Time to Fill

Time to fill is a recruiting metric which is commonly used by headhunters to measure the period of time needed to conduct a talent acquisition process from start to finish, i.e. from new position opening to job offer acceptance. This metric is especially useful when it comes to positions which usually take longer to fill due to a talent shortage or high competition. Even though the average time to fill a position approximates 36 days, this figure varies depending on the role.

Time to fill plays an integral part in any business, as it helps to monitor the speed & quality of an IT recruitment process. By obtaining and analyzing these data, it’s possible to:

• Elevate the hiring process 

Time to fill is a potent way to identify some problematic areas that slow down the entire IT recruitment process. With its help, you can streamline the talent acquisition pipeline to avoid the chances of understaffing, identify the most effective sources for finding and reaching out to potential candidates, and improve the overall applicant experience.

• Reduce recruitment time 

If you normally take way longer to find and hire the right candidate than the established market standard, it’s better to revise each recruitment stage to reduce the time to fill. For instance, you can decrease the time spent on screening by using automated ATS, improve your communication speed, or create an employee referral program. If you don’t want to deal with these issues, you can delegate tech recruitment to a professional hiring company that has proven experience in filling software development roles.

• Establish hiring KPI 

Time to fill a particular role is essential not only for recruiters but company managers as well; since it covers each of the recruiting phases, this KPI will help your company define the expected results and assess a recruiter’s job performance. 

It’s not uncommon to confuse ‘time to fill’ with ‘time to hire.’ Even though both metrics are often used to assess the efficiency of the recruitment process, they measure different hiring aspects. While the former helps to optimize tech recruitment, the latter centers around the candidate experience.

How can you measure time to fill?

1. First determine your starting and end point. Basically, there are two options to choose from. You can either select the day of position approval or vacancy publishing as your starting point; and when it comes to the endpoint, you can decide between the day a candidate accepts the offer or their first onboarding day in your IT company. It's essential to stick to one option of these points, so that you get congruent data to compare with relevant benchmarks. 
2. Then you should count the number of days your team spent to hire a new tech professional. It’s better to avoid including positions that are ongoing or permanently open, as they can increase the average number of days.
3. When filling one and the same position several times, you just calculate an average time to fill this role, using the formula below:

(1time to fill + 2time to fill + 3time to fill…) ÷ Total Hires = Average Time to Fill