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Calculator

Cost per hire calculator

Add your internal and external hiring costs, divide by the hires made, and see what each one cost.

Hiring costs spread across ad spend, agency invoices, software and a lot of people's time. Enter what your team spent over a period, such as a quarter or a year, and the number of hires you made in it.

Cost per hire is your internal costs plus your external costs for a period, divided by the number of hires made in that period. Use one currency throughout. The figures already in the boxes are made up, so swap in what your team spent.

External costs for the period

Internal costs for the period

External total: 18,600

Internal total: 21,200

All hiring costs: 39,800

Cost per hire: 4,975

How this works

The calculator adds your five external costs, then adds your internal costs, which are recruiter pay plus interview hours multiplied by the hourly cost. That sum divided by the number of hires is your cost per hire.

Cost per hire = (external costs + internal costs) รท hires made

Where the number can mislead

  • The result depends on what you choose to count. Another team may leave out internal time or include onboarding, so compare your own periods against each other before comparing with anyone else.
  • Recruiter pay and interview time are estimates unless you track hours. A rough share of the week is fine if you use the same method each time.
  • One expensive executive search can raise the average a great deal. Run senior and entry-level hires separately if the gap is wide.
  • The figure does not include the cost of a role sitting empty or the cost of a bad hire.
  • Nothing you type is sent or saved. The math runs in your browser.

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