{"id":1915,"date":"2026-09-29T18:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T16:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fosfor.nl\/?p=1915"},"modified":"2026-08-31T11:25:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T09:25:08","slug":"calculating-cost-per-hire-which-costs-are-you-overlooking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fosfor.nl\/en\/cost-per-hire-berekenen-welke-kosten-vergeet-je\/","title":{"rendered":"Calculating cost per hire: which costs are you overlooking?"},"content":{"rendered":"

You calculate the cost per hire by adding up all internal and external recruitment costs for a given period and dividing this total by the number of employees hired during that same period. The formula is simple; the real answer lies in the hidden costs that most employers fail to take into account. These include the time spent by your hiring managers, lost revenue due to a vacant post, and staff turnover in the first few months.<\/p>\n

Many SMEs in the engineering, manufacturing, logistics and maritime sectors underestimate the true cost of a new employee. They focus on the recruitment agency\u2019s invoice or the cost of advertising, and overlook the rest. As a result, one recruitment route may seem cheap, whilst in fact it costs you the most money on an annual basis.<\/p>\n

How exactly do you calculate cost per hire?<\/h2>\n

Cost per hire = (total internal costs + total external costs) \/ number of employees recruited. This is the same basic formula used by the trade association SHRM as an international standard (SHRM, 2024<\/a>). Internal costs are your own hours and systems; external costs are everything you pay for externally.<\/p>\n

External costs are the easiest to identify: job boards, advertising budgets on Meta or LinkedIn, agency fees and assessments. Internal costs are more difficult to identify, as they are hidden away in the diaries of people who aren\u2019t paid to recruit.<\/p>\n

What are the minimum items that should be included in the calculation?<\/h3>\n