---
id: P-002
type: pattern
title: "Closed-Then-Reposted Requisition Motif"
lang: en
registry: 2026.08.2
canonical: https://hoba.work/patterns/P-002
json: https://hoba.work/api/v1/patterns/P-002.json
---

# Closed-Then-Reposted Requisition Motif

A candidate completes multiple late-stage interviews, is rejected with a generic message, and sees the identical role reposted weeks later.

> **What made this ordinary** — [Rates up, payroll repriced](https://hoba.work/eras#E-003) (2022–2023)

## At a glance

- Evidence: supported

## Trigger rule

Candidate observes role closure/rejection followed by public reopening of materially similar role listing within 60 days.

## What it looks like

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

**The sequence, as recorded** · one requisition, eleven weeks — *reconstruction*

```
  week 0  Applied — req #4471
  week 2  Recruiter screen — passed
  week 4  Technical panel — passed
  week 5  Final round with hiring manager — completed
> week 6  Rejected — generic template, no specifics given
> week 11  req #4471 visible on the careers page again, text unchanged
```

*What to notice* Late-stage progress, a contentless rejection, and the same requisition number back on the board. The sequence is the observation; its cause is not in the sequence.

**The question that splits the branches** — *reconstruction*

```
  week 11 Candidate  I saw req #4471 listed again. Is this a new opening on the team, or the same one?
> week 12 Recruiter  Same requisition. We restarted the search with a revised profile after the first round of interviews.
```

*What to notice* A revised profile, an automated refresh and a genuinely new headcount are three different mechanisms with one appearance. This is the question that tells them apart.

## 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.

### Candidate

- **What reaches them:** A generic rejection after a final round, and the same requisition number back on the careers page weeks later with the text unchanged.
- **What it means from there:** Either the profile was revised, or the platform refreshed the listing, or the headcount is new — and the sequence on its own does not separate them.
- **What happens next:** Asks whether the listing is the same requisition, and records the dates and the answer before deciding whether to reapply.

### Recruiter

- **What reaches them:** The requisition record moving from closed back to open with a revised profile, and a rejection template that is the same for every candidate at that stage.
- **What it means from there:** This is one continuous search that changed shape, not two openings.
- **What happens next:** Sends the standard wording, since a specific reason given at the close of one round can be quoted back at the next, and states the restart when a candidate asks directly.

### Hiring manager

- **What reaches them:** Two finalists at the end of a loop, and the work the role exists to absorb still uncovered.
- **What it means from there:** A loop that ended without a hire is information about the profile, and the profile is the part of this the manager controls.
- **What happens next:** Rewrites the requirements and restarts the search on the same requisition, because a new requisition would go back through funding.

### ATS vendor

- **What reaches them:** A requisition whose status returned to open, and a scheduled refresh that pushes open listings back out to aggregators with a current date.
- **What it means from there:** An open requisition is a listing to distribute; the refresh reads the status field and not the history behind it.
- **What happens next:** Republishes under the original identifier and stamps the posting with today's date, which is the default behaviour for any open requisition.

## What this pattern establishes

- The requisition requirements or target profile were not satisfied by the interviewed pool, or search criteria changed mid-process.

## What this observation does NOT establish

- Does not establish that the original job listing was fake or a ghost job.
- Does not establish that candidate was intentionally misled.

## Related entries

- [A-003](https://hoba.work/artifacts/A-003) — Position closed after final interview without hire
- [A-004](https://hoba.work/artifacts/A-004) — Materially similar role reposted shortly after rejection
- [M-002](https://hoba.work/mechanisms/M-002) — Stronger Competing Candidate in Final Cohort
- [M-006](https://hoba.work/mechanisms/M-006) — Stale or Orphaned Job Requisition
- [M-010](https://hoba.work/mechanisms/M-010) — Hidden Evaluation Rubric or Undisclosed Priority
- [M-013](https://hoba.work/mechanisms/M-013) — Mid-Process Role Requirement Redefinition

---

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