Recruitment Cost Calculator
Recruitment Cost Calculator
Model the fully-loaded cost of hiring a senior engineer — agency fee, recruiter hours, panel time, postings, empty-seat cost, onboarding, and replacement risk — and compare four channels side by side.
Drives agency fee + empty-seat opportunity cost
Their interview hours are the biggest hidden cost
Fully-loaded cost per hire
Channel comparison
In-house hiring
$0 per hire
Recruitment agency (20%)
$0 per hire
Freelance / marketplace
$0 per hire
Second Talent
$0 per hire
Detailed cost breakdown (per hire)
| Cost component | In-house | Agency | Freelance | Second Talent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Channel fee | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Recruiter time | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Panel interview time | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Job postings + ATS | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Empty-seat cost | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Onboarding + replacement risk | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Cost per hire
$0
via Second Talent
Total program cost
$0
for all hires
Saved vs agency
$0
at 20% commission
Saved vs in-house
$0
loaded internal cost
We help companies save $103,000+ per hire
28k USD
Median cost per senior engineer hire in the US (LinkedIn Talent)
20%
Typical agency commission on annual base salary
62 hrs
Panel interview hours consumed per senior hire
15%
Of tech hires do not make it past year one (SHRM)
Where the money actually goes
Most teams only track the agency fee. The calculator above adds the five hidden costs that make senior hires so expensive.
Channel fee
Agency commission at 15–25% of annual salary, a platform placement fee, or an engagement retainer. The only line most finance teams actually see — typically 35–50% of the total bill.
Recruiter time
Sourcing, scheduling, candidate management, reference checks, offer negotiation. 20–60 hours of burdened HR time per hire at roughly $65/hour fully loaded.
Panel interview time
Four engineers × four rounds × 1.5 hours × $120/hour burdened = $2,880 per hire, before debrief and coordination. Staff-level hires can push this past $6,000.
Job postings & tooling
LinkedIn Recruiter seat, Indeed sponsored posts, ATS allocation, candidate screening tools, assessment platforms. Usually $1,500–$2,500 per hire for in-house channels.
Empty-seat opportunity cost
Every day the role sits open, you lose the value that engineer would have delivered — about 1.5× loaded salary per working day. On a 60-day search for a $160k role that is $55,000 gone.
Onboarding + replacement risk
Equipment, software licenses, manager ramp-up hours, and the risk-adjusted cost of candidates that leave inside year one. Second Talent replaces on our dime if it is not working, so this line collapses.
The hidden cost at each stage
A senior hire touches six stages, and every one accumulates dollars. The calculator sums them in order.
Sourcing
Job ads, LinkedIn Recruiter searches, referral campaigns. In-house teams burn 15–25 recruiter hours per hire before a single candidate lands on the phone.
Screening
Resume review, phone screens, take-home tests. Drop-off is 60–80%, so for every hire you are funding 8–12 full screens — most of which end in "no".
Panel interviews
The most expensive stage by far. Four engineers × four rounds of 90-minute loops plus a 30-minute debrief at burdened engineering rates adds up fast.
Offer + references
Two weeks of negotiation, reference checks, and approvals. Lose the candidate here and you restart the whole funnel — that is what the replacement-risk line models.
Empty seat
Between signed offer and day one, the role still does not ship. For every extra week it stays open, budget roughly one week of fully-loaded salary in foregone value.
Onboarding + ramp
Equipment, manager time, pair programming. Your new senior is not yet productive — a 90-day ramp is the industry norm, and a ~15% chance exists you restart the cycle inside a year.
Recruitment cost questions, answered
Why is Second Talent so much cheaper than a traditional agency?
What is a reasonable cost per senior engineer hire?
How did you derive the "panel interview" number?
What is the "empty-seat" cost, exactly?
Why is in-house hiring more expensive than using an agency in your model?
Do you charge the candidate's annual salary as a percentage?
What this calculator helps you understand
Six-component cost breakdown per hire across in-house, agency, freelance and Second Talent
Side-by-side stacked-bar comparison showing exactly where the money goes in each channel
Fully-loaded per-hire and total program cost, including the empty-seat opportunity cost
Savings vs a 20% agency commission and vs your loaded internal hiring cost
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