Time per Presented Candidate (TPC) — The Metric That Explains a Stalled Role

How to calculate time per presented candidate

Take TF (time to fill, in days from opening the role to the hire) and divide it by A (the number of relevant candidates the client accepted into the process). A role open 36 days with 12 accepted candidates has a TPC of 3.0 — three days of elapsed calendar time per person who genuinely entered the process.

• TPC = TF ÷ A
• A counts accepted, relevant candidates — not every CV sent
• TPC is calendar time, so client silence counts against it as it should
• Report TPC beside RI, or a slow client makes a precise recruiter look weak

What a good TPC looks like

Read it as a band, not a target. Under 3 days is a healthy, fast-moving loop. Between 3 and 8 days the client is the bottleneck more often than sourcing is. Above 8 days, the role is drifting and the recruiter should escalate rather than source harder.

• ≤ 3 days — relevant shortlists, fast client feedback, high close probability
• 3–8 days — sourcing is fine; feedback latency is the constraint
• > 8 days — escalate to the hiring manager; extra candidates will not fix it

TPC, RI and success velocity together

Resource intake, RI = (TF + A) ÷ O, describes how much effort a role consumes per offer produced. Success velocity, SV = RI ÷ TPC, describes how quickly that effort converts into a hire. TPC is the denominator, which is why cutting it is a force multiplier: the same sourcing work with a faster client loop produces a dramatically higher SV — and when SV clearly exceeds TPC, the role usually closes in the current period.

• RI = (TF + A) ÷ O — effort per offer; around 25 is a fast role
• SV = RI ÷ TPC — the closest thing recruiting has to a close-probability signal
• The low-RI trap: precise sourcing (RI 9–16) is wasted when SV sits at 1–2

Why activity metrics miss this entirely

CVs sent, calls made and 'candidates in pipeline' all rise when a role is stuck — the recruiter compensates for silence with volume. TPC moves the other way: it gets worse precisely when the loop stalls, which makes it the honest number to bring to a client conversation. FindHire computes TPC automatically for every vacancy worked in the recruiting CRM, freezes it when the role closes, and publishes the aggregate on the recruiter's public portfolio alongside verified client reviews.

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