Time to Hire
Last updated: Sep 02, 2025
What is Time to Hire?
Time to Hire measures the duration between when a selected candidate first enters your hiring pipeline and when they accept your job offer. This metric evaluates your organisation's speed and efficiency in moving preferred candidates through the hiring process, serving as a critical indicator of HR execution capability, competitive market positioning, and talent acquisition effectiveness. Unlike Time to Fill, which measures the complete recruitment cycle from job posting to offer acceptance, Time to Hire specifically focuses on how quickly you can secure top talent once they've been identified.
Time to Hire Formula
How to calculate Time to Hire
Sarah applies for a Customer Success Manager position on March 1st. After progressing through multiple interview rounds alongside other candidates, she's identified as the preferred candidate and receives an offer on March 8th, which she accepts on March 10th. Time to Hire = March 10th - March 1st = 9 days For aggregate reporting: If your organisation hired 12 people with individual hiring times of 9, 15, 7, 12, 18, 6, 14, 11, 8, 20, 13, and 16 days respectively, your average Time to Hire would be: Time to Hire = (9+15+7+12+18+6+14+11+8+20+13+16) / 12 = 12.4 days
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What is a good Time to Hire benchmark?
Technology Sector: 8-12 days Financial Services: 12-18 days Healthcare: 15-25 days Manufacturing: 10-16 days Professional Services: 10-14 days
How to visualize Time to Hire?
Use a summary chart to visualize your Time to Hire data and compare it to a previous time period.
Time to Hire visualization example
Summary Chart
Time to Hire
Chart
Measuring Time to HireMore about Time to Hire
Company Size Considerations:
Startups & Small Companies (1-50 employees):
- Target: 5-10 days
- Leverage: Quick decision-making, direct access to founders/senior leadership
- Challenges: Limited HR resources, competing priorities
- Best Practice: Implement streamlined 2-3 stage processes with clear decision criteria
Mid-Size Companies (51-500 employees):
- Target: 8-15 days
- Leverage: Established processes with flexibility for customisation
- Challenges: Balancing thoroughness with speed, coordinating multiple stakeholders
- Best Practice: Create role-specific hiring playbooks with pre-defined timelines
Large Enterprises (500+ employees):
- Target: 10-20 days
- Leverage: Dedicated recruitment teams, sophisticated assessment tools
- Challenges: Complex approval processes, multiple stakeholder coordination
- Best Practice: Implement parallel processing and delegate decision-making authority
Role-Specific Benchmarks:
- Individual Contributor Roles: 7-12 days
- Management Positions: 12-18 days
- Senior Leadership: 15-25 days
- Specialized Technical Roles: 10-20 days (depending on skill scarcity)
- Contract/Temporary Positions: 3-7 days
Competitive Market Dynamics:
In highly competitive markets (tech hubs like Toronto, Vancouver, San Fransisco), reducing Time to Hire becomes critical as top candidates often receive multiple offers within days. Consider implementing "fast-track" processes for priority roles, pre-approved salary bands, and empowered hiring managers who can make immediate decisions.
Geographic Variations:
Different markets exhibit varying talent mobility patterns. Major urban centres typically require faster hiring cycles, while smaller markets may allow slightly longer timeframes. Remote hiring has compressed these differences but increased overall competition.
Pre-Pipeline Preparation:
- Maintain updated job descriptions and competency frameworks
- Pre-approve salary ranges and benefit packages
- Train hiring managers on efficient interviewing techniques
- Establish clear decision-making hierarchies and approval processes
During-Pipeline Excellence:
- Implement concurrent reference checking and background screening
- Schedule multiple interview rounds within compressed timeframes
- Use technology for scheduling coordination and candidate communication
- Maintain consistent candidate touchpoints to prevent drop-off
Post-Identification Acceleration:
- Prepare offer letters in advance with variable fields
- Negotiate pre-approved flexibility ranges for compensation discussions
- Assign dedicated points of contact for finalist candidates
- Create urgency through transparent timeline communication
Metric Limitations & Considerations:
Time to Hire doesn't capture quality of hire, candidate experience satisfaction, or long-term retention outcomes. It should be balanced against other metrics like hiring manager satisfaction, new hire performance ratings, and first-year retention rates. Additionally, this metric can inadvertently encourage rushed decisions that compromise thoroughness in candidate evaluation.
Technology & Resource Impact:
Organisations with robust ATS systems, dedicated recruitment coordinators, and automated workflow processes typically achieve 20-30% faster hiring times. Investment in these capabilities should be weighed against hiring volume and strategic importance of rapid talent acquisition.
Time to Hire Frequently Asked Questions
How should we handle Time to Hire measurement when candidates are sourced through different channels (referrals, job boards, recruiters)?
The measurement approach should remain consistent regardless of sourcing channel, with pipeline entry defined as the first point of formal consideration (application submission, referral processing, or recruiter presentation). However, segmenting your Time to Hire data by source channel provides valuable insights into channel efficiency and candidate quality correlation. Employee referrals typically show shorter hiring times due to pre-vetting and cultural alignment, while external recruiter candidates might have longer cycles due to additional coordination requirements. Consider tracking these variations separately to identify optimization opportunities and inform your talent acquisition strategy allocation.
What's the optimal balance between speed and thoroughness, and how do we prevent Time to Hire pressure from compromising hiring quality?
The key is establishing role-specific evaluation frameworks that maintain rigour while eliminating redundancy. For most positions, a well-designed 3-stage process (initial screening, competency-based interview, and cultural fit assessment) can be completed within 7-10 days without sacrificing quality. Implement parallel processing where possible - conduct reference checks while scheduling final interviews, prepare offer documentation during the decision phase, and use structured interview guides to accelerate evaluation. Quality safeguards include mandatory post-hire performance reviews at 90 days, tracking correlation between Time to Hire and first-year performance ratings, and establishing minimum evaluation criteria that cannot be bypassed regardless of time pressure.
How should Time to Hire metrics differ for internal versus external candidates, and what unique considerations apply to internal mobility?
Internal candidates typically require adjusted measurement approaches since they're already "in the pipeline" as employees. Best practice involves measuring from formal application or expression of interest to offer acceptance, but expect shorter timeframes (3-7 days) due to existing relationships, available performance data, and cultural fit certainty. However, internal hiring often involves additional considerations like current role backfill planning, transition timing coordination, and potentially more complex stakeholder discussions about career progression. Create separate benchmarks for internal mobility, factor in notice periods and transition planning, and consider measuring "time to transition" rather than traditional "time to hire" to account for the unique dynamics of internal candidate movement.