Cost Per Hire Calculator
Compute your true cost per hire by combining external recruiting spend and internal HR costs, divided by the number of hires.
How it works
Cost per hire = (external recruiting costs + internal recruiting costs) ÷ number of hires
Cost per hire is the standard SHRM/ANSI recruiting metric: add every external cost (agencies, job boards, ads, screening) and every internal cost (recruiter pay, referral bonuses, hiring-manager time), then divide by the hires made in the period. Tracking it over time reveals whether your sourcing mix is getting more or less efficient, and benchmarking the external-versus-internal split shows how dependent you are on paid channels.
Worked example
Spending $40,000 externally and $30,000 internally is $70,000 total. Divided by 25 hires, the cost per hire is $2,800, with 57% of the spend coming from external channels.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as an internal recruiting cost?
The portion of recruiter and HR salaries spent on hiring, employee referral bonuses, the time hiring managers spend interviewing, and any in-house tooling or applicant-tracking costs allocated to recruitment.
What is a typical cost per hire?
The commonly cited SHRM benchmark is roughly $4,700 per hire on average, but it varies enormously by role seniority, industry and location. Use your own trend as the primary yardstick.
Should salary or signing bonus be included?
No. Cost per hire measures the cost of the recruiting process, not the compensation paid to the person. The new hire’s salary and signing bonus are employment costs, tracked separately.
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Educational planning estimate, not accounting, tax or HR advice.