Indian companies are moving faster to close hiring decisions, but long notice periods and a growing shortage of specialised talent are making it harder to get people on board quickly, creating a new bottleneck between making an offer and having the employee join, according to hiring experts.
According to Careernet data, the time from raising a requisition to extending an offer fell from 53 days in FY25 to 46 days in FY26, an improvement in how fast companies are closing roles. Notice periods, however, have barely changed. The average gap between accepting an offer and joining remained around 30–33 days across both years. Roughly 29–31 per cent of the hires still took 60 days or more to join after accepting an offer.
“Nearly a third of hires take two months or longer to join after accepting an offer — a significant gap between making the hiring decision and the person coming on board. During that period, companies are also managing the risk of counteroffers, drop-offs, or losing the candidate to another opportunity,” Neelabh Shukla, Chief Business Officer, Careernet, explained.
In a competitive talent market, this puts more pressure on hiring teams to consider availability alongside skills and fit. A candidate who can join sooner may have an advantage when two candidates are otherwise comparable.
Meanwhile, Adecco noted that in its flexi staffing business, the turnaround time expected by clients has come down to 24 hours. Notice periods continue to range from 30 to 90 days, with 90 days being common for senior hires.
“All things being equal, we would prioritise candidates who can join sooner. However, skills and fit remain primary considerations. In a lean organisation, every position matters, and vacancies can affect business productivity. It is essential to balance the urgency of hiring with the need to bring in the right talent,” Karishma Parikh, VP, HR, Adecco India, highlighted.
This gap is more visible with specialised technology roles. In Careernet’s placements, hiring volume for AI, machine learning and data science roles grew by about 48 per cent y-o-y. The average time-to-hire for these roles increased from 38 days to 63 days. Employers are opening more AI-related positions, but taking longer to close them.
As per Careernet data, GCCs’ average time-to-hire is 37–38 days, as opposed to non-GCC employers at 54–65 days. This trend has remained consistent even as GCCs have scaled their hiring. However, they face a challenge after the offer is made. GCCs have the longest notice-period wait, at 41–42 days compared with 27–28 days for non-GCC companies. They are also the only segment where the share of hires taking 60 days or more to join increased y-o-y, from 35.7 per cent to 36.5 per cent.
“One reason could be the kind of talent GCCs hire, since they tend to draw more heavily from senior professionals working at large, established companies, where contractual notice periods are often longer,” as per Shukla.
Ganesh S Padmanabhan, VP, Recruitment Business at CIEL HR, observed that the challenge is often not time-to-hire but time-to-join and linked uncertainties. Notice periods of 30 to 90 days in India extend the overall recruitment cycle.
Moreover, long notice periods are challenging for urgent and business-critical roles. During a two- or three-month wait, business requirements may change, projects may advance, and candidates may receive counteroffers or reconsider their decisions.
“India retains an advantage through the scale and depth of its technology talent. However, in areas such as AI, data science, cybersecurity, cloud and advanced engineering, the challenge is increasingly one of talent velocity: how quickly companies can identify, hire and deploy scarce capabilities. Long notice periods add friction when global companies are competing for a limited pool of experienced specialists. They do not, by themselves, undermine India’s competitiveness, but they can slow execution,” Padmanabhan shared.
While joining availability is an important hiring consideration, companies cannot compromise substantially on capability, particularly for specialised or leadership roles. However, when two candidates are broadly comparable in skills, experience and cultural fit, experts observed that the one who can join earlier has a clear advantage.