Recruiting takes up valuable money and man hours. From wording the ad to picking the final candidate, you need to know how long you can expect a recruitment drive to take.
There's plenty of evidence to suggest that the length of time a recruitment drive takes is increasing, with the average now standing at just over a month. That's just a rule of thumb. The true length of time taken will very much depend on the complexity of the role, whether you're hiring internally or externally and the quality of the candidates who apply.
Recruiters want the process to be as quick as possible, because time is money and having a vacancy can slow operations down. That said, they can sometimes go the opposite way. Fear of a bad hire can make recruiters cautious, sometimes excessively so, and that can lead to a recruitment drive dragging on for up to a whopping four or five months.
For lower and middle tier roles, recruiters generally spend just under five days screening CVs, followed by just under five days interviewing potentials. Just over five days are usually spent checking references, and just over four carrying out skills tests with those who made it past the interview stage.
On average, around four and half days are taken up with discussions to select the number one choice and getting in touch with them. A further four days are usually taken to negotiate and confirm a job with the chosen candidate.
It's worth remembering that this is just a very rough guide and all sorts of things can delay the process, from your first choice declining to finding no candidates who really fit the bill. Take this as a starting point but plan out your own timetable, factoring in potential obstacles.
The average time is one month
The more complex the role, the longer it takes
Expect and factor in delays
