Measure Recruitment Marketer

What each hire really costs you.

The true, whole-system cost — not the number you report to finance.
Calculate your true, whole-system cost per hire — including the hidden costs most organisations miss entirely. Agency fees, internal recruiter time, advertising spend, ATS costs, hiring manager time, onboarding, and failed-hire replacement costs all factored in. The number you need to make a real business case for investment in recruitment infrastructure.
Get Started → ← All Tools
How it works

What goes in. What comes out.

You provide

Your recruitment spend data — advertising costs, agency fees, internal time estimates, tool costs, and hiring volumes.

You get back

A complete cost per hire breakdown by channel and cost category, with benchmarking commentary, efficiency recommendations and a cost-per-quality-hire adjustment.

Why it matters

The problem this solves.

The standard cost-per-hire figure — total external spend divided by number of hires — tells you what you paid the job boards and agencies. It does not tell you what hiring actually cost the organisation. The hidden costs — recruiter time, hiring manager interview hours, onboarding, failed-hire replacement, vacancy duration — are often larger than the external spend and are almost never counted.

This matters because investment decisions in recruitment are made on the basis of cost-per-hire figures that are systematically understated. An organisation that believes its cost-per-hire is £3,000 because that is what it paid job boards last year may be spending closer to £8,000 when all costs are included. The business case for investing in owned infrastructure looks very different when the real baseline is understood.

What's included

Key features.

True whole-system cost calculation
Hidden cost identification (hiring manager time, failed hires)
Channel-by-channel cost breakdown
Benchmarking against industry averages
Business case support for recruitment investment
In practice

How recruiters use Cost Per Hire Calculator.

A TA director uses the calculator to build the ROI case for a Workforce Engine investment — showing the board that a single reduction in average vacancy duration of five days pays for the annual spend many times over.
An HR director uses the true cost-per-hire output to have a factual conversation with finance about the real cost of continued agency dependency — replacing an anecdotal argument with a documented figure.
A recruitment marketing manager uses the channel-by-channel breakdown to demonstrate that direct sourcing through the careers site costs less than a third of the average job board cost-per-hire.
Best for

Who this tool is built for.

Recruitment marketers, TA leaders and HR directors building the business case for investment in owned recruitment infrastructure vs continued agency dependency.

Recruitment marketers, TA directors, HR leaders, CFOs reviewing recruitment spend.

Questions

Common questions about Cost Per Hire Calculator.

What costs does it include that most calculators miss?
Hiring manager interview time, internal recruiter time per hire, failed-hire replacement costs, employer brand investment, ATS and tool subscriptions, and onboarding costs — all of which are typically excluded from headline cost-per-hire figures.
What data do I need to run an accurate calculation?
At minimum: advertising spend by channel, agency fees, number of hires, and an estimate of internal recruiter hours per hire. The calculator also accepts hiring manager time, ATS costs and onboarding estimates if you have them.
Can I save and share the report?
Yes — the report generates in a format you can copy or print. Use it directly in board presentations, budget reviews or business case documents.
Which plan includes this tool?
Available on Recruitment Marketer (£399/month) and above.

Try Cost Per Hire Calculator.

Available on the Recruitment Marketer plan. See all plans and start today.

See Plans → All 17 Tools