How to calculate cost per hire without counting screening twice
Updated Oct 22, 2026 · 6 min read
Try the free tool this article describes: Cost per Hire Calculator →
Cost per hire divides recruiting spend by the number of hires made during the same period. AIIA's free calculator shows that calculation and a separate screening-workload estimate. It uses the figures you enter, with no assumed salary benchmark, software price or promised saving.
How do you calculate cost per hire?
To calculate cost per hire, add your internal recruiting costs and your external recruiting costs for a period, then divide the total by the number of hires made in that same period. Use a defined period, such as a month, a quarter or a year, and keep the cost categories the same each time so that trends compare fairly.
Internal costs include recruiter time, interviewer time, software and admin overhead. External costs include job ads, agency fees, background checks, assessments and events. The free cost per hire calculator does the division from the figures you enter.
Choose one reporting period
Use a month, quarter or year consistently. Enter hires completed during that period and the internal and external recruiting costs you have allocated to it. A count of open vacancies is not a count of completed hires. If there were no hires, cost per hire is undefined; the calculator requires at least one.
Keep cost categories consistent
Internal costs may include allocated recruiter time. External costs may include agency fees or advertising. Your organisation must decide which expenses to include and how to allocate shared costs. Use that same method when comparing periods. Enter the two categories once so the total does not contain duplicate expenses.
A synthetic worked example
Suppose a fictional team records 12,000 in internal recruiting costs and 6,000 in external costs for six hires. Total recruiting cost is 18,000. Dividing by six gives a cost per hire of 3,000 in the selected currency. These are example inputs, not a market benchmark.
Estimate screening workload separately
The optional workload section multiplies the number of candidates screened by average screening minutes, then divides by 60 to calculate hours. Multiplying those hours by an entered hourly cost gives a screening-labour estimate. This estimate is displayed separately and is not added automatically to recruiting spend.
For example, 120 screenings at 30 minutes each take 60 hours. At an entered hourly cost of 40, the labour estimate is 2,400. If that labour is already included in the internal recruiting cost, adding it again would overstate cost per hire. This calculation does not establish how much time an AI interviewer would save.
Understand the currency selector
The currency selector labels the numbers. It does not fetch exchange rates or convert amounts. Enter every cost in the same currency. Monetary results are rounded for display; the calculation retains precision until the final result.
Review and keep the result
Calculate again after changing inputs so the result reflects the current assumptions. You can edit, copy or download the result. The calculator runs in your browser and does not send the amounts to a model provider. Reset clears the input and result state. It does not create a role, invite a candidate or start a paid interview.
Use the result as a description of your entered costs and workload. It is not a financial forecast or an evaluation of hiring quality. A lower cost per hire can reflect changes in the roles filled or the expenses included, so inspect those differences before drawing conclusions.
How do you evaluate cost per hire when choosing a hiring platform?
To evaluate a hiring platform, calculate cost per hire as total costs divided by hires, with the platform fee inside the total, then compare the figure before and after the platform for similar roles over the same length of time.
- Include platform fees, recruiter labour, job ads, agency fees, interview time, assessments and admin costs.
- Attribute hires the same way every time, whether by first touch, last touch or multi touch, so one channel does not get credit twice.
- Track the whole funnel as well: applicants, qualified applicants, interviews, offers, hires and retained hires.
- Do not judge cost per hire without quality and retention. A cheap hire who leaves early can cost more than a careful one.
For context only, SHRM's 2025 benchmarking reports an average cost per hire of $5,475 for nonexecutive roles and $35,879 for executive roles (SHRM). The survey ran from January to March 2025 and 2,371 SHRM members responded. Your own figures matter more than an average, because roles, locations and methods differ.