{
    "name": "Cost per Hire Calculator",
    "url": "https://calculators.geekmidst.com/calculators/recruitment-cost-per-hire-calculator",
    "markdown": "https://calculators.geekmidst.com/calculators/recruitment-cost-per-hire-calculator.md",
    "category": "Salary, HR & payroll",
    "description": "Calculate recruitment cost per hire by adding external costs (ads, agencies) and internal costs (recruiting team time) and dividing by the number of hires.",
    "summary": "Cost per hire adds everything spent on recruiting in a period, both money paid to outside parties and the cost of your own recruiting team, and divides it by the hires made.",
    "also_called": [
        "Recruitment cost calculator",
        "Hiring cost calculator"
    ],
    "applies_to": "Worldwide",
    "last_updated": "2026-10-29",
    "computation": "Results are computed in the visitor’s browser on the HTML page. This API describes the calculator; it does not compute results.",
    "inputs": [
        {
            "name": "advertising",
            "label": "Advertising and job boards",
            "type": "number",
            "default": "3000",
            "optional": true
        },
        {
            "name": "agency",
            "label": "Agency and search fees",
            "type": "number",
            "default": "15000",
            "optional": true
        },
        {
            "name": "external_other",
            "label": "Other external costs",
            "type": "number",
            "default": "2000",
            "optional": true
        },
        {
            "name": "recruiter",
            "label": "Recruiting team costs",
            "type": "number",
            "default": "20000",
            "optional": true
        },
        {
            "name": "internal_other",
            "label": "Other internal costs",
            "type": "number",
            "default": "5000",
            "optional": true
        },
        {
            "name": "hires",
            "label": "Hires in the period",
            "type": "number",
            "default": "10",
            "unit": "hires"
        },
        {
            "name": "currency",
            "label": "Currency",
            "type": "currency",
            "default": "USD"
        }
    ],
    "outputs": [
        {
            "key": "cost_per_hire",
            "label": "Cost per hire",
            "format": "currency"
        },
        {
            "key": "total_cost",
            "label": "Total recruiting cost",
            "format": "currency"
        },
        {
            "key": "external_cost",
            "label": "External costs",
            "format": "currency"
        },
        {
            "key": "internal_cost",
            "label": "Internal costs",
            "format": "currency"
        }
    ],
    "formula": {
        "text": "Cost per hire = (External costs + Internal costs) ÷ Hires",
        "variables": {
            "External costs": "money paid to outside parties",
            "Internal costs": "your own recruiting staff and related spending",
            "Hires": "hires that started in the same period"
        }
    },
    "worked_example": {
        "inputs": {
            "advertising": "3000",
            "agency": "15000",
            "external_other": "2000",
            "recruiter": "20000",
            "internal_other": "5000",
            "hires": "10",
            "currency": "USD"
        },
        "steps": [
            "External = 3,000 + 15,000 + 2,000 = $20,000; internal = 20,000 + 5,000 = $25,000.",
            "Cost per hire = 45,000 ÷ 10 = $4,500."
        ],
        "result": "Spending $45,000 on recruiting to make 10 hires is a cost per hire of $4,500."
    },
    "interpretation": "Track the figure over time and by role type. A rising agency share usually drives cost per hire up; comparing with the salary of the role gives a sense of proportion.",
    "assumptions": [
        "Costs and hires cover the same period."
    ],
    "limitations": [
        "It measures cost, not quality: a cheap hire who leaves in three months may cost more in the end."
    ],
    "rules": null,
    "faqs": [
        {
            "question": "Should internal costs be included?",
            "answer": "Yes. The widely used cost-per-hire standard counts both external and internal costs; leaving out recruiter pay makes in-house recruiting look free."
        },
        {
            "question": "Which hires count?",
            "answer": "Hires made in the period you measured costs for. Some teams split internal moves from external hires and report each separately."
        }
    ],
    "sources": [],
    "related": [
        {
            "name": "Time to Hire Calculator",
            "url": "https://calculators.geekmidst.com/calculators/time-to-hire-calculator"
        },
        {
            "name": "Offer Acceptance Rate Calculator",
            "url": "https://calculators.geekmidst.com/calculators/offer-acceptance-rate-calculator"
        },
        {
            "name": "Employer Cost of Employee Calculator",
            "url": "https://calculators.geekmidst.com/calculators/payroll-employer-cost-calculator"
        }
    ],
    "disclaimer": null,
    "publisher": "GM¹X CalcVerse"
}