Extended definition
Fill rate is the rolled-up output measure for TA effectiveness. Time to fill measures speed; cost per hire measures efficiency; fill rate measures completion.
A team with great speed and efficiency on the roles it fills but a 60% fill rate is failing — it’s leaving 40% of the hiring plan undelivered. Conversely, a team with mediocre speed but 95% fill rate is delivering on commitments even if individual searches are slower than ideal.
Fill rate is also the metric that frames TA’s relationship with the rest of the business: it answers whether TA is consistently delivering against headcount plans, which is the basis for organisational trust in the function.
How to calculate fill rate
The standard formula:
Fill rate = (Number of requisitions filled in period ÷ Total open requisitions in period) × 100
Calculation choices that materially affect the number:
- What counts as “open in period.” Reqs that opened in the period only, or all reqs active during the period (including those carried over from prior periods)? The all-active definition is more conservative and more useful for ongoing performance assessment.
- What counts as “filled.” Offer accepted, offer accepted and started, or fully integrated? Most companies use “offer accepted” — it’s the cleanest finish line and avoids being penalised for candidate-side delays after acceptance.
- Cancelled reqs — Reqs that get cancelled during the period (the role is no longer needed, gets restructured) shouldn’t count against fill rate. Tracking cancellations separately preserves the metric’s diagnostic value.
- Time-bounded fill rate — Some companies measure fill rate within a target time window — “fill rate within 60 days” — which combines completion and speed into one metric. Useful for SLA-style commitments to the business.
Industry benchmarks vary. A 90%+ fill rate within reasonable time windows is commonly cited as healthy.
Below 80% suggests systematic issues — either capacity, sourcing, or hiring plan over-commitment. Above 95% can occasionally indicate over-capacity in the recruiting function relative to hiring plan demand.
Why fill rate matters
Fill rate is the metric that determines whether TA is trusted by the business. Operations leaders who see TA consistently delivering 95% of the hiring plan on time invest accordingly — they involve TA in workforce planning, accept TA’s recommendations on process and structure, and don’t go around the function.
Operations leaders who see 60% fill rate do the opposite — they hire through agencies they trust, build their own talent networks, and resist TA process. Fill rate is the headline credibility metric for the TA function.
For CHROs and CFOs, it’s the input to whether TA gets resourced ambitiously or defensively.
Common mistakes and misconceptions about fill rate
- Reporting fill rate without a time window — A 100% fill rate “eventually” is meaningless. Fill rate within 60 or 90 days is the operationally useful number.
- Counting cancelled reqs as failures — Reqs cancelled mid-process for legitimate business reasons aren’t TA failures. Tagging cancellations and reporting them separately preserves the diagnostic value of the fill rate.
- Reporting only completed reqs — A team carrying 30 reqs at 200+ days open has a fill rate problem the headline number may hide. Aging-req analysis paired with fill rate surfaces this.
- Using fill rate to justify always-yes intake — A high fill rate isn’t worth much if it’s achieved by accepting every req without prioritisation. Fill rate paired with quality of hire prevents this trap.
- Confusing fill rate with hire volume — Two teams hiring 200 people each can have very different fill rates depending on how many reqs they were given to fill. Volume measures activity; fill rate measures completion against commitment.
Frequently asked questions
What is fill rate?
Fill rate is the percentage of open requisitions that get successfully filled within a defined period — typically a quarter or year. It's the throughput metric for the entire TA function, summarising how much of the hiring plan was actually delivered. Time to fill measures speed; cost per hire measures efficiency; fill rate measures completion.
What's a good fill rate benchmark?
A 90%+ fill rate within reasonable time windows (60-90 days for most roles) is commonly cited as healthy. Below 80% suggests systematic issues with capacity, sourcing, or hiring plan over-commitment. The right benchmark depends on role mix, market conditions, and the realism of the hiring plan TA was given.
What's the difference between fill rate and time to fill?
Time to fill measures how long filled reqs took to fill. Fill rate measures what percentage of reqs got filled at all. A team can have great time-to-fill on the reqs it completes while having poor fill rate overall. Both metrics matter; they answer different questions.
Should cancelled requisitions count against fill rate?
No — cancelled reqs reflect business decisions to stop the search, not TA failure to fill. Tag them separately and exclude from the fill rate calculation. A meaningful fill rate measures TA's success rate on reqs it was actually asked to deliver.
How do you improve fill rate?
By either increasing capacity (more recruiters, better tooling, stronger sourcing) or reducing demand (better hiring plan prioritisation, tighter intake before reqs go live, decline of unrealistic specifications). Sustained fill-rate problems usually trace to demand-capacity mismatch rather than per-recruiter performance.