Recruitment calculator
Cost Per Hire Calculator
Estimate average included recruitment cost per counted hire by combining internal costs, external costs, and hires from the same defined period.
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Cost Per Hire Formula
Cost Per Hire = (Internal Costs + External Costs) / Total Hires
Inputs used in this calculator
- Internal Costs: Recruiter time, interview time, referrals, and employer brand work.
- External Costs: Agency fees, job boards, advertising, and assessments.
- Total Hires: Number of hires completed in the period.
How to use the result
- Add internal costs such as recruiter time, interview time, and referrals.
- Add external costs such as job boards, agencies, and assessments.
- Enter the total number of hires made in the period.
- Compare only cohorts with aligned roles, periods, hire events, cost categories, allocation rules, exclusions, and currency.
Method, scope, and sources
Cost per hire = included internal plus external recruitment costs ÷ included hires from the same defined period. The compact view accepts aggregate internal and external totals. The advanced workspace itemizes user-classified cost categories and shows constant-total-cost volume sensitivities; those sensitivities are not forecasts or efficiency rankings.
Define the measurement period, counted-hire event, cohort, currency, source records, allocation rules, and exclusions. Internal/external classification is organization-defined. Exclude or separately govern post-hire, onboarding, ramp-up, vacancy, and unfilled-position costs. Zero included hires makes the metric unavailable, and comparisons require aligned definitions.
Method status: Supported.
Worked example
Hypothetical: documented internal recruitment costs are $18,000 and external costs are $12,000 for 10 included hires whose counted event falls in the same quarter. Cost per hire = $30,000 ÷ 10 = $3,000. A 20-hire sensitivity holding the same $30,000 total constant would show $1,500, but it is not a forecast that costs remain fixed.
Sources
- BSI Standards / ISO, via ANSI webstore — PD ISO/TS 30407:2017 — Human resource management — Cost-Per-Hire: Directly defines CPH as average total recruitment costs divided by number of hires; distinguishes CPH Internal and CPH Comparable; requires transparent data and formula disclosure; and excludes post-hire and unfilled-position costs.
- International Organization for Standardization — ISO/TS 30407:2017 Human resource management — Cost-Per-Hire: Confirms the specification remains current after 2024 review and supports representative data, transparent sources, error minimization, process audit, and transparent display.
- Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development — Resourcing and talent planning report 2024: Provides practical examples such as in-house resourcing time, advertising, and agency/search fees, and cautions that estimates differ when organizations include different costs.
Questions about this calculation
What costs count as internal recruiting costs?
Include only costs your organization documents and allocates consistently, such as qualifying recruiter, manager, interview, referral, or sourcing-tool costs.
Should agency fees be included?
Include applicable external costs only when they use a documented and consistently applied allocation rule for the measured hiring cohort.
Read the companion guide
Cost Per Hire Calculator Guide: How to Read Recruiting Cost in Context
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