Cost Per Hire Calculator
Calculate cost per hire from itemised internal and external recruiting costs, with cost per funnel stage, time to fill, time to hire and spend against payroll.
| Cost group | Amount | Share of total | Per hire |
|---|---|---|---|
| External — listed lines | $12,960.00 | 19.1% | $1,620.00 |
| External — agency fees | $22,320.00 | 33.0% | $2,790.00 |
| Internal — listed lines | $11,400.00 | 16.8% | $1,425.00 |
| Internal — recruiter time | $13,440.00 | 19.8% | $1,680.00 |
| Internal — onboarding | $7,600.00 | 11.2% | $950.00 |
| Total | $67,720.00 | 100% | $8,465.00 |
| Funnel stage | Count | Conversion from the stage above | Total spend ÷ stage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Applicants | 640 | — | $105.81 |
| Screened | 120 | 18.8% | $564.33 |
| Interviewed | 38 | 31.7% | $1,782.11 |
| Offers made | 10 | 26.3% | $6,772.00 |
| Hires | 8 | 80.0% | $8,465.00 |
cost per hire = (internal costs + external costs) ÷ number of hires
That is the ANSI/SHRM cost-per-hire definition. Worked example from the standard’s own illustration: $50,000.00 of external cost plus $30,000.00 of internal cost over 20 hires gives $4,000.00 per hire. Time to fill counts days from the requisition opening to the offer being accepted; time to hire counts from the day the successful candidate entered your process, which is why it is always the shorter of the two.
Annualised recruiting spend here is $67,720.00 — 1.61% of a $4,200,000.00 payroll.
Everything is calculated in your browser and nothing is uploaded. Cost per hire is only comparable between organisations when the cost boundary matches: the standard includes recruiter time and onboarding but excludes the hiring manager’s salary, signing bonuses and the cost of the vacancy itself. Every line here is editable so you can set that boundary yourself — just keep it consistent between periods.
What is the Cost Per Hire Calculator?
Cost per hire is the standard recruiting metric, and its definition is refreshingly simple: internal costs plus external costs, divided by the number of hires.
- Itemised external and internal cost tables you can add rows to
- Agency fee computed as a percentage of salary per placed hire
- Recruiter time and onboarding costed automatically into the internal total
- Cost per applicant, screen, interview, offer and hire with stage conversions
- Time to fill and time to hire in days from four dates
- Annualised recruiting spend as a percentage of payroll
How to use the Cost Per Hire Calculator
- 1
Set the currency, the number of hires completed, the average starting salary and your annual payroll.
- 2
Fill the external cost table, then add the agency fee percentage and how many hires the agency placed.
- 3
Fill the internal cost table, then add recruiter hours, their loaded hourly cost and the onboarding cost per hire.
- 4
Enter the funnel counts — applicants, screens, interviews and offers — to get cost and conversion at each stage.
- 5
Add the requisition, application, acceptance and start dates to get time to fill and time to hire.
About the Cost Per Hire Calculator
Cost per hire is the standard recruiting metric, and its definition is refreshingly simple: internal costs plus external costs, divided by the number of hires. The hard part is deciding what goes in the numerator, so this calculator keeps both cost groups as itemised tables you control, with helpers for the three lines everyone forgets — agency fees as a percentage of salary, recruiter time, and onboarding.
Alongside the headline figure it gives you the cost per applicant, per screen, per interview and per offer, the conversion rate between each funnel stage, and time to fill and time to hire from four dates. It also annualises the spend and expresses it as a share of payroll, which is usually the number a finance director actually asks for.
Everything is calculated in your browser and no salary or candidate data is uploaded. With zero hires in the period, every per-hire figure shows a dash rather than dividing by zero — the total spend is still correct and still worth looking at.
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate cost per hire?
Add all internal recruiting costs to all external recruiting costs and divide by the number of hires in the same period. That is the ANSI/SHRM definition. As an illustration, 50,000 of external cost plus 30,000 of internal cost across 20 hires gives 4,000 per hire.
What counts as an internal versus an external recruiting cost?
External costs are money paid out — agency fees, job boards, advertising, background checks, candidate travel. Internal costs are resources you already have — recruiter time, referral bonuses, applicant tracking software and onboarding. Both belong in the numerator, and the split matters mainly for reporting.
What is the difference between time to fill and time to hire?
Time to fill counts from the requisition opening to the offer being accepted, so it measures the whole vacancy. Time to hire counts from the day the successful candidate entered your process, so it measures your speed once a good person appears. Time to hire is always the shorter of the two.
Is a high cost per hire bad?
Not on its own. Senior and specialist roles cost far more to fill than volume roles, and a cheap hire who leaves in three months is more expensive than an expensive one who stays. Track it as a trend on comparable roles rather than as an absolute score.
What is a typical agency fee?
Contingency agencies commonly charge 15-25% of first-year salary, with retained and executive search running higher. It varies enormously by market and seniority, which is why the percentage is an input here rather than a fixed assumption.
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