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Cost Per Hire Calculator: what does one hire actually cost you?
Job board spend is the easy part to track. The bigger number is usually recruiter and hiring manager time. Enter your numbers below to see your true cost per hire.
EZ Recruits brokerages cut recruiter hours and time-to-hire with one connected pipeline.
How it works
Four line items, one SHRM-standard formula
Cost per hire uses the SHRM/ANSI standard: total internal and external recruiting costs, divided by the number of hires. Most brokerages only track the first two categories below.
Job boards & advertising
Postings on Indeed, LinkedIn, Zillow Premier Agent and any paid promotion of open roles.
Agency & referral fees
Recruiter or headhunter placement fees, sign-on bonuses, and referral incentives paid to current agents.
Recruiting software
ATS, CRM and sourcing tool subscriptions, prorated to the hiring period you are measuring.
Recruiter & manager time
The hours brokers, team leads and admin staff spend sourcing, screening and interviewing, valued at their hourly cost.
FAQ
Common questions about cost per hire
What is a good cost per hire?
SHRM's 2025 Benchmarking Report puts the national average at $5,475 for non-executive roles. Real estate and mortgage recruiting often runs lower on ad spend but higher on recruiter time, since sourcing licensed agents relies more on relationships than job postings.
What is the cost per hire formula?
The SHRM/ANSI standard formula is (total internal recruiting costs + total external recruiting costs) divided by the number of hires in the period. Internal costs include recruiter and hiring manager time and software. External costs include job boards, agencies and referral bonuses.
Why do most companies undercount their cost per hire?
Job board and agency invoices are easy to add up, so they get tracked. Recruiter hours, hiring manager interview time and the productivity gap while a seat sits open rarely make it into the spreadsheet, even though they typically make up the majority of the true cost.
How is recruiter and hiring manager time valued?
Estimate the hours spent sourcing, screening and interviewing for the period, then multiply by each person's fully loaded hourly cost, including salary, benefits and overhead, not just base pay.
Does cost per hire include onboarding?
No. Cost per hire under the SHRM/ANSI formula stops at the point of hire. Onboarding, training and the ramp-up period before a new hire is fully productive are a separate cost, covered by our turnover cost calculator.
Lower your cost per hire with one connected pipeline
EZ Recruits replaces scattered job boards, spreadsheets and manual screening with a single system, cutting the recruiter hours that drive most of the number above.
