Formula
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Date applied or sourced | The day the candidate entered your pipeline: an application on the careers page, a CV from a consultant, or a referral submitted by an employee. |
| Offer acceptance date | The day the candidate accepted the offer, in writing or online. |
| Number of hires | Candidates who accepted offers in the period being measured. |
Worked example
A SaaS company in Pune hired five people in August 2026. The days from application to offer acceptance were 18 for a QA engineer, 25 for a backend developer, 31 for a product manager, 22 for a support lead and 29 for a sales executive.
- Days per hire: 18, 25, 31, 22 and 29
- Total = 18 + 25 + 31 + 22 + 29 = 125 days
- Average time to hire = 125 / 5 = 25 days
- Median = 25 days, the middle value of 18, 22, 25, 29 and 31
Time to hire versus time to fill
Time to hire starts when the candidate enters the process. Time to fill starts earlier, when the requisition is approved, and includes the days spent writing the job description, advertising and waiting for applications. Time to hire therefore measures the speed of your selection process, while time to fill measures the whole vacancy. Because long notice periods are common in India, many companies also track time to join, from acceptance to the first working day.
Finding the slow stage
An average hides where the days go. Break time to hire into stages and compare each stage with the previous quarter. In many companies the lost days are waiting time, not assessment time: a CV that sits unread for a week, an interviewer who cannot find a free hour, or an offer letter waiting for one more signature. Fixing the slowest stage usually saves more days than squeezing every stage a little.
- Application to first screening.
- Screening to first interview.
- Final interview to offer.
- Offer to acceptance.
Pitfalls in the measure
Starting the clock at the first interview instead of the application date makes the process look faster than candidates experience it. Mixing very different roles distorts averages, since a senior engineer and a warehouse associate should not share one figure. Show the median beside the average when a few hard roles take much longer, and report by job family so each figure is compared with its own history.
How to improve it
- Screen new applications within 48 hours and decline clearly unsuitable candidates quickly.
- Block interview slots in hiring managers' calendars every week while roles are open.
- Let candidates pick from offered interview slots instead of exchanging emails.
- Agree the salary range and approvals before interviews start, so an offer can go out the same day.
- Limit interview rounds to what the role needs and combine panels where possible.
Tracking it in ZeniaHR
ZeniaHR's Recruitment Hub moves each candidate across the pipeline board, New, Screening, Interview, Offer and Joined, with screening notes, interviews where candidates pick from offered slots, and offers with an online accept or decline page. Recruitment analytics shows the funnel, open requisitions and pending offers. Time to hire is not a ready figure, so take the application and acceptance dates for each hire and calculate.
See it on your own data
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Book a free demoSee pricingFrequently asked questions
How do you calculate time to hire?
For each hire, count the days from the date the candidate applied or was sourced to the date they accepted the offer. Add the days for all hires in the period and divide by the number of hires. For example, five hires taking 125 days in total give an average time to hire of 25 days.
What is the difference between time to hire and time to fill?
Time to hire runs from the candidate's application to their acceptance, so it measures how fast you select someone. Time to fill runs from the approval of the requisition to acceptance, so it also includes the time spent advertising and attracting candidates. For the same role, time to fill is usually the longer of the two.
Should notice period be included in time to hire?
No. Time to hire ends at offer acceptance. The notice period the candidate serves with their current employer is tracked separately as time to join, from acceptance to the first working day. Keeping them apart shows whether delays come from your own process or from the notice period, which needs a different fix.