Glossary
What is time to hire?
Time to hire is the number of days between a candidate entering the process and accepting an offer; time to fill measures from the role being opened to the offer being accepted.
The two are often confused. Time to fill includes the days a role sits open before anyone applies, so it is the number that reflects how long a team is short-handed. Time to hire measures how fast the process itself moves once there are candidates in it.
Both are driven mainly by how many interview stages there are, how quickly feedback comes back, and whether decision makers are available. A slow process loses the best candidates to faster competitors regardless of how good the role is.
How can a startup reduce time to hire for engineers?
Fix the number of stages before the search starts, block interviewer time in advance, return feedback within a day, and make offers the same week as the final interview. Technical screening before the first interview removes the slowest stage, which is filtering.