Cost Per Hire Calculator
A cost per hire calculator works out what it costs to fill a role, using the standard SHRM formula. Enter your internal recruiting costs, external costs and number of hires to get cost per hire, total recruiting spend and the internal vs external split.
Recruiter salaries, referral bonuses, ATS share, manager time.
Job boards, agency fees, advertising, assessments, events.
At a glance
How the cost per hire calculator works
- 1 Add up your internal recruiting costs for the year (recruiter pay, referral bonuses, tooling, manager time).
- 2 Add your external costs (job boards, agencies, advertising, assessments).
- 3 Enter how many people you hired in the same period.
- 4 The calculator divides total cost by hires for the SHRM-standard cost per hire.
Cost per hire = (Internal recruiting costs + External recruiting costs) ÷ Total number of hires. (SHRM/ANSI standard.)
Frequently asked questions
What is the formula for cost per hire?
The SHRM/ANSI standard is: Cost per hire = (Total internal recruiting costs + Total external recruiting costs) ÷ Total number of hires in the period. Use the same time window for costs and hires.
What is a typical cost per hire?
Benchmarks vary widely by role and region, but many companies land between $3,000 and $5,000 per hire. Specialised, senior or hard-to-fill roles can run several times higher.
What counts as an internal vs external recruiting cost?
Internal costs are anything paid inside the company — recruiter and coordinator salaries, referral bonuses, ATS subscription, hiring-manager time. External costs are paid to third parties — job boards, agencies, advertising, background checks and assessments.
How can I lower cost per hire?
Build a referral and talent pipeline, reduce reliance on agencies, improve job-ad targeting, and use an ATS to cut time-to-fill. Lower time-to-fill usually lowers cost per hire because vacancies are expensive.