Hiring glossary
What is time to hire?
Time to hire is the number of days between a candidate entering your hiring process, by applying or being approached, and that candidate accepting your offer.
It measures how quickly your process moves a person from first contact to a yes, so it reflects both process speed and candidate experience. It is calculated per hire and then averaged. The long gaps usually sit between stages: applications waiting for review, interviews waiting for calendars, or a debrief that takes a week to arrange.
Time to hire is often confused with time to fill. Time to fill starts earlier, when the requisition opens, so it also includes the time before the eventual hire applied. A role can have a short time to hire and a long time to fill if the right person took weeks to find.
Example
A candidate applies on 3 March, completes an assessment on 5 March, interviews on 12 and 19 March and accepts an offer on 24 March. Time to hire for that hire is 21 days.
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