Traditional hiring metrics like time-to-fill and cost-per-hire tell half story. The real game-changer? Time-to-value.
For years, we’ve all measured our hiring successes in terms of time-to-fill and cost-per-hire.
But have you ever stopped to ask yourself whether the hiring metrics we’re most worried about are the ones really driving the most business?
No doubt, time-to-fill and cost-per-hire are relevant numbers when it comes to the big hiring picture. But neither measure tells us a single thing about the impact our new hires are having on the bottom line.
You can fill positions lightning fast and ultra-affordably all day long, but if you’re putting together a “team awesome” made up of members who, as it turns out, confused “extensive leadership experience” with stocking the office coffee pods, you’re in trouble.
So while we’re more than happy to advertise that fact that our time to hire is 47% faster than the industry average, the perspective that shapes how we evaluate the effectiveness of our services is framed by something else entirely, and that’s…
time-to-value
(aka, the single metric that matters most).
What is Time-to-Value (T/V)?
T/V is the period between when a new hire joins the team and when they begin to deliver measurable results.
In our high-speed, data-centric marketplace—especially in fields like data engineering and quality IT staffing—the insights from T/V are profoundly more useful to the revenue engine than any you might glean from traditional metrics.
Don’t get thrown off because T/V is an “after the fact” metric. Real high-impact hires don’t always stand out in obvious ways during the hiring process. They often reveal themselves through nuanced, hard-to-quantify traits that signal they’re destined to hit the ground running, and own the needle.
When you tune your process around identifying individuals like this (rather than obsessing over time spent), your ability to recognize winning characteristics—and the speed at which you can do so—will increase exponentially.
With each successive “winning hire,” you’ll reflect back, becoming more and more familiar with the clues they revealed during the interview process. For example:
- Thanks to high contextual intelligence, A-players pick up on the big picture fast and absorb what matter most first.
- With advanced adaptive pattern recognition, they see solutions long before problems get out of hand.
- They harbor a distinct discomfort with low productivity and inefficiency, but have a winsome humility and geniality that renders their brilliant solutions irresistible to just about everyone.
These kinds of qualities may be tough to tease out initially, but they’re the kinds of characteristics demonstrated by high value hires. And learning to recognize them is well worth the effort.
……………
To put it another way, shooting blindly for top talent that gets there fast and stays on long can be a crap shoot. Focusing on finding talent that scales is the only way to keep the odds in the house’s favor.
But, are Traditional Metrics All that Bad?
No, traditional metrics are not bad at all. But they are increasingly outmoded in today’s dynamic tech environment.
Time-to-Fill: A Misleading Race
When you zero in on time-to-fill, you’re looking at the duration from when a job requisition opens up to when the candidate accepts the offer. Sure, a shorter time-to-fill might indicate an efficient process, but it doesn’t account for how effectively that candidate integrates into your team, nor does it show you the quality of their output.
For instance, our internal data shows an average time-to-fill of 28.7 days—much better than the industry’s 42.3 days. But does this metric guarantee our hires are ready to deliver value right away?
What if those 28.7 days came at the expense of thorough vetting and deep cultural integration? You could end up with a hire who looks good on paper but takes months to deliver their first significant contribution.
Cost-Per-Hire: Counting Dollars, Not Impact
Cost-per-hire is easy to calculate and compare across different hiring campaigns, so it’s no wonder it gets a lot of attention. But, reducing cost-per-hire is not synonymous with improving business outcomes.
A lower cost might mean you’re cutting corners somewhere—perhaps in your candidate assessment or onboarding process—which can ultimately delay time-to-value.
In our experience, the best talent isn’t always the cheapest hire. Investing slightly more in a candidate who fits well with your team and drives results from week one is far more cost-effective in the long run.
After all, what’s the value of saving a few dollars if it means delaying project milestones, sacrificing quality, or introducing poison into the well?
How to Focus on Time-to-Value
To truly understand and leverage time-to-value, you need to reframe your entire hiring strategy by shifting from a transactional mindset to a transformational one. Here’s how I approach it:
1. Intense Vetting and Onboarding
At the heart of reducing time-to-value is evaluating whether a candidate is as culturally aligned with the team as they are technically capable. In our process, every candidate must pass deep technical assessments, SME-led screenings, and comprehensive cultural evaluations.
This intricate vetting process might add a few extra days to our timeline, but it pays off in the identification of superstars.
2. Seamless Integration Through Accelerators
We all know the early days of a new hire’s journey are critical. That’s why investing in rapid onboarding accelerators—frameworks built by engineers for engineers—can make a world of difference in the long run.
By providing clear onboarding paths, immediate access to technical SMEs, and well-structured training modules, we significantly cut down the time it takes for a new hire to become productive.
It’s a way to embed talent so deeply that they become part of the operational DNA from day one.
3. Strategic Partnership Over Transactional Hiring
Traditional staffing can be terribly transactional. You fill a role and move on. But the complexity of modern projects require an ongoing, cooperative approach. I like to think of our hiring model as a long-term strategic alliance, where every new hire is a key partner in driving business outcomes.
This means continuous engagement even after onboarding, ongoing training, and proactive support to keep talent aligned with evolving project needs. We’ve discovered that constant nurturing eliminates the need for quick fixes.
4. Quantifiable Impact: Measuring What Matters
Shifting the focus to time-to-value means always looking at how quickly the hire contributes to reducing project timelines, cutting costs through process improvements, or driving revenue growth.
It’s keeping an eye out for the tangible business impact—like a 22% increase in processing speed for a key claim system or a 50% reduction in infrastructure costs—that a high-caliber candidate can deliver.
In our internal reviews, we’ve found that teams with a lower time-to-value consistently outperform those that focus solely on traditional metrics.
How a T/V Focus Translates Into Real Results
Over the past 25 years, our experience in scaled staffing and product development has proven that a focus on time-to-value yields remarkable business outcomes. Here are some hard-hitting numbers that illustrate the point:
- 28.7 days average time-to-fill vs. 42.3 days industry average:
While our process is faster than many, the real victory comes in how quickly our hires deliver impact after joining. - 92% offer-acceptance rate and 96% start rate:
High acceptance and start rates are indicators that our hires are the right fit, setting the stage for immediate value creation. - Rapid talent assembly in 24-72 hours:
We deliver candidate profiles within 24 to 72 hours. What that means is, once a need is identified, we’re able to mobilize the right talent almost instantly. This rapid response translates into accelerated project timelines and a faster time-to-value. - Long-Term Client Retention (96%):
Our average client relationship lasts 4+ years, and that’s no accident. Rather, it’s what we consider to be the greatest testament to the validity of our time-to-value approach.
Case In Point
In our recent collaboration with a financial services AI company, the emphasis on solving critical user problems—rather than just accelerating build velocity—enabled a path to value three times faster.
By embedding product ownership within the outsourced engineering process, the time-to-value focus helped the client bypass traditional inefficiencies by aligning technical execution with a strategy based solely on outcomes.
Time-to-value delivered real impact by making sure new hires, engineering teams, and product strategies were all geared toward rapid, measurable contributions that led to very tangible success.
Time-to-Value’s Time Has Come
With the breakneck pace of technological advancement, time-to-value has become the lifeblood of an agile, modern organization—truly, the only metric that really matters. So if you’re still clinging to traditional staffing measures, it might be time to accept that they’ve joined the outdated ranks of the vanity crowd.
A well-integrated, high-caliber hire can be the difference between a project that’s on track and one that’s lagging behind. And that difference can be the deciding factor between market leadership and mediocrity.
Recognize that, in this modern race against the clock, if you want your relay stacked and your handoffs perfect, time-to-value is the only way.
