By Emma 
The job interview is over. They’ve asked their questions, and you gave them your best answers. There’s nothing much you can do now but wait for their response.
Like many others in your shoes, you’re wondering to yourself, “how long does it take to get the job offer after the interview?”, “will I get the job or not?”
Here’s how long you must wait, according to experts:
It depends!
Over a 41-year career, while working full time, I had six different employers (and I also tested the waters on several other occasions while looking for new opportunities). So over the years, I’ve received quite a few job offers, and the timeline from interview to job offer truly “ran the gamut.”
On two different occasions, I received an immediate offer on the spot (at the close of interview processes that lasted an entire, long day). On another occasion, after interviewing in two major cities on separate days, I received an offer over the phone the morning after I’d flown home from the second interview.
One time, the (so-called) shortlist included several candidates who were interviewed over an entire week, and I was interviewed on a Monday, so I heard absolutely nothing for nine days.
Thus, the possible timeline does depend on many variables, such as:
- How quickly the organization needs a replacement.
- Number of candidates that the outfit has on its shortlist.
- Number of candidates the hiring team has already interviewed.
- Amount of specialization that the position entails (and thus, the size of the existing candidate pool).
- Whether the job requires relocation (and where that new location would be).
- Size of the interview team and their agreement on the critical requirements the new-hire must meet.
- Who makes the final hiring decision (and the availability of that decision-maker).
- How long the position has been vacant coupled with how well the interim replacement is coping.
In addition to all those variables that may impact the hiring process, the top candidate may turn down the offer. Thus, the second-place candidate (or even somebody lower on the original shortlists) may eventually get an offer at a much later date!
So at the end of an interview that I’d considered to have been “successful,” I always asked about the decision-making timeline that the hiring team anticipated. More often than not, they were able to share an answer so that I had a half-way decent idea of when I might be contacted.
It significantly depends on the stage of the company, position sought, and the competitiveness of the recruiting market
Stage of the company:
Generally, a fast-growing startup will hire faster than a more established company because the need for hiring is acute, and the hierarchy in the decision-making process is shorter. So usually the startups go for the “hire fast, fire fast” formula.
On the other hand, established company candidates will go through several rounds of interviews, then follow the recruiting pipeline for vetting, which can take up to several weeks.
In the beginning, we hired several people on the spot because the interviews were conducted directly by the founder, so the decision-making process was quick. However, as we grew the company and headcount, more team members got involved in the hiring process, so after the interview, we had a long debate process.
Position and role:
For lower-level positions, the job offer will most likely come faster than for executive positions.
Traditionally, management roles and C-suite positions take longer to fulfill because the stakes are higher, so the vetting process, including reference checks, is conducted over a longer period. At our company, we hired quickly for data entry and administration jobs, but much slower for the CTO position.
Competitiveness of the recruiting market:
In an employee market where more employers are looking to hire than employees available, candidates should expect faster job offers. By contrast, when the unemployment rate is high, companies will take their time to compare candidates and make a final decision.
Nowadays, everyone is looking for software developers and other technical professionals. Because of the shortage in available candidates, many companies make quick job offers for specialized roles in the hope of luring in the appropriate candidates before they get to talk to the competition.
We’ve studied the journeys of hundreds of thousands of job applicants who used the Transformify Freelance Platform and HR Software to land a job. On average, each job listing receives 85 applicants.
In most cases, the recruiters select 5-9 candidates who are invited to the first round of interviews. Depending on the role, there may be up to 5 interviews, although, in the majority of cases, there are 2-3 interviews.
Hence, if a candidate has applied for an entry-level position, the chances are that they may receive a job offer in 3 weeks on average. If the candidate has applied for a mid-management position, it is likely to take 4–5 weeks on average to receive a job offer.
Senior management roles and ”C” level may take up to 6 months due to the particular requirements around the previous experience of the candidates, their credentials, references, etc.
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