How to Cut Time-to-Hire to 4 Weeks Without Lowering the Bar

The typical US senior engineering search runs 3+ months. Nexton's average is 4 weeks, brief to signed offer — with a technical bar that is verified, not assumed. The gap is not effort; it is sequence. This playbook shows where the time actually goes and which steps any team can compress.

Where do the 3 months actually go?

Roughly in thirds: sourcing and screening (finding people worth interviewing), the interview loop itself, and decision latency — the days lost between rounds while calendars align and feedback stalls. Most teams attack the loop. The bigger wins are in the other two thirds.

Step by step

1. Move screening before demand. The single biggest compression. A pre-vetted network turns weeks of screening into 72 hours of matching — the evaluation already happened.
2. Start interviews from evidence. When each candidate arrives with a peer interview evaluation, your first round confirms instead of discovers. One round disappears.
3. Declare the loop upfront. Rounds, owners, and a feedback SLA — 48 hours per round, committed in the brief. Decision latency is the silent third of every slow search.
4. Split must-have from nice-to-have. Briefs where everything is mandatory match nobody and restart weekly.
5. Anchor compensation on data. Offers negotiated against real numbers close faster: median senior LATAM salary is $72k per the 2026 Salary Report. Guessing invites counteroffers and delay.

What does the result look like?

The 4-week average across Nexton's 1,500+ placements is the compound effect of these five steps — none of which lowers the bar, because the bar was enforced before the clock started.