The amount of time from interview to job offer varies. For college graduates, the National Association of Universities and Employers (NACE) Recruiting Benchmarks Survey reports that employers who hire new college graduates take an average of 24 days to extend a job offer after an interview. Finally, since the cost of poor hiring is so high, companies are adding more stakeholders to the interview process in the hope of avoiding a hiring error. In addition, many companies begin the hiring process with a long “wish list” of skills or experience they are looking for in a new employee.
Companies tend to retain recruiters precisely because they don't want to manage communication with candidates on their own, and they may get upset if you try to contact them directly. Let's say that one of the top candidates is interviewing four companies and that those four companies, including yours, are interested in that candidate. According to the United States Department of Labor, the cost of a bad hire is around 30% of that employee's first year's income, so companies want to make sure they take the time to research potential employees before making any commitments.
