What is Time-to-Fill?

Time-to-fill measures the elapsed calendar days from when a job requisition is formally approved and opened to when a candidate accepts the offer for that position. It is one of the most fundamental talent acquisition metrics because it directly reflects recruiting process efficiency, labor market competitiveness, and the organization's ability to maintain operational capacity.

Average time-to-fill varies by industry, role complexity, and geography. According to SHRM benchmarks, the overall average is approximately 36-44 days, but highly specialized technical roles or senior leadership positions can take 60-90+ days. Roles in tight labor markets with scarce talent naturally take longer to fill, while positions with abundant candidate pools may be filled much faster.

Long time-to-fill creates significant organizational costs: existing team members bear increased workloads, projects stall, customer service suffers, and revenue opportunities may be missed. It can also damage the candidate experience — top candidates who face drawn-out processes often accept competing offers. Organizations reduce time-to-fill by maintaining active talent pipelines, streamlining interview processes, using structured evaluation criteria to accelerate decision-making, and empowering hiring managers to move quickly on strong candidates. Like cost-per-hire, time-to-fill should be balanced against quality metrics to avoid speed at the expense of hiring standards.

Every open role represents lost productivity and increased burden on existing team members. Reducing time-to-fill improves organizational agility, candidate experience, and team morale. It also serves as a diagnostic tool — unusually long time-to-fill for specific roles may indicate compensation misalignment, unrealistic requirements, or process bottlenecks. For HR leaders, tracking and improving time-to-fill demonstrates operational efficiency and supports business continuity.