Quick Wins for Reducing Time-to-Fill in Your Recruitment Process 

April 3, 2025

Proven tactics to shorten hiring timelines and secure better hires 

Time-to-fill remains one of talent acquisition’s most scrutinized metrics—and for good reason. Open roles strain teams, stall projects, and sap recruiter bandwidth. Market dynamics vary by industry and role, but one truth holds: slow, complex hiring steps drive candidate drop-off—whether from competing processes, decision fatigue, or a poor experience. The goal is speed and quality. The good news? You don’t need a full overhaul. Small, targeted changes can shorten timelines while keeping your hiring bar high. Here are quick wins you can implement today.

1. Audit and streamline your job requisition process 

Delays often start before a role even hits the job boards. If your requisition process involves multiple layers of approvals, now is the time to reassess. Ask yourself: 

  • Can we standardize or automate parts of this process? 
  • Who truly needs to be involved in approval? 
  • Are hiring managers trained to submit fully detailed requisitions? 

Quick win: Implement a pre-approved job template for recurring roles to fast-track openings. 

2. Improve your job descriptions for clarity and appeal 

A vague or overly technical job description can deter qualified candidates and flood your pipeline with the wrong ones. Review your postings to ensure they’re clear, compelling, and aligned with what top candidates want to know. 

Quick win: Use plain language, highlight key responsibilities, and include what makes your company a great place to work—especially for in-demand roles. 

3. Pre-schedule interview availability 

Coordinating interviews is one of the biggest time drains in the hiring process. One solution? Ask hiring managers to proactively block time on their calendars for interviews as soon as a requisition is opened. This simple move can shave days—or even weeks—off your process. 

Quick win: Use scheduling tools like Calendly or integrate with your ATS to eliminate back-and-forth emails. 

4. Tighten up your candidate screening process 

If you’re reviewing resumes in large batches or waiting too long to make decisions, top candidates may already be off the market. Tighten your screening process by identifying your top three “must-have” qualifications and focusing reviews and interviews around them. 

Quick win: Create a candidate scorecard for each role and align with the hiring manager before screening begins. 

5. Keep candidates engaged throughout the process 

Even if you speed up your internal steps, you can still lose candidates if communication falls flat. Timely updates make a big difference. Consider creating a candidate communications checklist for your team. 

Quick win: Automate status updates at each stage to keep candidates warm and reduce drop-off. 

6. Tap into talent pools proactively 

Building a pipeline of pre-qualified candidates gives you a head start. This is especially valuable for high-turnover roles or positions you regularly hire for. 

Quick win: Start with a 7-day “silver medalist” sprint: re-engage recent finalists, past high-scorers, and strong referrals for your top recurring roles. 

A faster hiring process doesn’t have to mean lower quality  

By taking a critical look at your recruitment process and making a few targeted changes, you can shorten time-to-fill while maintaining a high standard for talent.  

Want to explore the balance between speed and quality? Check out our related post: Time to Fill vs. Quality of Hire: Do You Have to Choose? 

If you’re looking for a faster, smarter way to hire without compromising quality, Advanced RPO can help. Our team partners with organizations to streamline recruiting processes, improve candidate engagement, and build sustainable pipelines. Talk to our team about optimizing your time-to-fill.