People and HR
Time to hire
The average number of days between a candidate entering the hiring process and accepting a job offer.
- People and HR
Definition
The average number of days between a candidate entering the hiring process and accepting a job offer. It is related to, but shorter than, time to fill, which starts when the vacancy is opened.
For your role
Choose your role to see what this term means in your work.
Why it matters
Slow hiring loses good candidates to faster employers and leaves work undone.
Where it is used
Recruitment dashboards and hiring plans. Used by recruiters, talent acquisition leads, HR business partners and hiring managers.
How to calculate it
Time to hire = sum of days from candidate identified (or applied) to offer accepted ÷ number of hires
Time to fill = sum of days from vacancy opened to offer accepted ÷ number of hires
Worked example
ILLUSTRATION. Raket Parts B.V. made 22 hires from January to September 2025 (real count). Its data holds no application dates. If those 22 hires took 704 days in total from application to offer acceptance, time to hire would be 704 / 22 = 32 days.
Raket Parts B.V. is a fictional company created for Insyt.
Definitions vary. The start point differs (job advertised, application, first contact) and some count working days, others calendar days. Check how your organisation calculates it.