Time to Hire:
Definition, Comparison & Benefits

Time-to-hire is a recruiting metric that measures the number of days between when a candidate enters the recruitment pipeline and when they accept a job offer. Specifically, it tracks the period from the moment a candidate applies, is sourced, or is referred until the day the candidate accepts the offer.

This metric provides organizations with insight into the efficiency of their hiring process and how quickly they can move candidates through the recruitment funnel. Time-to-hire focuses on the candidate's experience of the hiring process, measuring speed from the candidate's perspective rather than from the organization's internal perspective.

Related terms: time-to-fill, recruiting metrics, candidate experience, recruitment efficiency

Time-to-hire reveals 3 critical insights about your recruitment process:

• Recruiting efficiency measures the speed at which candidates are processed, assessed, interviewed, and accepted for jobs
• Candidate experience indicates whether candidates perceive your process as respectful of their time
• Competitive positioning shows whether you can capture top talent before competitors do

Research indicates that top talent is typically off the market within 10 days of starting their job search. If your average time-to-hire is high, you risk losing highly sought-after candidates who accept offers elsewhere because your process is too slow. In fact, 57% of job seekers lose interest if the recruitment process takes too long, and more than half of candidates want an answer within two weeks of the interview date.

A low time-to-hire means your recruitment process is more efficient, allowing you to capture great talent faster. Additionally, 75% of applicants equate the hiring process with how a company values its employees, meaning prolonged hiring timelines damage your employer brand and candidate perception.

The formula for calculating time-to-hire is straightforward. For an individual candidate, the calculation is:

Time-to-hire = Offer acceptance date - Date candidate applied or was sourced

For example, if a candidate applied for a role on October 1 and accepted an offer on October 20, your time-to-hire for that candidate is 19 days. To measure average time-to-hire across multiple hires, use this modified formula:

Average time-to-hire = Sum of all individual time-to-hire values / Total number of hires

If you hired three candidates with time-to-hire values of 14 days, 15 days, and 15 days, your calculation would be: (14 + 15 + 15) / 3 = 14.67 days average time-to-hire.

To measure this accurately, you need to track both the date candidates enter your system via application, sourcing, or referral and the date they accept the offer. Time-to-hire generally includes all calendar days, including weekends and holidays.

The average time-to-hire varies by industry and role, but general benchmarks indicate:

• Overall average: 20 to 30 days across industries
• SHRM research: 24 days between screening candidates and job offer acceptance
• General hiring process: 41 days on average to complete the entire hiring process
• Good time-to-hire range: 25 to 30 days is considered optimal

Industry-specific benchmarks show significant variation. Energy and defense sectors average 67+ days, professional services average 47 days, consumer banking averages 43-45 days, investment banking ranges from 21-60 days, and tech and media companies average approximately 20 days.

Specialized or technical positions typically take longer to fill because of a smaller pool of qualified candidates. When evaluating your time-to-hire, compare your results with competitors in your specific industry rather than relying solely on general averages.

Time-to-hire is often compared to 3 related recruiting metrics:

Time-to-hire vs. time-to-fill

Time-to-hire measures the days between the candidate applying and accepting the job offer, focusing on the candidate's experience of the hiring process. Time-to-fill measures the days between the approval of a job requisition and the candidate accepting the job offer, focusing on the company's policies and steps for seeking, choosing, interviewing, and hiring new candidates.

For example, if a job requisition is approved on January 1, a candidate applies on January 21, and accepts an offer on January 31, the time-to-fill is 30 days while the time-to-hire is 10 days. Time-to-fill captures the time for the entire hiring process, while time-to-hire captures only the time a qualified candidate spends in the recruitment funnel.

Time-to-hire vs. cost-per-hire

Time-to-hire is a temporal efficiency metric, while cost-per-hire is a financial metric that calculates internal and external recruiting costs divided by the number of hires. Both metrics are among the most important and frequently used recruitment metrics, along with quality-of-hire. Together, these three metrics provide a comprehensive view of recruitment effectiveness.

Time-to-hire vs. quality-of-hire

Time-to-hire measures process speed, while quality-of-hire measures the value new employees bring to a company. These metrics must be balanced because rushing through the hiring process for the sake of speed risks hiring the wrong person or fostering an uncomfortable hiring experience. The goal is not to race through the hiring process but to balance efficiency with a valuable candidate experience.

