Free tool for in-house and agency recruiters
Recruiting funnel calculator: from hires back to sourcing
Work backwards from the hires and round every stage up to whole people: offers = hires ÷ acceptance rate, interviews = offers ÷ interview-to-offer rate, phone screens = interviews ÷ screen-to-interview rate, and candidates to source = screens ÷ reply rate. With 1 hire, 85% acceptance, 25% of interviews ending in an offer, 40% of screens moving to interview and 20% of sourced candidates replying, you need 2 offers, 8 interviews, 20 screens and 100 sourced candidates; at 5 minutes each that is 8.3 hours of sourcing.
Last updated 2026-11-11.
- Candidates to source
- Phone screens
- Interviews
- Offers
- Sourcing hours
- Candidates sourced per hire
Check the inputs: hires a whole number of at least 1, every rate above 0% and at most 100%, minutes not negative.
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Example scenarios
Three sets of example inputs worked through the same formulas as the calculator above. They are illustrations, not averages or statistics.
| Scenario | Inputs | Offers | Interviews | Screens | Candidates to source | Sourcing hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low | 1 hire, 90% accept, 33% interview to offer, 50% screen to interview, 30% reply, 4 min per candidate | 2 | 7 | 14 | 47 | 3.1 |
| Typical | 1 hire, 85% accept, 25% interview to offer, 40% screen to interview, 20% reply, 5 min per candidate | 2 | 8 | 20 | 100 | 8.3 |
| High | 3 hires, 80% accept, 20% interview to offer, 30% screen to interview, 10% reply, 6 min per candidate | 4 | 20 | 67 | 670 | 67 |
Method: Work back from the hires you need: offers = hires ÷ offer acceptance rate; interviews = offers ÷ interview-to-offer rate; screens = interviews ÷ screen-to-interview rate; candidates to source = screens ÷ reply rate; each stage rounded up to whole people. Sourcing hours = candidates to source × minutes to find and contact one ÷ 60. The rates are your own, not benchmarks. Figures checked against the same formulas on 2026-11-11.
How the calculator works
A hiring funnel loses people at every stage: not every sourced candidate replies, not every phone screen leads to an interview, not every interview ends in an offer and not every offer is accepted. The calculator starts from the number of hires you need and divides by your rate at each stage, from the offer back to sourcing. Each stage is rounded up, because you cannot interview a fraction of a person.
Sourcing hours multiply the candidates to source by the minutes you spend finding and contacting one, then divide by 60. The rates are yours to enter; the defaults are only an example and not benchmarks.
Worked example
One hire with an 85% acceptance rate needs 1 ÷ 0.85 = 1.18 offers, so plan for 2. With 25% of interviews ending in an offer, 2 offers need 2 ÷ 0.25 = 8 interviews. With 40% of phone screens moving to interview, 8 interviews need 8 ÷ 0.40 = 20 screens. With 20% of sourced candidates replying and taking a screen, 20 screens need 20 ÷ 0.20 = 100 sourced candidates.
At 5 minutes to find and contact each one, 100 candidates take 500 minutes, or 8.3 hours of sourcing for one hire. For 3 hires the same rates give 4 offers, 16 interviews, 40 screens and 200 sourced candidates, which is 16.7 hours, or 67 candidates per hire, because the rounding matters less with more hires.
Use your own rates
Take the last few roles of a similar kind and count how many people reached each stage. Divide each count by the count of the stage before it to get your rate. Rates differ a lot between roles, seniority and markets, so a rate from one search is a weak guide for a very different one.
What this tool does not do
It plans volume and time for one search and forgets everything when you close the page. It does not rate or rank candidates and gives no legal or employment advice. For the work itself, the Desk & Intake prompt kit linked below keeps intake notes, outreach drafts, screen notes and a light pipeline in Notion.
Questions
How many candidates do I need to source for one hire?
Divide the hire back through your stage rates. At 85% acceptance, 25% interview to offer, 40% screen to interview and 20% reply, it is 100 sourced candidates.
Why are the numbers rounded up?
Each stage is a count of people, so 1.18 offers means planning for 2.
Does this page store my numbers?
No. The math runs in your browser; nothing is sent or saved.
Made by Bardach Technologies. We also make Desk & Intake, a separate recruiter prompt kit for Notion: 41 prompts from intake to offer and a light candidate pipeline with 5 databases (USD 31.99, one-time purchase on Gumroad). The prompts write drafts you edit; they never rank people. This calculator is free and needs no sign-up; nothing is charged on this page. Get Desk & Intake on Gumroad (USD 31.99)