Quick answer: cost per hire = (internal recruiting costs + external recruiting costs) / number of hires. 18,000 internal plus 26,000 external for 11 hires is 4,000 per hire.
What goes in each bucket
- Internal: recruiter and hiring manager time, referral bonuses, recruiting software, and the share of HR salaries spent on hiring.
- External: job ads, agency fees, background checks, assessments, candidate travel and relocation.
Use the same period for costs and hires, and count hires who started in that period.
High turnover drives hiring cost; measure it with the turnover rate calculator.
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Questions
Should unfilled roles count in cost per hire?
Their costs do, because they were spent in the period; the hires count only includes people who started. That is why cost per hire rises in months with many open roles.