How we calculate interview cost.
Every number on this site traces back to a published source. Here are the primary sources, the core formulae, the default assumptions, the freshness policy, and the corrections process. If anything looks wrong, tell us.
Primary sources.
We cite eleven primary and secondary sources. Each carries a specific role in the cost model. We do not re-publish proprietary data; every figure on this site is derived from publicly accessible sources or licensed practitioner benchmarks that we cite without reproducing protected content.
| Source | What we take from it | Cadence |
|---|---|---|
| SHRM Talent Access Benchmark Society for Human Resource Management | Cost-per-hire averages by industry and role level, time-to-fill medians, recruiter productivity benchmarks, agency-vs-in-house mix. The standard-setter for the SHRM/ANSI CPH-001 formula. Used as the anchor for all SHRM-cited figures on the site. | Annual (Q4) |
| BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) Bureau of Labor Statistics, US DoL | National median salaries by SOC occupation code. The salary anchor for every loaded-rate calculation on the site. Current release: May 2024 (published March 2025). | Annual (March) |
| BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC) Bureau of Labor Statistics, US DoL | Benefits as a percentage of total compensation. Used to justify the 1.35 benefits multiplier default in loaded-rate calculations. | Quarterly |
| BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLTS) Bureau of Labor Statistics, US DoL | Time-to-fill direction signal (job openings duration). Used to cross-reference SHRM and LinkedIn time-to-fill medians and to flag macro shifts in hiring difficulty. | Monthly |
| LinkedIn Talent Solutions Global Talent Trends LinkedIn | Time-to-hire benchmark by industry and region, source-of-hire breakdown, recruiter productivity metrics. Primary cross-reference for SHRM time-to-fill figures. | Annual |
| Glassdoor Economic Research Glassdoor | Time-to-fill medians, candidate salary expectations, cost-of-vacancy framing research. Used as a secondary cross-reference for time-to-fill and vacancy impact factor calibration. | Quarterly |
| JobVite Recruiting Benchmark Report Jobvite (Employ Inc.) | Annual funnel benchmark: applications-to-hire ratio, source-of-hire mix, time-in-stage medians, interview-to-offer rates. Used to calibrate recruiter hours per hire and per-stage logistics cost estimates. | Annual |
| Greenhouse Hiring Benchmark Greenhouse Software | ATS-provider benchmark across thousands of customers: interview rounds per role, time per stage, hiring-team participation. Used to calibrate per-role loop sizing defaults. | Annual |
| Lever Talent Benchmarks Lever (Employ Inc.) | ATS-provider benchmark: time-in-stage, sourcer/recruiter ratios, interview load by role. Used as a secondary cross-reference to Greenhouse benchmark. | Annual |
| ERE Recruiting Intelligence ERE Media | Practitioner survey series on recruiter productivity, agency fee structures, retained search benchmarks, and source-of-hire mix. Primary practitioner source for recruiter-fee bands. | Quarterly |
| BetterUp coaching research BetterUp | Behavioral and coaching research on ramp time, new-hire productivity curves, and the cost of a bad fit. Used as a secondary source for ramp-cost estimates on the /sales and /reduce-costs pages. | Continuous |
| Lightcast Talent Analytics Lightcast | Job-posting volume, time-to-fill medians by occupation, and skills-demand trends. Used to cross-reference SHRM time-to-fill numbers and add role-specific figures (product manager, ML engineer) not directly covered in BLS SOC codes. | Quarterly |
Calculation framework.
The five-component model decomposes the loop into the buckets a finance-literate HR leader would itemise. Each component has its own formula and primary source.
SHRM/ANSI Standard CPH-001, 2012. External: job board, agency, background checks, assessments, relocation, sign-on. Internal: recruiter and sourcer hours, hiring manager hours, panel hours, coordinator hours, tooling amortised per hire, referral bonuses. Excludes vacancy cost and onboarding by design. Anchor source: SHRM Talent Access Benchmark.
Default benefits multiplier 1.35, midpoint of the 1.25-1.45 industry range and aligned with BLS ECEC data showing private-industry benefits at 31-35 percent of total compensation. Anchor source: BLS OEWS May 2024 (occupation medians) and BLS ECEC (benefits ratio).
260 = 52 weeks x 5 working days. Impact factor 1x entry/admin, 2x IC in revenue roles, 2.5x managers, 3x leadership. Anchor sources: SHRM productivity research, Glassdoor cost-of-vacancy studies.
Not a SHRM standard metric; we publish it because finance teams budget against it. Anchor sources: composite of SHRM (recruiter), BLS OEWS (interviewer loaded rate), Greenhouse/Lever benchmarks (tooling amortisation), JobVite (logistics), SHRM productivity research (vacancy).
Industry-standard funnel metric. Anchor sources: SHRM Talent Access Benchmark, LinkedIn Talent Solutions Global Talent Trends, BLS JOLTS time-to-fill series, Lightcast posting-to-fill medians. Median 36-48 days for the US market in 2026.
Contingency 15-25% of base salary, retained 25-35% of first-year total comp, flat fee $5K-$20K per role, RPO per-hire $1,500-$4,000 or monthly retainer $5K-$50K+. Anchor sources: ERE Recruiting Intelligence practitioner survey, Greenhouse and Lever annual hiring benchmark reports, JobVite Benchmark Report.
