Companies on average spend $173 on advertising per new hire. Small companies with less than 50 employees spend more per hire than larger companies. Job boards are the primary advertising channel for 85% of respondents. [/SUMMARY]

1. Early Results Find
Companies Spend $173 on
Advertising Per Hire

2. Abstract
In 2012, the American National Standards Institute accepted The Society for
Human Resources’ (SHRM) proposal to establish a recognized method for
determining cost per hire. The formula is as follows:
CPH = ( External Costs + Internal Costs / Total Number of Hires)
Software Advice ran a survey to determine one key piece of companies’ external
hiring costs: advertising and marketing cost per hire.
Key Takeaways:
• Companies spend, on average, $173 on advertising per hire.
• Small companies spend more on average for each new hire than large
companies.
• 85 percent of respondents said job boards were a primary advertising channel
for their companies.

3. Average Cost-Per-Hire
< $50
$51 - $100
$101 - $250
$251 - $500
$501 - $1,000
$1,001 - $5,000
$5,001+
Unknown
0
5
10
Number of Respondents
The majority of respondents spend less than $500 per hire. Though, there were
other respondents spending well above this.
15

4. Average Advertising Budget by Business Size
1 -50 employees
51 - 100 employees
101 - 250 employees
251 - 500 employees
501 - 1,000 employees
1,001 - 2,500 employees
2,501 - 5,000 employees
5,001 - 10,000 employees
$0
$25,000
$50,000
Average Advertising Budget
We averaged the total advertising spend by size of business. Not surprisingly, the
bigger the company, the bigger their advertising budget.

5. Average Cost-Per-Hire by Business Size
1 -50 employees
51 - 100 employees
101 - 250 employees
251 - 500 employees
501 - 1,000 employees
1,001 - 2,500 employees
2,501 - 5,000 employees
5,001 - 10,000 employees
$0
$250
$500
$750
$1,000
Average Cost-Per-Hire
Calculating the average cost-per-hire by business size, we found that businesses
with less than 50 employees spent more per hire than all other company sizes.

6. Most Often Used Advertising Channels
Job Boards
Social Networks
Company Careers Pages
Newspaper Ads
Brochures
SEM
Other
0
15
30
45
60
Number of Respondents
The most frequently-used channel was job boards, followed by social networks and
company careers pages.

7. Positions of Respondents
9%
2%
3%
Work in HR dept
Work in another dept
Business owner / CEO
HR consultant
Recruiting / staffing agency
12%
74%
Almost 75 percent of our survey respondents worked in their company’s human
resources department.

8. Respondents by Company Size
1 -50 employees
51 - 100 employees
101 - 250 employees
251 - 500 employees
501 - 1,000 employees
1,001 - 2,500 employees
2,501 - 5,000 employees
5,001 - 10,000 employees
0
5
10
15
Number of Respondents
Almost half of our respondents worked at companies with 250 employees or less.
Companies with less than 50 employees were the highest-responding demographic.

9. Types of Open Positions Advertised
13%
Entry - level
Mid - level
Senior - level
23%
64%
The majority of job postings advertised by respondents were for entry-level
positions at their companies.

10. Text
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Software Advice is a trusted resource for software buyers. The company's website,
www.softwareadvice.com, provides detailed reviews, comparisons and research to
help organizations choose the right software. Meanwhile, the company’s team of
software analysts provide free telephone consultations to help each software buyer
identify systems that best fit their needs. In the process, Software Advice connects
software buyers and sellers, generating high-quality opportunities for software
vendors.