Practical use cases
- Recording how long a specific role took to fill from approval to accepted offer.
- Tracking time to fill consistently across roles and teams.
- Informing hiring forecasts and recruitment planning timelines.
Calculator
Works entirely in your browser — nothing is sent, saved or tracked. Results update as you type.
How it works
The formula is:
Days between the job opening and the accepted offer
Define the start point once and apply it consistently — most teams use the date the requisition was approved/opened. The end point is the date the candidate accepted the offer (not their start date).
Worked example: If a role opened on the 1st and the offer was accepted on the 43rd day after, time to fill is 42 days.
For the full background — what it measures, why it matters and how to read it — see the time to fill guide.
How to read the result
Time to fill describes the role and the market more than the candidate; it starts before anyone applies. It overlaps with — but is not the same as — time to hire, which starts when a specific candidate enters the pipeline.
Compare like with like: a senior or specialised role and a high-volume role naturally behave differently. Trends for the same role type over time are usually more useful than one cross-role average.
Common mistakes
- Using the candidate start date instead of the offer-acceptance date as the end point.
- Changing the start definition between roles (sometimes requisition approval, sometimes first advert).
- Averaging very different role types together so the number hides more than it shows.
- Confusing time to fill with time to hire — they start at different points.
Free, printable planning resources
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