In India, the gap between a candidate saying yes and the candidate joining is often one to three months. Companies abroad, and first-time founders here, are regularly surprised by this. A hiring plan that ignores notice periods is late before it starts.
How notice periods work
The notice period is written into a person’s employment contract. It is the time they must keep working after they resign. Thirty, sixty and ninety days are all common, and ninety is usual in many large IT services companies and for senior roles.
Three things can shorten it.
- Buyout. Some contracts allow the employee, or the new employer on their behalf, to pay salary in place of the remaining notice. Whether this is allowed, and whether the current employer agrees, differs from company to company.
- Early release. A manager may agree to let someone go early once the handover is done. It is a favour, not a right, so it cannot be planned on.
- Leave balance. Some employers allow unused leave to be set against the notice period.
Ask the candidate what their contract says and whether people in their company are usually released early. They generally know.
Plan backwards from the start date
Start with the date you need the person working, and count back.
- Notice period: up to 90 days.
- Offer, negotiation and acceptance: one to two weeks.
- Interviews: two to three weeks, if you keep them moving.
- Sourcing and screening: two to four weeks.
For a candidate on ninety days’ notice, that adds up to four or five months from the day you open the role. If you need someone in October, the search starts in May or June. Most companies start in September and then wonder why only weaker candidates are available.
The trade-off with immediate joiners
“Immediate joiners only” is one of the most common lines in Indian job posts. It is understandable, and it narrows your choice a great deal.
People who can join at once are available for a reason. Often it is a good one: a layoff, a career break, a move to a new city, a contract that ended. Sometimes it is not. Either way, you are choosing from a small part of the market and leaving out most people who are doing well in a job today.
A practical middle path: decide the longest wait you can truly accept, say forty-five or sixty days, and consider everyone inside it. If the role is senior or hard to fill, accept the full notice and start earlier next time.
Ask about notice in the first call
Notice period should be one of the first things confirmed, along with pay and location. Ask three questions.
- What is the notice period in your contract?
- Can it be bought out, and has your company released people early before?
- Have you already resigned? If so, what is your last working day?
A candidate who is already serving notice can be a good find, with one caution: they probably hold another offer. Ask plainly what it would take for them to choose you, and move quickly.
Keeping the candidate during the wait
A long notice period is a long time for a candidate to change their mind. Their employer may make a counter-offer. Other companies keep calling. And a person who hears nothing from you for eight weeks begins to wonder if the job is real.
Stay in touch on purpose.
- Week one: the hiring manager calls to welcome them, not HR alone.
- Every two weeks: a short message or call. Share something real: a product update, a team change, what they will work on first.
- Midway: invite them to meet the team, in person or on a call. People find it harder to walk away from people than from an offer letter.
- Before joining: send the joining details, the laptop plan and the first week’s schedule. Small things signal that they are expected.
Ask them to tell you the day their resignation is accepted and the day a last working date is confirmed. If either slips, you want to know early.
If you are hiring from outside India
Build the notice period into your plan from the start, and tell your own leadership about it early, so nobody is surprised when the new hire’s start date is three months away. Use the time: finish the paperwork, arrange equipment, and plan the first month’s work. A person who joins a prepared team is productive much sooner than one who joins a rushed one.
The short version
Count the notice period before you open the role, ask about it in the first call, decide honestly how long you can wait, and treat the weeks between acceptance and joining as part of hiring, not the end of it.
