Time to Hire Calculator
Time to Hire Calculator
Model the full hiring timeline — sourcing, screening, interviews, offer, notice and ramp — across local, agency, freelance and Second Talent. See exactly where the days disappear.
Used to estimate the cost of an empty seat
Time from kickoff to productive engineer
Channel comparison
Local in-house hiring
0 days
Recruitment agency
0 days
Freelance / marketplace
0 days
Second Talent
0 days
Your Second Talent timeline, stage by stage
Sourcing
0
days
Screening
0
days
Interviews
0
days
Offer
0
days
Notice
0
days
Ramp
0
days
Shortlist ready
—
via Second Talent
Signed offer
—
from kickoff
Days saved
—
vs local hiring
Cost of delay avoided
—
empty-seat productivity
We help companies save $103,000+ per hire
44 days
Industry median days-to-hire for senior engineers (SHRM)
62 days
US tech roles, req to signed offer (LinkedIn)
100+ days
US tech roles, req to first productive commit
14 days
Second Talent median, vetted profile to first commit
The 6 stages of a technical hire
Every channel goes through the same stages — the difference is where the days disappear. The calculator above models each one.
Sourcing
Building a pool of qualified candidates who will actually take the call. The biggest hidden cost for in-house teams — often 3+ weeks of recruiter time just to seed a funnel.
Screening
Recruiter calls, CV review, take-home tests, and initial fit checks. Typically 60–80% of candidates fall out here, so volume matters more than speed.
Interviews
Technical loops, pair programming, systems design, and team fit. Senior and staff hires add 1–2 extra rounds; niche roles (ML, SRE) add a domain-expert round.
Offer
Reference checks, compensation negotiation, and approvals. Fast teams send the offer within 48 hours of the final round — slow teams lose candidates to competing offers.
Notice period
The gap between signed offer and day one. US: often 2 weeks. UK / Europe: 1–3 months. Contractors: usually none.
Ramp to productive
Code review authority, first shipped feature, and confident ownership. Second Talent engineers ramp in ~10 days because they are pre-vetted against your exact stack.
What actually stretches the timeline
These are the levers the calculator above adjusts. Pulling any of them adds or removes days from the total.
Seniority
Staff and principal hires require 2 extra interview rounds plus scrutiny from tech leadership. Add 30–40% to screening + interviews vs a senior IC.
Role scarcity
ML / AI, staff SRE, and niche platform roles have a 3–5x smaller candidate pool. Sourcing alone can stretch from 2 weeks to 2 months.
Hiring region
UK / EU has 1–3 month statutory notice periods. US notice is usually 2 weeks. Asia-Pacific Second Talent hires often start in under 2 weeks.
Urgency
A fast-track mandate compresses sourcing + screening by ~20% — but cannot shorten notice or ramp. Relaxed timelines let you keep a higher bar.
Headcount
Hiring 3+ roles in parallel adds panel fatigue and calendar friction. Each additional hire after the first adds roughly 3% to interview + offer time.
Interview load
5+ round loops filter better but drop out more candidates. Teams that land under 4 rounds hire ~25% faster with equal retention outcomes.
Time-to-hire questions, answered
How is "time to hire" measured here?
What makes Second Talent so much faster than traditional channels?
How accurate are these numbers?
What is the "cost of delay avoided"?
Does the calculator account for candidates falling through?
Can you actually produce a shortlist in 24 hours?
What this calculator helps you understand
Full stage-by-stage breakdown across six hiring stages, from sourcing to productive engineer
Side-by-side comparison of local in-house, agency, freelance and Second Talent timelines
How seniority, role scarcity, region and urgency each stretch or compress your timeline
Dollar cost of every day an engineering seat stays empty, at your salary band
Get a real quote in 24 hours.
Send us your role and budget and our team will reply with a tailored estimate plus 6 vetted candidates.
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