How Many Hours Will Hiring Actually Take You?

It's a planning estimate, not a guarantee. The numbers are only as good as the funnel rates and stage durations you enter, so start with the defaults, then adjust the advanced calculator to match how your team actually interviews.

The interview itself is only part of the cost. Prep time, context-switching, and the work an engineer isn't doing while they're in an interview all add up. That's why the cost calculation weights engineer and recruiter time above their raw hourly rate, not just the hour spent in the room.

There's no universal number, but if your engineers are regularly spending double-digit hours a week interviewing, that's usually a sign to tighten your funnel earlier, or bring in an outside interviewer for part of the process.

Two levers work best: a sharper CV and recruiter screen so fewer weak candidates reach your engineers, and a structured technical interview format so every round is short, consistent, and doesn't need repeating. See our sample interview structure ➔

No, it assumes every scheduled interview happens as planned. In practice, build in some slack on top of these numbers for cancellations and reschedules.