Definition
Time-to-fill measures the number of calendar days between the official opening of a position (requisition approval or ad publication) and the chosen candidate accepting the offer. It includes writing, posting and sourcing, unlike time-to-hire, which only starts when the chosen candidate enters the process.
Formula
Time-to-fill = offer acceptance date - position opening date.
Across several roles, prefer the median over the average: it holds up better against outliers.
Illustrative example: an accounting technician role opened on March 2 is accepted on April 14, which is 43 days. If the last five roles took 43, 28, 61, 35 and 90 days, the median is 43 days and the average 51.4 days, pulled up by a single role.
Key takeaway
A short time-to-fill is not a goal on its own: read it with quality of hire. Agree on a single start date for the whole team and segment by job family and region, otherwise the numbers are not comparable. For the other metrics to track with it, see the recruitment KPIs guide.