Cost per hire and time to hire tell you how efficiently you recruited. They say nothing about whether the person was any good. Quality of hire is the metric that closes that gap. This calculator blends four post-hire signals into a single score from 0 to 100, with weights you control.

There is no universal formula

Most quality-of-hire models take the same shape: score a handful of indicators on a common scale, weight them, and average. The four used here are first-year performance, how quickly the person reached full productivity, hiring-manager satisfaction, and retention at the twelve-month mark. Some organisations add cultural contribution or a customer or peer rating. What matters is that you define the indicators once, measure them the same way for every hire, and track the score over time. A number in isolation means little; the trend across a year of hiring tells you whether sourcing, screening or onboarding is working.

Frequently asked questions

What counts as a good quality of hire score?

As a rough read, 80 and above is a strong hire, 60 to 79 is solid, and below 60 is a signal to look at what went wrong. Calibrate these bands against your own history rather than an external benchmark.

When should I measure it?

The first full read is usually at 6 to 12 months, once performance and ramp are visible and the retention question has a real answer. Some teams take an early pulse at 90 days.

Where do the indicator scores come from?

Performance from the first appraisal or a manager rating, ramp from time-to-productivity against target, hiring-manager satisfaction from a short survey, and retention from whether the person is still employed and engaged.

Why is quality of hire considered hard to measure?

Because “quality” is subjective, the data arrives months after the hire, and small teams have too few hires for the average to be stable. Consistency of method matters more than precision.

Can I compare scores across departments?

Only if they use the same indicators and weights. Otherwise compare within a team over time.

How does this connect to the rest of the funnel?

A low score often traces back to a thin or rushed funnel. Cross-check with the Recruitment Funnel Calculator and Offer Acceptance Rate Calculator.

Pair this with the Cost Per Hire Calculator and Time to Hire Calculator for a fuller picture of recruiting effectiveness.