What it means
Time to hire is a recruiting metric that measures how long it takes to move a candidate from a defined starting point to hire. The start point may be application date, recruiter contact, screening completion, or candidate entry into an active requisition. The end point is usually accepted offer or hire date. In recruiting software, time-to-hire reporting depends heavily on consistent stage definitions and timestamps.
Why buyers should care
Time to hire helps teams understand process speed, candidate experience, recruiter workload, and hiring-manager responsiveness. It can be misleading if definitions vary across roles or if paused searches, reopened requisitions, and internal candidates are not handled consistently. Buyers should evaluate whether software explains start and end dates, stage timestamps, exclusions, filters, and drill-down from summary metrics to candidate records.
Evaluation checks
Review stage history, timestamp quality, requisition status logic, paused role handling, source segmentation, reporting exports, and dashboard definitions. Ask vendors how time to hire differs from time to fill and how the system handles reopened candidates. Strong time-to-hire reporting makes bottlenecks visible without flattening role context.
This glossary entry is buyer-oriented guidance, not legal, compliance, or financial advice.