What is Time to Fill?

By Abhishek Kathpal | Updated 26 July, 2022

Regardless of the sector, size, or nature of the position, time to fill is one of the most important recruiting criteria for every firm. What does the phrase "time to fill" mean exactly? Can you compute the difference between this and the time to hire? What strategies do you do at your company to shorten the hiring process?

What is Time to Fill

Time to Fill meaning and definition

Time to Fill counts how many days pass between the date a job requisition is placed and the day a new hire accepts the position before a position is filled. When the total number of hires or positions filled is divided, this metric is frequently reported as an average number of days.

Since internal hiring calls for distinct procedures with a variety of performance, organizations often track Time to Fill for positions filled by external candidates.

How does Time to Fill work

For each position filled within the measurement period, it is measured by counting the number of calendar days between the time the job request was made (RR) and the time the candidate accepted the offer (AD).

The method entails adding up the entire number of calendar days during which all open positions were filled, dividing the total by the number of positions, and obtaining the average.

The Benefit of Measuring the Time to Fill

Understand that your Time to Fill has various benefits:

  1. It is an easy way to estimate how long it would take to fill a post.

  2. It serves as a running score for your recruiting efforts or a key performance indicator (KPI).

  3. It is a great forecasting variable and an important measurement for talent initiatives.

How can time to fill be reduced?

Think about the following advice to reduce your time to fill:

  1. The hiring manager and the recruiter should work to eliminate common bottlenecks in the hiring process. Make sure there are specific goals, frequent check-ins, and clear deliverables.

  2. Automate every tedious step in your hiring process by using recruitment technologies. Other procedures, like checking references and signing onboarding paperwork, can also be digitalized.

  3. Find former applicants for vacant positions again. There would be no need to screen candidates again; it would just be a continuation of their hiring process, saving you time and money.

About the Author

Abhishek Kathpal

Abhi is the co-founder at Longlist.io. Funded by US based OnDeck, Longlist is currently enabling 50+ businesses to increase their candidate and client reach outs, automating the workflow across stages.