Updated 4 November 2026
Campus hiring can look inexpensive on a vendor quote and expensive by the time the drive is over. The interview or assessment licence is only one line in the budget. Your team may also pay for travel and accommodation, college visits and pre-placement talks, recruiter time, venue arrangements, candidate coordination and separate assessments. If you count only the software bill, you miss much of what it costs to run the drive.
That makes it difficult to answer the question finance actually cares about: what did it cost us to hire someone? This guide shows you how to build the full cost of a campus drive using your own numbers, calculate the cost per applicant, completed interview and hire, and see where moving the first round online could reduce costs.
Build the full campus-drive budget using your own costs
There is no widely used public benchmark for the full cost per candidate of an Indian campus drive. Build your baseline from your own receipts and staff time.
Start with the costs your team actually incurs. Separate one-time drive costs from costs that rise with each candidate, and do not leave recruiter time out simply because it is already on payroll.
| Cost category | What to include |
|---|---|
| College engagement | Registration or placement fees, pre-placement talks, sponsorships and presentation costs, where applicable. |
| Recruiter travel and stay | Tickets, accommodation, meals, local transport and other travel-related expenses for campus visits. |
| Recruiter and interviewer time | Recruiter days, hiring-manager time, technical panel hours and interview review. |
| Online assessment (OA) tools | Aptitude tests, coding assessments, technical tests and other separately billed online assessments. |
| AI interview tools | AI-led video or voice interviews, interview evaluation, proctoring and reporting. |
| ATS and recruitment software | Applicant tracking, application management, scheduling and paid candidate communication features. |
| Candidate coordination | Manual or outsourced invitations, reminders, rescheduling, helpdesk and candidate support not already covered by your software. |
| On-campus logistics | Rooms, labs, internet, equipment, invigilation, stationery and refreshments. |
Integrity in Round 1 is another cost and quality consideration. If AI interviews are part of your campus drive, make sure recruiters can review suspicious signals rather than treating one flag as proof. See Fabric's AI interview cheating detection and what it can and cannot establish.
Use last season's actual numbers. Enter separate totals for OA tools, AI interview tools and ATS or recruitment software. If an ATS subscription supports several hiring programmes, allocate only the share attributable to this drive. Include hiring-manager and interviewer time separately from recruiter time. For travel, spread one-off tickets across the visit days if you are using the per-day field. Do not count a feature twice if it is bundled into another tool. Use the currency your finance team budgets in. The boxes hold placeholders, not benchmarks.
Last season, per completed interview
Example numbers. Replace every box with yours.
Use the same total drive cost for each calculation, then change the denominator: cost per applicant = total drive cost ÷ applicants; cost per completed interview = total drive cost ÷ completed interviews; cost per hire = total drive cost ÷ hires. Use completed interviews, not invitations, for the interview figure. A remote first round may reduce travel, venue and on-campus logistics, but recruiter time, candidate support and interview review still count.
Compare the unit, not just the price
Vendors do not always charge for the same thing. One may bill for each assessment attempt, another for each completed interview, and another through a monthly allowance. Ask what counts as billable: an invitation, an interview started, a completed interview or a retry. Then request a quote for the same volume, peak concurrency, interview format, reporting, proctoring, setup, support and ATS integration. Compare the total cost for the drive and calculate the effective platform cost per completed interview. Keep OA tools and ATS subscriptions separate unless the vendor confirms they are included.
For an India-based campus drive, Fabric's current pricing portal lists Pilot at ₹20,000/month for 50 interviews, Growth at ₹35,000/month for 100 and Scale at ₹75,000/month for 250. Enterprise pricing is custom for 500 or more interviews per month. These are monthly plan allowances, not per-hire costs or a quote for an entire campus season. If your drive spans several months, calculate the allowance and subscription period you will actually need. Confirm how usage, unused interviews and any additional volume are counted before finalising your budget. See the current regional pricing for current plan details and regional terms.
What Fabric's AI interview plans add to your campus budget
Use the relevant plan price as one line in the software budget, not as the total cost of the drive. For a drive that exceeds the monthly allowance, needs a compressed schedule or runs across several months, ask Fabric to confirm the right scope and quote.
