Time to Hire Calculator

Calculate time to hire and time to fill across your recruiting funnel, identify the slowest stage, and estimate the cost of vacancy while the role stays open.

⏳ People Ops📐 Time to hire = days from application to offer acceptance💼 Business
Days: requisition open to first application
Days: application to screen
Days: screen to interview
Days: interview to offer
Days: offer to acceptance
Days: acceptance to start date
Daily cost of vacancy
Please enter valid values.

Formula & Reference

VariableSymbolFormulaUnits
Time to Hire Calculator—Time to hire = days from application to offer acceptancedays

Step-by-Step Examples

Example 1
Standard Process

5 open, 6 to screen, 9 to interview, 11 to offer, 4 to accept, 28 to start, vacancy cost 340/day.

  • Time to hire = 6 + 9 + 11 + 4 = 30 days
  • Time to fill = 5 + 30 = 35 days
  • Total to start = 35 + 28 = 63 days
  • Vacancy cost = 340 × 63 = 21,420
  • Slowest stage: interview to offer at 11 days
✓ 30 days to hire, 21,420 vacancy cost
Example 2
Interview Bottleneck

3 open, 4 to screen, 6 to interview, 24 to offer, 3 to accept.

  • Time to hire = 4 + 6 + 24 + 3 = 37 days
  • Interview to offer is 65% of the total
  • Decision delay, not sourcing, is the constraint
✓ 37 days — decision speed is the bottleneck
Example 3
Fast Process

2 open, 3 to screen, 5 to interview, 5 to offer, 2 to accept, 14 to start.

  • Time to hire = 15 days
  • Time to fill = 17 days
  • Total to start = 31 days
  • Half the vacancy cost of the standard process
✓ 15 days to hire

Real-World Applications

🎯
Candidate Experience
Slow processes lose strong candidates to faster-moving competitors, particularly in tight talent markets.
💰
Vacancy Cost
Every day a role stays open carries lost productivity, which quantifies the value of a faster process.
🔍
Bottleneck Identification
Stage-level timing usually reveals that internal decision delay, not sourcing, is the constraint.
📊
Recruiting Benchmarks
Time to hire and time to fill are the standard operational metrics for recruiting function performance.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

⚠️
Confusing time to hire with time to fill

Time to hire measures from application to acceptance. Time to fill starts when the requisition opens and includes sourcing time. Mixing them makes benchmarking meaningless.

⚠️
Optimising sourcing when decisions are the delay

In most slow processes the bottleneck is interview scheduling and decision-making, not candidate supply. Adding sourcing capacity does not fix that.

⚠️
Ignoring the notice period

Acceptance is not a start date. Standard notice periods add weeks that must be planned around, especially for senior roles.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between time to hire and time to fill? ▾
Time to hire runs from candidate application to offer acceptance. Time to fill runs from requisition approval to acceptance, so it includes sourcing time.
What is a good time to hire? ▾
It varies by role and seniority. Many organisations target under 30 days for individual contributor roles, with senior and specialised positions taking considerably longer.
Why does a slow process lose candidates? ▾
Strong candidates typically have multiple processes running. Whoever moves fastest with a competitive offer often wins, regardless of which role is objectively better.
How do I calculate cost of vacancy? ▾
Estimate the daily revenue or productivity the role would generate, or use the loaded daily cost of covering the work elsewhere, then multiply by days open.
Which stage is usually slowest? ▾
Interview to offer is frequently the longest, driven by scheduling difficulty and internal decision-making rather than anything candidate-related.

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