Time To Fill | Meaning and Definition

What is Time To Fill?

It refers to the number of days the process of filling a position in an enterprise took from the date when a job was posted initially to the date of the position’s acceptance by a new hire. This crucial HR metric is usually calculated as the average days when divided by the gross number of positions filled. The time to Fill metric is considered by organizations for externally hired jobs, as different procedures with various performance ranges entail the process of internal recruitment. 

Why measure Time to Fill?

Measuring it poses several benefits, such as:

•   It provides a snappy reference point on how much time the process of filling a position would take.
•   It emerges as a KPI (key performance indicator) for various hiring functions.
•   It acts as a remarkable predicting variable and worthy input metric for different talent strategies. 

When calculating it, one must regard various metrics and organization’s and job position’s requirements. FOr instance, the process of hiring a senior data analyst will take longer than it takes to recruit a salesperson. Hence, the average time needed for hiring looks different for different departments and positions. The best practice suggests estimating this metric against similar departments and jobs, as it represents more precisely how long it takes to fill a vacancy in the organization.

 The time to fill can be calculated:

•   On a quarterly basis: Here, it is the sum of time involved in filling the positions in a quarter or the number of vacancies filled in a quarter. 
•   On an annual basis: Here, it is the sum of time involved in filling a position for a duration of a year or the number of vacancies filled in a year.