ML Maker Label Studio

Cost Per Hire Calculator

Estimate your SHRM/ANSI recruiting KPI by combining internal and external recruiting costs, then dividing by the number of hires.

Safety & HR standard reference: This tool follows the SHRM/ANSI cost-per-hire KPI formula: (total internal recruiting costs + total external recruiting costs) / number of hires.

Inputs

Enter recruiting costs for the same reporting period and the total hires produced in that period.

External recruiting costs

Vendor and market-facing spend
$
Posting fees and job board packages.
$
Search firm and staffing agency fees.
$
Campaigns, sponsored listings, and media spend.

Internal recruiting costs

Team time and internal programs
$
Loaded cost of recruiter and hiring team time.
$
Employee referral payouts tied to hires.

Hiring volume

Required for cost per hire
Use the total hires for the same cost period.

Results

Cost per hire, total recruiting cost, and per-source breakdown.

Cost per hire $0.00
Total cost $0.00
External cost $0.00
Internal cost $0.00
Formula: ($0.00 internal + $0.00 external) / 1 hire = $0.00 per hire.
Source Category Amount Share of total Cost per hire
Total $0.00 100.0% $0.00

Results update when inputs change.

Self-Tests

Run golden test cases against the core cost-per-hire calculation.

Self-tests have not run yet.

About the Cost Per Hire Calculator

Recruiting leaders, HR analysts, and founders use a cost per hire calculator to measure hiring spend consistently across roles, teams, or time periods. Add internal recruiting labor, external agencies, job ads, assessment tools, candidate travel, and the number of hires to calculate the average cost. It gives finance and HR a shared metric for talent acquisition planning.

How it works

  1. Add internal recruiting costs for the measurement period.
  2. Add external costs such as agencies, ads, tools, events, and candidate travel.
  3. Enter the number of hires completed in the same period.
  4. Divide total recruiting cost by hires and compare results by role or department.

Frequently asked questions

What is the standard cost per hire formula?

The SHRM and ANSI formula is total internal recruiting costs plus total external recruiting costs, divided by the total number of hires in the same period.

Should recruiter salaries be included in cost per hire?

Yes, internal recruiting labor is part of the standard metric. Many teams allocate recruiter salary, benefits, and overhead based on time spent on recruiting activities during the measurement period.

Do onboarding and training costs belong in cost per hire?

Usually no if you are following the recruiting metric strictly. Onboarding, new-hire training, and productivity ramp are important but are normally tracked as separate post-hire costs.

How should agency fees be handled?

Include contingency, retained search, recruitment process outsourcing, and other external recruiting fees when they relate to hires counted in the same period.

Can cost per hire be compared across all roles?

Use caution. Executive, technical, hourly, seasonal, and high-volume roles have different sourcing methods and labor markets, so segmented benchmarks are more useful than one companywide average.

References