Australian employers are taking an average of five weeks to hire permanent staff, with nearly a third reporting recruitment processes that run to six weeks or longer, according to research commissioned by recruiter Robert Half.
The survey, based on responses from 500 hiring managers across finance and accounting, IT and technology, and human resources, points to longer timelines and persistent difficulties at key stages of the hiring process. Employers also reported operational impacts from delayed hiring, including higher workloads and project delays.
Robert Half said the average five-week process spans from writing a job description through to a candidate accepting an offer. The distribution of hiring timelines shows wide variation across employers. Some organisations still move quickly. Others take significantly longer.
Longer timelines
In the survey results, 11% of employers said they complete the recruitment process in two weeks or less. A further 16% said it takes three weeks. Another 22% said they hire within four weeks.
Employers who reported longer recruitment processes made up a substantial share of the total. Nineteen per cent said hiring takes five weeks. Thirty-one per cent said it takes six weeks or more.
Robert Half also cited earlier research for comparison. A 2017 survey of 1,000 workers found more than two-thirds of employees said it took four weeks or less to receive a job offer. The latest results suggest many employers now take longer to complete permanent hiring decisions.
"The length of today's hiring process reflects how cautious and considered businesses are being before committing to a permanent hire," said Nicole Gorton, Director, Robert Half. "Employers are balancing the need to move quickly with the pressure to make the right long-term hire, often creating a tension between speed and precision."
Recruitment bottlenecks
Employers identified several pain points in the hiring process, with talent attraction cited most frequently. Sixty per cent of respondents said attracting candidates proved challenging.
Screening resumes and shortlisting candidates ranked as the next most common issue, cited by 56% of employers. Forty per cent said scheduling and conducting interviews posed difficulties. The same proportion pointed to decision-making as a challenge.
Role definition also featured prominently. Thirty-seven per cent said defining the role or writing the job description was challenging. Reference and background checks were conducted at 28%.
Only 2% of employers said they experienced no challenges when hiring permanent staff, indicating broad-based friction even among organisations that report shorter timelines.
"Even in a candidate-rich market, top talent remains in short supply. Companies are increasingly seeking candidates who meet both the 'need-to-have' and 'nice-to-have' skillsets, and when they find them, speed is everything. The strongest candidates attract multiple offers quickly, so employers who hesitate risk losing them to the competition."
Operational impact
The survey found that employers widely reported negative effects of hiring delays. Ninety-two per cent of businesses said extended hiring periods had caused adverse impacts.
The most frequently reported impact was an increased workload on existing staff, cited by 44% of employers. Delayed project timelines followed at 32%.
Employers also flagged workforce stability and morale issues. Thirty per cent said delays in hiring increased turnover among existing staff. Twenty-nine per cent said they saw reduced team morale.
Other reported consequences related to customer experience and financial performance. Twenty-six per cent said service quality declined. Twenty-two per cent said they experienced lost revenue or missed business opportunities.
"Every week lost in the hiring process has a ripple effect across the organisation, whether it is overworked teams, missed deadlines, and in some cases, lost revenue. The cost of hiring slowly is not always visible on the balance sheet, but it can be deeply felt in morale and productivity."
"These trends point to a structural shift in how businesses approach talent acquisition. Success is no longer measured by simply filling a vacancy, but by how effectively an organisation can balance fit, speed, rigour, and employee wellbeing in the recruitment process," concludes Gorton.
Robert Half said the survey covered hiring managers from small and medium-sized businesses and larger organisations, including privately held firms, publicly listed companies and the public sector, across Australia.
Employers reported continued pressure to make durable, permanent hiring decisions while managing hiring stages that take time, including candidate attraction and screening. The findings suggest that organisations that lengthen recruitment processes are more likely to experience knock-on effects on workloads, delivery timelines and retention.