Optimizing time-to-hire delivers 3 key benefits to organizations:

• Recruitment efficiency improves, allowing hiring teams to fill roles faster and reducing time and effort spent on open positions
• Offer acceptance rates increase because candidates are less likely to accept competing offers from other companies
• Costs decrease because unfilled positions are expensive, costing companies up to $5,160 per week or over $27,500 for a 41-day hiring cycle

A more efficient time-to-hire frees up resources and allows recruiters to focus on other tasks like building talent pipelines or improving employer branding for future openings. By reducing time-to-hire, organizations set themselves up to secure top talent before candidates are off the market.

Additionally, optimizing time-to-hire provides a better experience for candidates, which gives companies a competitive edge in the battle for top talent. When your recruitment process moves quickly without cutting important corners, you demonstrate that you value candidates' time and operate an efficient, well-organized hiring function.

Organizations can implement 5 proven strategies to reduce time-to-hire:

1. Remove unnecessary steps by analyzing your hiring process for redundant interviews or delays in hiring manager feedback
2. Leverage technology and automation using applicant tracking systems to handle routine tasks like screening resumes, sending automated follow-ups, and scheduling interviews
3. Build a talent pipeline by maintaining relationships with previous candidates, passive candidates, and referrals so you have people in mind when positions open
4. Modernize your interview process by adopting asynchronous interview tools or automated scheduling to eliminate time spent coordinating calendars
5. Outsource background checks to specialized vendors so recruiters can focus on other important tasks while verification runs in the background

Tools like interview scorecards can speed up decision-making by giving hiring teams a structured way to evaluate candidates properly. A proactive approach to recruiting means you are not starting from scratch when a role opens, which reduces the time spent on sourcing and attracting candidates.

When looking at your time-to-hire, conduct benchmarking against industry standards to determine where your company stands. You can also use internal benchmarks by comparing your current time-to-hire with historical data to identify whether your process is improving or worsening over time.

Balancing speed with quality requires strategic implementation of efficiency improvements without cutting corners. The goal is not to race through the hiring process for the sake of speed but to balance efficiency with a valuable candidate experience.

Follow a structured recruitment plan with clear timelines for each stage, from job posting to offer. Map out the recruitment process with realistic timeframes, assign roles and responsibilities with accountability, and implement a robust communication plan with automated candidate updates.

Track time to complete specific sub-stages by segmenting time-to-hire into clearly defined stages such as time to review, time to schedule, time to offer, and time to accept. This segmentation helps you zero in on problem areas without guesswork.

Use pre-employment candidate assessments and tests to identify the best, most suitable candidates quickly. Effective pre-selection tools help you focus on fewer, better-qualified applicants rather than spending time on candidates who would not pass the assessment round anyway.

The top 3 reasons candidates drop out of hiring processes reveal common bottlenecks:

• Prospective employers do not respect candidates' time during interviews and appointments, such as showing up late, repeated rescheduling, or running overtime
• The recruiting process is too long, causing candidates to lose interest or accept other offers
• Salary does not meet candidate expectations, leading to declined offers after extended processes

Additional bottlenecks include lengthy background check processes that traditionally take two to five days or longer, unnecessary interview rounds that extend the timeline, slow decision-making that leads to missed opportunities, and delays in internal approval processes for budget or position approvals.

Research shows that 25% of businesses spend 10 hours every week just scheduling interviews, not including the time spent conducting them. This scheduling burden represents a significant bottleneck that can be addressed through automation or asynchronous interview formats.

Tracking time-to-hire should occur at multiple levels to gain comprehensive insights. Calculate the average time-to-hire metric across departments to determine if any particular team is bringing down your average. If one department struggles to fill roles, you may need to evaluate the positions themselves, including whether job postings accurately reflect roles and highlight company benefits.

Segment your analysis by role and department because some jobs are easier to fill, and segmentation helps you identify your more challenging roles. Looking into time-to-hire for individual candidates can be useful for identifying cases with unusually long recruitment cycles to analyze specific issues.

Break down your time-to-hire analysis by stages to analyze the average time-to-hire metric for individual stages in addition to the overall company metric. By segmenting by stages, you can determine how long it takes for an applicant to travel from one step to the next, allowing you to fine-tune your hiring process one stage at a time.