Cost per hire is one of the most quoted recruitment metrics and one of the least understood. Most companies count the obvious invoices and miss the costs that do the real damage. If you hire for the same roles again and again, getting this number right is the first step to bringing it down.
The visible costs
- Agency fees. Usually the largest single line. A typical agency placement costs $10,000 to $20,000, paid per hire.
- Job adverts and job boards. Posting, promoting and refreshing adverts across several sites.
- Recruiter time. The salaries of the people running the process, spread across the roles they fill.
- Tools. Applicant tracking systems, scheduling tools and assessments.
The hidden costs
- Hiring manager time. Every CV reviewed and every interview run is time taken from the manager’s actual job.
- The empty seat. While a role is open, work is delayed or absorbed by the team.
- Screening volume. Inbound adverts attract large numbers of applicants who do not fit, and someone has to read them all.
- Starting from zero every time. If the candidates you spoke to last time are not in your system, every new opening starts with an empty pipeline.
Why recurring roles cost more than they should
For a one-off hire, paying a placement fee can be reasonable. For recurring roles, the same costs repeat: another fee, another advert, another empty pipeline. The work is nearly identical each time, but nothing carries over from one hire to the next.
Levers that bring cost per hire down
- Pay for the pipeline, not the placement. Buying sourcing and engagement capacity instead of individual placements breaks the link between each hire and a large fee.
- Keep the pipeline. Candidates who are not right today are often right in six months. If they are in your own system, the next search starts warm.
- Go outbound. Approaching the right people directly cuts the screening load that comes with inbound adverts.
- Protect your team’s time. Your recruiters and hiring managers should spend their time talking to qualified, interested candidates, not sifting.
What this looks like in practice
Peopleflow Talent Engine is built on those levers. We source and engage passive candidates for your roles across email, LinkedIn, text and voice notes, and the interested ones book calls directly with your recruiters. It starts from £1,999 (USD 2,499) per job, for as little as 150 candidates monthly per job, and compared with a typical placement fee clients can save up to 80% per hire.
Want to see the numbers for your own recurring roles? Book a discovery call.