Time to Fill vs Time to Hire in the Recruitment Process
By Marta Gongos Time to fill vs time to hire—though often interchanged, these two metrics measure different aspects of the hiring process: the period from the job posting until job acceptance, versus the period from the candidate’s application up to the time they accept the job.
Despite their differences, both highlight areas for improvement in the hiring process. Knowing these data points allows hiring managers to fill vacant positions as quickly and efficiently as possible. In this article, we’ll differentiate time to hire vs time to fill, explain how to compute their values, and provide tips to shorten your average time for recruitment.
What Is Time to Hire?
Time to hire refers to the period between when a candidate applies for a job position and when the candidate accepts the job offer. The process starts when an applicant submits a resume to an employer and ends when they become a new hire.
This key HR metric measures two factors: a company’s recruiting efficiency and candidate experience.
- Recruiting Efficiency: Refers to the speed of processing, assessment, interview, and job acceptance; a long time to hire means your recruiting efficiency needs improvement in certain phases.
- Candidate Experience: Indicates the candidate’s satisfaction in the entire recruitment process; the faster the application ends, the better the candidate experience. After all, no applicant wants to wait long for a callback—or worse, be ghosted!
What’s the Average Time to Hire?
The average time to hire differs from company to company and industry to industry, but generally, the hiring process takes 44 days. This all-time high score reveals businesses have issues with their recruitment process.
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How to Compute Time to Hire
To get the time to hire, count the number of days between the date an applicant submitted their resume and the date they accepted the job. If you want to get the average time to hire, do the same for other new hires, then divide everything by the total number of positions that were taken by the applicants.
It should look like this:
Time to Hire = (number of days between Candidate A’s application date and official hire date) + (number of days between Candidate B’s application date and official hire date) + (number of days between Candidate C’s application date and official hire date) / total number of positions hired
What Is Time to Fill?
Time to fill is a longer process that starts from the approval of a job requisition and ends on the day a new hire fills a position. The hiring manager can choose to start either from the job requisition approval date or the job posting date.
It measures how long it takes to replace a departed employee. Hiring managers can use this HR metric to determine when to start recruiting while also implementing backup plans to ensure smooth operations during recruitment.
Time to fill also helps resolve recruitment inefficiencies head-on. Since this metric encompasses an entire process, recruiters can nitpick different areas and observe what causes bottlenecks. Furthermore, managing time to fill could reduce costs related to unfilled positions, including overtime payment and job advertisement fees.
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How to Compute for Time to Fill
Calculate the time to fill metric by counting the number of calendar days between the approval of the job requisition or job posting and the day a candidate accepts a job offer or the first day of onboarding.
To calculate the average, add all the time to fill values of each applicant then divide by the number of roles filled. It should look like this:
Time to Fill = (Candidate A’s time to fill) + (Candidate B’s time to fill) + (Candidate C’s time to fill)/3
Read more: How to Make People Want to Work for You
Ways to Reduce Time to Hire vs Time to Fill Metrics
Long time to hire and time to fill rates cost your company productive working hours. Here’s a list of †ips we’ve prepared to help you hire talents more quickly:
- Hire a recruitment agency to shorten the hiring process.
- Always communicate with applicants and update them about their status.
- Implement AI tools to assist with screening and interviewing candidates efficiently.
- Collect and analyze data after every recruitment cycle to discover room for improvement.
Ad Culture Can Help You Hasten the Hiring Process
The main difference between time to fill vs time to hire is their starting date. Using both metrics could help reveal inefficiencies in your hiring process, making way for workable adjustments.
If you’re struggling to look for high-quality candidates, look to Toronto’s leading recruitment agency, Ad Culture. With our pool of impressive applicants looking for companies to work for, we can help you find the right talent in a short time.
Enjoy peace of mind knowing you’ll have top picks for a shortened recruitment process! Connect with us today and let’s find the ideal candidates for your company.
