What Is Time To Fill?

What is time to fill?

Time-to-fill is a commonly used metric in human resource (HR) management to evaluate the efficiency of the hiring process by tracking how long it takes to fill an open position from the date a job requisition is approved to the date an offer is accepted by a candidate. Time to fill is based on the number of calendar days for this process. It is a different metric than time to hire, which is based on a timeline from when a candidate applies for a position to when the candidate accepts the offer.

Why is it important to track time to fill?

Time to fill is a very important productivity metric for HR. Open positions cost organizations money in terms of productivity because work is not getting done. This may impact both the open position as well as other positions in the organization if employees are picking up slack for the open position.

Tracking time to fill is also important because, especially in a tight hiring market, the organization that makes an offer first is likely the organization to land the candidate. Being efficient in the hiring process can help companies boost the odds of landing top talent. 

Use these metrics to evaluate the hiring process for specific positions, by department or position, or for the company as a whole.

Tracking time to fill effectively

As with any metric, when measuring time to fill it’s important to have a shared understanding of exactly how you will be tracking so that everyone is on the same page. 

NCI is an example of a company that began tracking time to fill starting with consensus on how the metric would be tracked. As they worked to shorten this timeframe, they were able to go from 46 to 29 days for an average time to fill. Using this metric, they’ve found, also provides a shared frame of reference to quantify what’s actually happening during the hiring process rather than responding to hiring managers’ concerns that the process “takes too long,” for instance. 

Tracking time to fill will give your organization, its hiring managers, and HR professionals an easy-to-use metric for managing the efficiency of the hiring process and taking steps to streamline the process to save time, and money, and boost the quality of candidates.

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