Cost of Hiring an Expert vs. Hiring a Fresher Calculator

Your details

Select the currency for all monetary inputs. All values are in this currency.
Gross monthly salary paid to the experienced hire, before benefits.
/mo
All one-time costs to bring the expert on board: recruiter fees, job ads, background checks, onboarding, equipment, etc.
Employer-paid benefits (health, pension, payroll taxes, etc.) as a percentage of monthly wage. Typical range is 20-35% in developed markets.
%
How many months to compare both hires over. Both the expert and the fresher are assumed to serve this full period.
months
Gross monthly salary paid to the fresher/graduate, before benefits.
/mo
All one-time costs to hire the fresher: recruiter fees, job ads, background checks, onboarding, equipment, etc.
Employer-paid benefits as a percentage of monthly wage.
%
Cost of training the fresher each month: courses, trainer time, mentoring hours billed at internal cost, lost billable hours, software licences, etc.
/mo
How many months the fresher requires dedicated training. After this period only wages and benefits apply.
months
The effective productivity of the fresher during the training period, as a percentage of a fully productive employee. 50% means you get half the output for the same wage cost.
%
Cost differenceFresher is cheaper
100,800

How much more the costlier option costs over the tenure (positive = expert costs more)

Expert total cost245,000
Fresher total cost144,200
Break-even monthDoes not occur in this tenure
Expert effective monthly cost10,208
Fresher effective monthly cost6,008
Lower total costFresher
Expert255,208
Fresher150,208

Cost difference: 100,800

  • Total cost
  • Effective cost/month

Fresher is the lower-cost hire, saving 100,800 over 24 months.

  • The fresher hire costs 41.1% less over 24 months.
  • The fresher never overtakes the expert in total cost within this tenure, mainly because of training costs. Extend the tenure or reduce training costs to see if a crossover occurs.
  • During training the fresher delivers only 50% productivity. Factor in the effective output gap when weighing these numbers against deadline-sensitive projects.

Next stepEven though the fresher costs less overall, weigh the productivity ramp-up, time-to-value, and the risk of the fresher leaving before the training investment is recovered.

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