What this calculator does
Recruiting is a funnel and the arithmetic runs backwards. You know how many people you need to hire; what you want is how many applications that requires, because that determines the advertising, the sourcing effort and how long the process will take.
The multiplication is unforgiving. Three hires at these conversion rates needs 188 applications, 47 screening calls, 19 interviews and 4 offers. Each stage divides by a number below one, so the requirement grows quickly as you work back up.
The formula
Work from the bottom. Offers needed is hires divided by the acceptance rate, interviews is offers divided by the offer rate, screens is interviews divided by the interview rate, and applications is screens divided by the screening pass rate. Counts are rounded up at each stage, because you cannot interview four fifths of a person.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Screening pass rate | The share of applications worth a first conversation. Often low on a widely advertised role. |
| Interview rate | The share of screened candidates who reach a full interview. |
| Offer rate | The share of interviews that produce an offer. The stage most within your control. |
| Acceptance rate | The share of offers accepted. Below about 70 per cent usually means a pay or process problem. |
The inputs explained
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Hires needed | How many people you need to hire. |
| Offers accepted (%) | Share of offers accepted. Use your own history rather than an assumption; this is the stage where a weak figure is most expensive. |
| Interviews that produce an offer (%) | Share of interviews producing an offer. A very high rate may mean you are screening too hard and seeing too few people. |
| Screens that reach interview (%) | Share of screened candidates who go to interview. |
| Applications that pass screening (%) | Share of applications that pass an initial screen. On a broadly advertised role this is often 10 to 25 per cent. |
When to use it
Working out whether your pipeline is big enough
Enter the hires you need and compare the applications figure against what the last advert actually produced. If the gap is large, the answer is more sourcing rather than a faster process.
Finding the stage that is actually hurting
Change one rate at a time and watch the applications needed. The stage that moves it most is the one worth fixing, and it is frequently the acceptance rate rather than anything at the top of the funnel.
Planning interviewer time
Nineteen interviews at four interviewers and two hours each is 152 interviewer hours. Put that through total employment cost and it becomes a real line in the recruiting budget.
Worked examples
Every figure in the tables below is produced by this page’s own calculator at build time, so the numbers and the tool always agree. Select any row to load that scenario.
How many applications does each hire need?
Only the number of hires changes.
Which conversion rate matters most?
Only the share of interviews that produce an offer changes.
| Offer rate | Applications needed | Interviews to hold | Overall conversion |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10% | 375 | 38 | 0.800% |
| 15% | 250 | 25 | 1.20% |
| 20% | 188 | 19 | 1.60% |
| 30% | 125 | 13 | 2.40% |
| 50% | 75 | 8 | 4.00% |
Questions
Why round up at every stage?
Because people are whole. Rounding up at each stage is slightly conservative and gives a planning figure you can actually act on, rather than a fractional candidate.
What are typical conversion rates?
They vary enormously by role, seniority and how the vacancy is advertised. Use your own historic numbers wherever possible; borrowed benchmarks from a different market will mislead you.
My acceptance rate is low. Does that matter much?
Yes, and more than people expect, because it sits at the bottom and multiplies everything above it. Going from 80 to 50 per cent acceptance raises the applications needed by 60 per cent for the same hires.
Does this account for time?
No. It gives volumes rather than a timeline. Time to hire depends on how fast each stage runs and how many run in parallel, which is a scheduling question rather than a conversion one.
Should a very high offer rate worry me?
It can. If nearly every interview produces an offer, the screening may be too aggressive and strong candidates are being filtered out before anyone meets them. A funnel that is too narrow at the top is as much a problem as one that is too wide.
For what the process costs, see cost per hire, and to value the interviewer time inside it, total employment cost. For how many hires you need in the first place there is employee turnover rate.