Time to Hire
Time to Hire is the number of calendar days between posting a job opening and signing an employment contract with the successful candidate. For Swiss SMEs, this typically ranges from 15 to 45 days depending on role complexity and Pensum. Tracking this metric helps you identify bottlenecks in your recruitment process and improve candidate experience—candidates expect a clear timeline, and delays often mean losing top talent to competitors.
Time to Hire measures the calendar span from when you publish a job posting until you and the new employee sign an employment contract. Unlike Time to Fill (which includes onboarding), Time to Hire focuses purely on the hiring decision.
For Swiss employers, this metric matters because recruitment speed signals organizational competence to candidates. In competitive cantons like Zurich and Aargau, a 60-day hiring process may cost you qualified applicants who accept offers elsewhere.
When Time to Hire Comes Up
You encounter Time to Hire when you need to benchmark your recruitment efficiency or diagnose why positions stay open. HR software, recruitment consultants, and peer conversations all reference this metric.
It becomes especially relevant if you are scaling: hiring multiple roles across different Pensum levels (50%, 80%, 100%) often reveals process delays. Similarly, recurring high turnover forces you to revisit recruitment speed.
- Comparing your hiring speed to industry norms for your role type
- Identifying which stage of your process (screening, interviews, reference checks) consumes the most time
- Planning recruitment budgets and consultant timelines
- Attracting passive candidates by proving you move quickly
- Detecting when approval chains or legal reviews are slowing you down
- Adjusting job descriptions or salary bands based on market feedback
Your Obligations and Best Practices
Swiss employment law does not mandate a specific hiring timeframe. However, the revised Data Protection Act (revDSG) requires you to handle candidate data fairly and store it only as long as necessary—lengthy hiring processes must have business justification.
Beyond compliance, candidates expect transparency: inform them of your typical timeline upfront, communicate progress, and provide timely rejection decisions. Ghosting or unexplained delays damage your employer brand.
- Publish realistic timelines in your job posting or recruitment communication
- Set internal deadlines for each hiring stage (screening, first interview, second interview, decision)
- Respect cantonal norms: some HR advisers in Zurich expect final decisions within 21–30 days
- Document and delete candidate data promptly after hiring decisions (revDSG compliance)
- Communicate rejection decisions within days, not weeks
- Schedule interviews in clusters to avoid scattered timelines
The Most Common Mistake
The most frequent error is ignoring internal approval bottlenecks. SME founders often delay final sign-off because they are juggling multiple roles, or HR and management have no clear decision authority. This stretches Time to Hire by 2–3 weeks without candidate or market knowledge.
The second mistake is waiting passively for the 'perfect' candidate instead of deciding on a realistic timeline. Defining a decision date before you post—and sticking to it—prevents endless screening loops and keeps candidates engaged.
- Assign one person (founder, office manager, or hiring lead) final decision authority before posting
- Set a hard deadline to make an offer: 'We will decide by Friday' is better than open-ended
- Don't screen additional candidates after you have found a strong match—you're only prolonging the process
- Batch your interviews instead of spreading them across weeks
- Use written feedback forms so decision-making doesn't depend on memory
- If salary or Pensum negotiation stalls, unblock it within 48 hours or return to the next candidate
Frequently asked questions
- What is a typical Time to Hire for a Swiss SME?
- For administrative or technical roles in Switzerland, 20–35 days is common. Specialized positions (engineers, managers) may take 35–50 days. If your process exceeds 60 days regularly, interview your approval chain and candidate communication.
- Does Time to Hire include the probation period?
- No. Time to Hire ends when you sign the employment contract. Probation (typically 1–3 months in Switzerland) is separate. The metric you want for full onboarding integration is 'Time to Productivity' or 'Time to Full Deployment'.
- How does revDSG affect Time to Hire data I collect?
- revDSG requires you to keep candidate records only as long as necessary for hiring or legal obligation (typically 5 years for payroll disputes). If your Time to Hire tracking creates unnecessary data silos, you may be in breach. Use recruitment software with built-in data retention policies.
General information for Swiss employers, not legal advice. Have a lawyer confirm anything with legal consequences.