It’s been said that time is not on our side. The latest stats back this up. According to the Dice-DF Vacancy Duration Measure, time-to-fill has risen to its highest level in 15 years.

The problem is not capabilities, as there are more of those today than 15 years ago, especially the added efficiencies through technology. Nor is it available talent, as competent recruiters can always find someone to do the job.

The problem is process―most hiring managers (and their staffing and recruitment vendors, if they are using them) are not working a process that allows them to hire in an instant. Yet, these very same hiring managers can buy many things they want, when they want them, from services like iTunes, Amazon and GrubHub. Needs are always more important than wants, which makes this all-time high of time-to-fill even more baffling.

Time is clearly not on the side of anyone who recruits or hires. It makes people scared, scattered, scurried, and, sometimes, even stupid. Too much of it allows them to over-think and under-perform. This causes real harm as jobs go unfilled, backlogs increase, overtime grows, efficiencies plummet, customers complain and revenues and suffer.

Staffing and recruitment services, in particular, have a unique opportunity to make their buyers smarter by helping them engage in a nimble process where they get the talent they needed yesterday right now. There is lots of talk about differentiation amongst people in the staffing business; here’s one that’s not only distinct, different and powerful, but also solves the problem of out of control time-to-fill.