Screening cost calculator for recruitment agencies
Estimate how many recruiter hours — and how much staff cost — first-pass CV screening takes your desk every month. Adjust the sliders, then share the link with your team.
Across every consultant on the desk
Average inbound applications for one role
Open, read, decide, update the record
Salary, commission, benefits and overhead
Every month your desk reads
1,500 applications by hand
That is
75hours
of recruiter time spent on first-pass screening
10.0
working days (7.5h)
$2,625
in loaded staff cost
Hours = roles × applications × minutes ÷ 60. This is an estimate from your inputs, not a savings guarantee — recruiters still review the agent’s work.
Put the agent on those applicationsHow the calculation works
Monthly screening hours = roles advertised per month × applications per role × minutes to screen one application ÷ 60. Monthly screening cost = screening hours × fully loaded recruiter cost per hour. Working days = screening hours ÷ 7.5. The result is an estimate built only from the numbers you enter.
What each input means — and how to measure it
Roles advertised per month
Applications per role
Minutes per application
Fully loaded hourly cost
Three example desks
Illustrative inputs to show how the maths works — not industry benchmarks. Replace them with your own figures.
| Desk | Inputs | Applications / month | Screening hours / month | Working days | Loaded cost / month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Specialist permanent desk | 4 roles × 80 applications × 4 min at $45/h | 320 | 21 | 2.8 | $960 |
| Contract and temp desk | 12 roles × 150 applications × 2 min at $35/h | 1,800 | 60 | 8.0 | $2,100 |
| High-volume desk | 25 roles × 400 applications × 1.5 min at $30/h | 10,000 | 250 | 33.3 | $7,500 |
Reduce the reading, keep the judgement
The biggest lever is minutes per application. Scoring every application against clear criteria first lets recruiters start with the strongest matches and read the evidence instead of every CV from scratch.
- Write down the role criteria before the first application arrives
- Screen every application against the same criteria
- Move strong matches to a structured interview quickly
- Keep recruiter review for every progression decision
- Measure again after a month with the same four inputs
Screening cost calculator: questions
Still deciding?
Bring a live vacancy and we’ll walk through where automation ends and recruiter review begins.
Monthly screening hours = roles advertised per month × applications per role × minutes to screen one application ÷ 60. Monthly screening cost = screening hours × fully loaded recruiter cost per hour. Working days = screening hours ÷ 7.5. Use a typical month and your own figures; the calculator on this page does the arithmetic for you.
It is the total cost of employing a recruiter — salary, commission, employer taxes and benefits, and a share of overhead such as office, software and management — divided by the hours they work. It is always higher than the salary alone.
It converts screening hours into days a reader can picture. If your team works different hours, divide the monthly screening hours by your own working day instead.
No. An AI recruiting agent such as Beatview reads and scores every application against your criteria, but recruiters still review the evidence and make every decision. Treat the result as the size of the first-pass reading workload, not a guaranteed saving.
Yes. Your inputs are saved in the page address, so you can copy the link or share it on LinkedIn and others will see the same figures. Nothing you enter is stored by Beatview.
Keep going
Give the first read to an AI recruiting agent.
Beatview scores every application against your criteria and attaches the evidence. Your recruiters review and decide.
- Free plan with one active role
- Runs alongside your ATS
- Recruiters keep every decision
Page last reviewed by the Beatview team.