Free Recruitment Budget Template (Excel)
What's in the recruitment budget template
One table, up to 60 rows: position/role, sourcing channel (job boards, agency, referral, career fair, internal, other), budgeted spend, actual spend, and hires made. Cost per hire and variance calculate on every row the moment you fill it in.
It's a fully ungated instant .xlsx download - no subscription wall like the paywalled template.net version, and no separate blog roundup to dig through.
Cost per hire, by channel and by role
Cost per hire is Actual spend divided by Hires made. The cell stays blank until you enter at least one hire on that row, so it never shows a divide-by-zero error - you'll only see a number once there's a real hire to calculate against.
Because channel is its own dropdown column, you can put the same role on two rows - one for a job board spend, one for an agency fee - and compare cost per hire side by side instead of guessing which channel is actually cheaper.
Planned vs. actual: tracking variance across a hiring quarter
Variance is Budgeted spend minus Actual spend. A negative variance (highlighted automatically) means that role ran over its recruiting budget - useful when you're reviewing quarterly hiring spend against what finance approved.
The summary below the table totals budgeted spend, actual spend, hires, an overall cost-per-hire figure, and total variance, so you don't have to build your own rollup formulas.
Who this template is for
Small-business HR teams and hiring managers who need a quick, honest view of what recruiting actually costs per channel and per hire, without a full applicant-tracking or HRIS platform.
It's a budget-tracking tool, not a workforce-planning model - pair it with a headcount planning template if you also need to forecast future roles.
How to use it
- List every open role with its sourcing channel, budgeted spend and actual spend so far.
- Enter how many hires each row produced - cost per hire and variance calculate automatically.
- Check the summary for total budgeted, total actual spend, total hires and your overall cost per hire.
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PTO & Leave Tracker — with Automatic Accrual
Once your recruiting budget is under control, the paid PTO & Leave Tracker ($19) automates accrual, carryover caps and balances for the team you just hired.
See the full versionFrequently asked questions
Is this recruitment budget template really free, with no lead-gated PDF?
Yes. It's an instant .xlsx download, unlike the paywalled 'subscribe to download' version on template.net.
How is cost per hire calculated?
Actual spend divided by hires made, on the same row. It stays blank until you enter at least one hire, so it's never a divide-by-zero error.
Does this replace a workforce or headcount planning template?
No. This template tracks recruiting spend and cost per hire - it doesn't forecast future headcount or salary bands. Use it alongside a workforce planning template for that.
Can I use it in Google Sheets?
Yes. Upload the file to Google Drive, open it, and choose File > Save as Google Sheets. All formulas keep working.
What's the usage license?
Personal use or use within one business. It's not meant to be resold or redistributed as a template product.