Time to Hire

Time to hire is a frequently used recruiting metric which helps to define the time needed to take a selected candidate through all the hiring stages. By knowing the time to hire for a particular position, it’s possible to determine the effectiveness of an IT recruitment process and ameliorate it if needed. In fact, this is quite a complex metric, as there are lots of factors that may influence the average time of recruiting an applicant:

• Internal: communication speed, usage of recruitment technologies, effectiveness of the decision-making process, attractiveness of the EVP (employer value proposition), etc.

• External: size of the local talent pool, position type (broad or narrow specialization), market competition, etc.

It’s not a rare occasion that ‘time to hire’ and ‘time to fill’ are used as synonyms. However, these recruiting metrics are quite dissimilar. The latter estimates the time spent on the entire hiring process, including all offer rejections, while the former measures the time needed to get a candidate to an accepted offer. To differentiate them, try using the following questions:

• How long does it take to hire an employee, from the day they send their CV to the day they accept the offer? (time to hire);
• How long does the whole IT recruitment process last for, from approving a new vacancy to making a job offer? (time to fill).

Average time to hire 

The average time to hire constitutes 24 days. However, this number can vary dramatically depending on the industry, company, and country. For instance, the average time to hire a software developer in the USA is 26 days, while in European countries it’s 32 days.  It’s essential to keep track of your time to hire because it indicates the effectiveness of your tech recruitment process. If the indicator is much higher than the market standard, it’s a sign to rethink some of your hiring approaches, as you may be missing an opportunity to get the best talents in your team.

How can you measure time to hire?

To identify the time needed to hire a particular IT specialist, you need to know the date a candidate applied for a position and the date this candidate accepted the job offer, and then count the days between these two dates.

For instance, say, you are an IT executive looking for a software team lead. One of the candidates applied for this position on the 3rd of December. They were screened, invited to the job interview, and received an offer. The candidate accepted the job offer on the 27th of December. Thus, the time to hire a team lead in your company is 24 days (27 – 3 = 24). 

How can you reduce the time to hire?

If your average time to hire exceeds the benchmark, it’s a red flag to improve your IT recruitment process. Consider the following aspects:

1. Monitor the phases of your recruitment funnel;
2. Give preference to highly qualified candidates;
3. Make use of modern recruitment software (ATS, one-way video interviewing software, chatbots, automated interview scheduling, skills testing tools, etc);
4. Keep your recruitment team well-trained.