Set the decision path before sourcing
Agree the role, compensation approval path, interviewers, evaluation criteria and communications owner. The most avoidable delays occur when the team changes requirements after candidates enter the process.
Use milestones, not unsupported promises
Track brief approval, outreach readiness, interview stages, verification, offer approval and start-date planning. The timing depends on the role, candidate availability and employer decisions; do not represent a universal time-to-hire.
Make handoffs explicit
Name the person who schedules interviews, collects feedback, answers candidate questions and approves an offer. Clear ownership prevents a viable search from becoming slow or inconsistent.
Keep the hiring decision with the employer
BEGHR helps employers prepare permanent-hire searches. The employer decides whom to hire and directly employs the successful person. Scope, fees, candidate ownership, timing and any replacement terms are established in the written engagement before a search begins.
A 23 to 35 days plan, week by week
BEGHR’s published placement timeframe is 23 to 35 days from the signed engagement. Inside that window the sequence is fixed; only the dates move.
- Week 1: discovery call, brief approved, compensation range and interview panel confirmed, engagement signed, sourcing starts.
- Week 2: direct outreach to employed candidates, screening calls, first weekly calibration on candidate quality.
- Week 3: shortlist of 3 to 5 screened candidates delivered with fit summaries; first-round interviews held in pre-booked slots.
- Week 4: final interviews, scorecards completed, references and admission verification run in parallel, offer approved.
- Week 5: offer delivered and accepted; candidate resigns; start date set around the notice period.
Where searches lose days
Interview feedback that takes longer than 48 hours. A compensation range that is revisited after sourcing starts. A brief that widens when a new resume arrives. A panel that cannot meet inside two weeks. A verification step nobody owns. Each adds three to ten days; none is cured by adding more candidates. Agree the owner of each handoff on the discovery call.
Notice periods and start dates
The placement window ends at acceptance; the start date depends on the candidate’s notice. Associates and paralegals commonly give two to four weeks; senior in-house and partner-level candidates often give longer, and a firm may require conflicts clearance before the move. Plan onboarding for the realistic start date rather than the acceptance date, and keep contact with the candidate during notice.
What the published figures mean for your plan
The 23 to 35 day timeframe and the 86% fill rate are BEGHR’s published provider-wide figures, not a promise for one search. Use them to set expectations with the hiring panel: a search with a complete brief, an available panel and an approved range usually lands inside the window; one missing any of the three usually does not. A 45-day replacement guarantee applies after the start under the engagement.