> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.staffer.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Close a role cleanly

> What to do when a job is filled or paused: record the hire, keep the near-misses, tell everyone else, and close the position.

Filling a role doesn't close it. Staffer keeps the job open, the listing live and the candidates where they are until you close it. Closing well takes a few minutes and saves a lot of unanswered emails.

## 1. Record the hire

Open the candidate you hired and use **Candidate actions** → **Move to stage…** → **Hired**. Moving someone to **Hired** closes their remaining process steps. It doesn't close the job and it doesn't message anyone.

If there's a welcome or offer message to send, Staffer suggests it as the candidate's next action. See [Change a candidate's stage](/companies/candidate-state).

## 2. Keep the people you'd hire next time

Before you reject anyone, save the strong candidates you didn't pick to the talent pool: **Candidate actions** → **Save to talent pool**. You'll find them later under **Talent pool** in the sidebar, across all jobs. See [Talent pool](/companies/talent-pool).

## 3. Close the position

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the Close position dialog">
    In the job, click the **…** menu at the top right, then **Close position**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Decide what happens to everyone still in the pipeline">
    If candidates are still active, the dialog says how many. Closing leaves them as they are, unless you tick the box to reject them (it reads **Reject the 3 remaining candidates**, with your number).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Write the rejection message">
    Tick **Send them a rejection message** to email each rejected candidate. The message starts from your workspace's default rejection template. Placeholders such as the candidate's first name and the job title are filled in for each person.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Close">
    Click **Close position**.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Warning>
  Rejecting from this dialog applies to everyone who is **In review**, **In progress** or at **Offer**, and the message goes to all of them. Move anyone you want to treat differently before you close.
</Warning>

Candidates on the shortlist who were never promoted aren't rejected or messaged. They never heard from you in the first place.

## What closing does

* The listing stops taking applications. It stays visible on your career page and the job board, with applications turned off, for the grace period set in **Settings** → **Workspace** → **Preferences** → **Closed listing grace period** (30 days by default, 0 removes it straight away). Then it drops off.
* Nobody new can be added to the job. Anyone who tries sees "This position is closed and takes no new candidates."
* The brief is locked until you reopen the job.

## If you need it again

Click **Reopen position** in the same menu. The job opens again straight away, with no confirmation. The listing comes back as an unpublished draft, so you publish it again when you're ready. Candidates rejected when you closed stay rejected. See [Close, reopen or delete a job](/companies/close-reopen-delete).

## Close or delete?

Close a job you've finished with. Delete only jobs that shouldn't exist, such as a test or a duplicate. Deleting hides the job everywhere in the app and unpublishes its listing. Once someone has applied, or a candidate has moved past **In review**, only admins and owners can delete it.

## Afterwards

Interview recordings, transcripts and evaluations are deleted six months after each application closes. Your organization's retention rules may flag other old candidate data for deletion too. See [Retention rules](/admin/retention).