India pricing · Pilot
The current India pricing portal lists Pilot at ₹20,000/month for 50 interviews, Growth at ₹35,000 for 100 and Scale at ₹75,000 for 250. Enterprise pricing is custom for 500+ interviews per month. Confirm current rates and usage terms before budgeting.
See current India pricingWhat changes the quote for a campus drive
- Peak concurrency: Fabric's bulk-hiring guide says the platform can run up to 500 interviews at once. That is separate from the monthly interview allowance. Share how many candidates need to interview simultaneously and confirm the capacity and support arrangements for your dates.
- Timeline: a drive compressed into one week has different scheduling and support needs from a month-long process.
- Billing: the current pricing portal advertises savings of up to 10% with quarterly billing. Treat this as a possible discount, not an assumed saving. Confirm eligibility and final billing terms for your selected plan and region.
- Plan features: Pilot includes video AI interviews, resume screening and 360-degree reports. Growth adds WhatsApp automation and custom branding. Scale adds AI proctoring, analytics dashboards and a dedicated account manager. Enterprise adds ATS integration, VPC deployments and API access. Confirm the exact feature set and integration scope in your regional quote.
- Scale adds AI proctoring, analytics dashboards and a dedicated account manager. Enterprise adds ATS integration, VPC deployments and API access. Confirm the integration scope and deployment requirements in your quote.
- If you also need candidate sourcing, scope it separately from the AI interview plan.
Keep applicants, shortlisted candidates and completed interviews separate
Cost per applicant, cost per completed interview and cost per hire answer different questions. Resume screening sits between applicants and the interview pool. If 2,000 students apply and 10% meet your shortlist criteria, 200 are eligible for interview. If 80% complete it, expect 160 completed interviews. Use your own shortlist and completion rates rather than assuming every applicant reaches an interview.
Use the calculator below to estimate the size of your interview funnel. Applicants multiplied by your shortlist rate gives the number of candidates eligible for interview. The completion rate estimates how many of those candidates will finish after receiving an invitation. The calculator assumes one initial invitation per shortlisted candidate; add a separate buffer for retries or undelivered invitations based on your own past drives. Use your own rates, not a generic campus benchmark.
Estimate your interview funnel
Use your own shortlist and completion rates. These example inputs are not campus benchmarks.
Include recruiter time, not just software cost
Moving the first round online may reduce campus travel, venue and on-site coordination costs, but it does not make the hiring process cost-free. Recruiters still need to set criteria, review scorecards, handle exceptions and run later interviews. Compare the old and new process using actual hours and expenses for the same hiring volume. Fabric's Campus Hiring Mode can run up to 500 concurrent interviews. That is a capacity figure, not a promise that every candidate will complete an interview or that recruiter work disappears. Compare your actual recruiter hours, travel and venue spend before and after the change, using the same hiring volume and a clearly defined first-round process.
FAQ
How much does campus hiring cost per candidate?
There is no single public cost per candidate for an Indian campus drive. Add college engagement, recruiter travel and stay, recruiter and interviewer time, candidate coordination, software and separate assessments. Divide the same full drive cost by applicants, completed interviews or hires depending on the question. Use completed interviews, not invitations, for the interview denominator.
What happens if my drive is bigger than my plan?
Do not assume a standard monthly plan will cover the full season. Share the expected number of interviews, the months in which they will take place, peak concurrency, dates, ATS or security requirements and support needs. Ask for a quote that states the allowance, billing period and any additional usage charges.
Is a campus drive cheaper without travel?
It can be, but not automatically. Remote first-round interviews may reduce recruiter travel, venue hire and on-campus logistics. You may still have college engagement costs, candidate support, recruiter review time and software costs. Compare the full process using your own figures rather than treating travel savings as the total saving.
Build next season's budget around the full cost
Before you set next season's budget, total last season's college engagement, travel and stay, recruiter and interviewer time, OA tools, AI interview software, ATS, logistics and candidate support. Keep applicants, shortlisted candidates, initial invitations, completed interviews and hires separate. Estimate the interview pool using your own shortlist and completion rates, then add the current software quote and any integration costs. Divide the full drive cost by the measure finance needs.