Default assumptions.
| Assumption | Default | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| Benefits multiplier | 1.35 | Midpoint of 1.25-1.45 industry range; aligns with BLS ECEC data |
| Working hours per year | 2,080 | 40 hours x 52 weeks, standard US workforce assumption |
| Working days per year | 260 | 5 days x 52 weeks, standard US workforce assumption |
| Impact factor, entry / admin | 1.0x | Output roughly equals salary |
| Impact factor, individual contributor | 2.0x | Revenue-producing or impact IC produces 2x salary in value |
| Impact factor, manager | 2.5x | Force-multiplied across team output |
| Impact factor, leadership | 3.0x | Strategic impact across the organisation |
| Context-switch multiplier (engineering) | 1.4x | Interviewing.io research, deep-work cost literature |
| Recruiter hours per hire, in-house | 14 hrs | SHRM Talent Access Benchmark; Greenhouse and Lever benchmark reports |
| Recruiter loaded rate, in-house | $50/hr | ~$90K salary x 1.35 / 2,080, typical SMB and mid-market recruiter comp |
| Tooling amortised per hire | $250 | Mid-market stack cost ($80K-$200K) / typical annual hire volume; cross-checked against Greenhouse and Lever per-seat pricing |
| Time-to-fill, US median | 36-48 days | SHRM, LinkedIn Talent Solutions, BLS JOLTS, Lightcast cross-reference |
In scope.
- +Direct recruiting spend: job board, agency fee, retained search, RPO, background checks, assessments, relocation, sign-on bonus.
- +Internal recruiter and sourcer time at loaded rate.
- +Hiring manager and interview panel hours at loaded rate.
- +Coordinator time amortised across hires.
- +ATS, video, scheduling, and assessment platform cost amortised per hire.
- +Candidate logistics for in-person rounds: travel, hotel, meals, ground transport.
- +Daily vacancy cost while the role is open, reported separately from CPH per SHRM/ANSI standard.
Out of scope.
- -Onboarding and training. Post-hire productivity cost, not recruiting cost. Mixing them makes CPH non-comparable across companies. Track separately if you want total cost of employee.
- -Voluntary relocation paid by the candidate. Only offer-required relocation is in scope.
- -Equity and long-term incentive in loaded-rate calculations. Equity is not delivered per hour worked. Included in total-comp percentages for retained search fees only.
- -Bad-hire and post-hire turnover cost. Separate metric documented on the /reduce-costs page (link out: BetterUp coaching ROI research for the retention component).
- -Enterprise-negotiated recruiting-tech pricing. Public list prices and published vendor benchmarks only.
- -Non-US wage tables. Loaded-rate calculations use BLS OEWS US national medians; regional cost-of-labour adjustments are deferred to the reader.
Freshness policy.
Cost bands and benchmark figures are re-verified against the source publications on the first business week of each month. The verified date is held in a single constant (LAST_VERIFIED_DATE) imported by every page, the footer stamp, and the JSON-LD schema dateModified. Date drift across the site is structurally impossible.
Source-specific refresh windows:
- BLS OEWS: refresh when the May release lands (typically March each year).
- BLS ECEC and JOLTS: refresh quarterly.
- SHRM Talent Access Benchmark: refresh on the annual release (typically Q4).
- LinkedIn Talent Solutions Global Talent Trends: refresh on annual release.
- JobVite Benchmark Report: refresh on annual release.
- Greenhouse and Lever benchmark reports: refresh on annual release.
- ERE Recruiting Intelligence: refresh quarterly against ERE practitioner survey series.
- Lightcast: refresh quarterly against the posting-volume and time-to-fill series.
Out-of-cycle refresh is triggered by: a SHRM or BLS release outside the normal cadence, a public correction to a cited figure, a methodology change in any primary source, a reader correction that materially shifts a band, or a meaningful change in average US labour cost (BLS ECEC quarterly).
Limitations.
- !Calculator output is a planning estimate, not a precise figure. Two organisations with identical inputs can land 20-40 percent apart on actual realised cost depending on internal accounting treatment.
- !SHRM and JobVite benchmark figures lag actual market conditions by 6-12 months because their underlying surveys close before publication.
- !BLS OEWS publishes national medians; high-cost metros (SF, NYC, Seattle, Boston) run 25-45 percent above national for technical roles. Calculator users in high-cost metros should override the default salary input.
- !Per-industry CPH spreads in SHRM data reflect the average organisation in the survey. Highly-engineered industries (semiconductors, AI/ML, quant finance) can run 2-4x the industry mean.
Corrections process.
We want corrections. If a figure does not match the source, a formula has an error, or a benchmark is out of date, email corrections@interviewcost.com with the specific number, the page URL, and the source. We verify and publish corrections within five business days of a substantiated correction request.
Every number in the calculator traces to one of the sources above. Start there.
Related reading.
The SHRM/ANSI formula applied to every line item.
Read →Loaded-rate tables from BLS, with worked examples.
Read →The five-component model with every formula applied.
Read →Who builds the site, editorial position, and how we stay independent.
Read →Contingency vs retained vs RPO with worked examples.
Read →Daily cost of an open role by salary and impact factor.
Read →