and setup. ## Let's talk about Personnel Request and Approval In a thirty-minute first call we clarify where your biggest lever is and whether we are the right partner for it. [Book a first call](/en/kontakt)[Our consulting](/en/so-funktionierts) ## Further reading [Strategy and PlanningStrategic Workforce PlanningStrategic Workforce Planning for SMEs: Plan skills instead of positions, calculate scenarios, factor in demographics and the shortage of skilled labour. Approach, benefits and figures.](/en/hr-beratung/strategie-und-planung/personalplanung)[RecruitingSourcing Channels and Talent PoolsWhich recruiting channels truly deliver, how a talent pool is built and maintained in compliance with DSGVO (General Data Protection Regulation), why employee referrals often go unused, and how recruitment agencies are managed.](/en/hr-beratung/recruiting/sourcing-und-talentpools)[HR Data and SystemsSelecting and implementing HR softwareHow to successfully select an HR system: derive requirements from processes, make vendors comparable, involve the works council and data protection, plan migration, and secure usage.](/en/hr-beratung/hr-daten-und-systeme/hris-auswahl)[KnowledgeHR MetricsDefinitions and formulas that read the same across the company.](/en/hr-beratung/kennzahlen)[KnowledgeHR Maturity CheckKnow where your people function stands in ten minutes.](/en/hr-beratung/reifegrad-check) Back to the field [Recruiting](/en/hr-beratung/recruiting) ## Sources * [Section 93 of the Betriebsverfassungsgesetz (Works Constitution Act), Advertising of Vacancies](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/betrvg/__93.html) * [Section 99 of the Betriebsverfassungsgesetz (Works Constitution Act), Co-determination in Individual Personnel Matters](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/betrvg/__99.html) Rt Written by [Redaktion techport.ai](/ueber-uns), HR-Beratung Mehr als 15 Jahre Erfahrung in HR-Prozessen und HR-Systemen, Einführung von HR-Software in mittelständischen Unternehmen, Verhandlung von Betriebsvereinbarungen zu IT-Systemen. This page reflects the position as at the date shown and does not constitute legal advice. For specific questions we work together with your legal advisers. [More about us](/en/ueber-uns) More from techport.ai [ Software Custom process software for mid-sized companies. ](/en/loesungen)[ IT consulting Strategy, architecture, operations and security. ](/en/it-beratung)[ IT maturity check Ten minutes to a clear position. ](/en/it-beratung/reifegrad-check)[ HR maturity check 24 statements, a result per field. ](/en/hr-beratung/reifegrad-check)[ Funding BAFA grant plus more than 50 programmes for delivery. ](/en/foerderung)[ Process in practice How workflows become reliable software. ](/en/sop-praxis)[ Data and AI Analysis, forecasts and assistance systems. ](/en/daten-ki)[ About us The people behind techport.ai. ](/en/ueber-uns)