Although some people use the terms interchangeably, “time to fill” is different from “time to hire”: The former is the average number of days it takes to have someone working in a role; the latter is how fast a candidate moves through the hiring process and ends at the offer stage, labor experts previously told HR Dive.
How do you calculate time to fill?
Rick Hermanns, CEO of global staffing company HireQuest, previously told HR Dive he has a few rules for calculating this metric:
- Define when the clock starts and ends when measuring time to fill. For example, the clock may start when the job posting goes live or when HR receives a job requisition form. The clock ends when the candidate begins work.
- Calculate the time to fill for a single position by counting the number of workdays from the start point to the endpoint in the process.
- Add up time to fill for each position and divide by the number of positions filled — and that calculates the average time to fill overall.
Trends around time to hire
Time-to-hire rates have increased in recent years, per a report by human capital management company The Josh Bersin Co. and talent firm AMS. On average, it takes 44 days to hire for a job opening.
The data reflects that some vacancies can be filled quickly and others not so much. For example, energy and defense employers have a 67-day time-to-hire rate for specialists, on average.
Overall, data suggested that hiring in most regions would slow and become more difficult.
Bottom line
The reason that these metrics matter is two-fold: One, HR is tasked with meeting hiring needs as efficiently as possible and two, candidate experience is increasingly top of mind for talent. A 2024 Gallup report suggested that an “exceptional” or “very good” interview process led potential hires to accept job offers.
