Q. I read with interest your story from last month on the High Cost of Vacancy. It really gave me something to think about and discuss with others in my company. Up until now, we felt some urgency about getting jobs filled, but always assumed that since we weren't paying anybody while it was empty that it wasn't really costing us that much. You really turned my thinking around. In the story you mention a position taking 30 days to fill. Is 30 days typical? Ours have been taking quite a bit longer than that, and I just want to know how bad things are for us.

A. No, 30 days would actually be pretty good compared to the national average. According to Staffing.org's 2006 Recruiting Time Report, the national average time to fill is 72.5 days. Once you start calculating and tracking cost of vacancy, it quickly becomes apparent that 72.5 days creates an unexpectedly large productivity drain, so it's good that you're beginning to look at COV as a metric. It will definitely change the way you think about hiring.