Hiring tools · Cost
What a wrong hire costs.
Anchor the visible cost of a leadership mismatch, then add the costs that never show up as a line item. The waterline shows how little of the real number was ever on the books.
The math nobody runs
Annual compensation for the role $150,000
How far the role reaches
Months before the mismatch surfaced 9
Now the costs that never show up on an invoice
$79,000 to $146,000
estimated true cost of one wrong hire
Costs you can see on a statement never invoiced
Talk through the role What sits behind the range
The opening figure, $79,000 to $146,000, is the starting setting: $150,000 in annual pay, a mismatch that surfaced after 9 months, and an executive-level role.
- Replacement: 25% of annual pay for the re-search and the vacancy.
- Lost output: monthly pay times the months in the role, at a 50% output gap.
- Exit: 1.5 months of pay.
- The range is the estimate plus or minus 30%.
- Each cost you toggle on is a multiple of annual pay, scaled by how far the role reaches.
These are Ambassador Group's own working assumptions, set as editorial judgment. They are not drawn from a published study. Treat the result as an illustration built from your inputs, not a quote.
Before you call process overhead
The cheapest insurance is the disciplined search.
The number above is the case for getting the hire right the first time. When the role matters, the search is worth the rigor.
Talk through the role → Compensation, in the open
See open roles →