---
id: I-001
type: intervention
title: "Auto-Close Stale Job Requisitions"
lang: en
registry: 2026.08.2
canonical: https://hoba.work/interventions/I-001
json: https://hoba.work/api/v1/interventions/I-001.json
---

# Auto-Close Stale Job Requisitions

Implement automated ATS policy to expire public listings when headcount authorization lapses or no interview activity occurs within 60 days.

> **On the canonical path** — [Published with its terms on the page](https://hoba.work/process#WF-003-published)
>
> The posting states the compensation band, the location rules, the stages the process has and roughly how long each takes. It comes down when the search ends.
>
> This entry is one of the things that holds that commitment up.

## At a glance

- Actor: employer policy
- Scope: organizational
- Cost: low
- Evidence: supported

## What it looks like

Composite excerpts, written to be typical rather than copied. No particular message, company or person is quoted here.

**The rule, and what it did** — *reconstruction*

```
  config  Policy: expire_listing when headcount_authorisation lapses OR no interview activity for 45 days
> 02:00  req #4471 — last interview activity 47 days ago → listing withdrawn from careers page and aggregators
  02:01  Candidates with applications in flight: 84 — each notified that the search has closed, with the date.
```

*What to notice* The same batch job that produces silent bulk rejections can be pointed at the listing instead of the candidate. The cost is a configuration line.

## From each side

The same entry from inside each position that meets it: what reaches them, what it means from there, and what happens next given what they control.

### Employer policy

- **What reaches them:** A configuration line, and the count of open requisitions it would withdraw this quarter, on the same cycle where headcount is reviewed.
- **What it means from there:** What is being spent is optionality: a listing that closes on a timer cannot be held open while funding is decided, and reopening it runs the approval chain again.
- **What happens next:** Sets the interval and what counts as activity, and decides whether a lapsed authorisation withdraws the listing or only flags it for review.

### Recruiter

- **What reaches them:** Listings dropping off the careers page overnight, and the batch notification going to every application still in flight against them.
- **What it means from there:** A requisition closed on a timer is counted as closed rather than filled, and the pipeline built against it is gone if the search restarts.
- **What happens next:** Sends the closure notice with the date on it, and asks for the requisition to be reopened where the manager still intends to hire.

### Candidate

- **What reaches them:** A message naming the requisition, the date the search closed, and the reason the listing came down.
- **What it means from there:** The process ended for a reason that has nothing to do with the application; there is nothing further to wait for and nothing left to infer.
- **What happens next:** Closes the file, stops holding capacity for a possible next round, and reapplies if the role is posted again.

### ATS vendor

- **What reaches them:** A customer enabling an expiry rule pointed at the listing, on the same scheduler that already expires unreviewed applications.
- **What it means from there:** This is an existing batch capability with a different target rather than new machinery; whether it runs is a customer setting.
- **What happens next:** Ships the rule as a configurable option, and its default value decides how many customers ever run it.

## Expected effects

- Reduce stale public listings and candidate application waste
- Reduce ambiguous post-application silence

## What to measure

- `stale_requisition_rate`
- `closure_latency_days`

## Related entries

- targets — [M-006](https://hoba.work/mechanisms/M-006) — Stale or Orphaned Job Requisition
- targets — [B-001](https://hoba.work/barriers/B-001) — Application Ingestion
- targets — [P-002](https://hoba.work/patterns/P-002) — Closed-Then-Reposted Requisition Motif
- targets — [L-003](https://hoba.work/loops/L-003) — Inflated-Requirements Search Saturation Loop

---

hoba — a public, versioned atlas of hiring obstacles. Content CC BY-SA 4.0. This document is generated from the registry; the canonical page is linked above.