Industry Odisha Bureau, Sep 06: Indian companies are closing hiring decisions faster than before. Careernet data shows time-to-offer fell from 53 days. It dropped to 46 days between FY25 and FY26. Notice periods, however, remain a significant delay. Nearly one-third of hires still take 60 days or longer. The bottleneck now sits between offer acceptance and actual joining.
Careernet’s numbers reveal a clear improvement in decision speed. Companies are moving through requisition-to-offer stages more efficiently. Yet the average offer-to-joining gap stayed steady. It hovered around 30 to 33 days across both years. Roughly 29 to 31 percent of hires exceeded 60 days.
Notice periods explain much of this persistent delay. Adecco reports notice periods ranging from 30 to 90 days. Senior hires commonly face the full 90-day period. This extended wait creates real risks for employers. Counteroffers can emerge during the waiting period. Candidates sometimes drop off before joining altogether. Business needs may also shift during these months.
Specialised technology hiring illustrates this tension sharply. Careernet saw hiring volume grow about 48 percent year-on-year. This growth spans AI, machine learning and data science roles. Yet time-to-hire for these positions nearly doubled. It rose from 38 days to 63 days. Rising demand is clearly outpacing hiring speed here.
Global Capability Centres show a similar but distinct pattern. GCCs close roles faster than non-GCC employers overall. Their time-to-hire ranges between 37 and 38 days. Non-GCC companies take between 54 and 65 days instead. Despite this speed advantage, GCCs face longer joining waits. Their notice-period wait runs 41 to 42 days. Non-GCC companies average just 27 to 28 days.
GCCs were also the only segment showing worsening trends. Hires taking 60-plus days rose from 35.7 percent. That figure climbed to 36.5 percent year-on-year. Neelabh Shukla suggested one possible explanation for this pattern. GCCs often hire senior professionals from established companies. Such professionals typically carry longer contractual notice periods.
Ganesh Padmanabhan framed this as a time-to-join challenge. Notice periods between 30 and 90 days extend recruitment cycles. This creates particular strain for urgent, business-critical roles. Extended waits can also affect ongoing project timelines.
The core issue increasingly involves talent velocity, not availability. Companies must identify, hire and deploy scarce capabilities quickly. This matters most in AI, cybersecurity, cloud and advanced engineering. Long notice periods add friction to this competitive race. They do not undermine India’s broader technological competitiveness. However, they can meaningfully slow execution speed.
Candidate availability now factors into hiring decisions more heavily. Companies still prioritize skills, experience and cultural fit first. When candidates are otherwise comparable, faster joiners gain an edge. Ultimately, speedy hiring decisions offer limited value alone. Without faster joining timelines, that speed advantage diminishes considerably.
