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The Volta Executive simulator
Two figures to decide: what a failed hire costs, and every month the position stays empty. Enter the level and salary of the position: every assumption in the calculation is shown with its source, and can be changed. Then the hidden costs, and how to reduce the risk.
12weeks
to hire an executive, on average · Apec 2025
54%
of executive recruiters struggling in 2024 · Apec 2025
43,7%
in employer costs on top of gross salary · Insee 2022
90 to 200%
of annual salary: total cost of a departure · SHRM 2008
01 · The simulator
Two simulators, one role
Level and salary feed both calculations, vacancy duration only the first. Below the results, each coefficient shows its source or the label Volta assumption, and is adjusted with the − and + buttons.
Benchmark: engineers 30 to 80 k€ fixed gross pay by experience, on a national basis (2026 Pay Barometer).
For simulator 01. Default 3 months: a management hire took 12 weeks on average in 2024 (Apec 2025). Add the notice period of the selected candidate if currently employed.
Simulator 01 · vacant position
48k€
on 3 months of vacancy, i.e. 16 k€ per month
55 k€ × 1,4 × 2,5 ÷ 12 × 1 = 16 k€ per month
16 k€ × 3 months = 48 k€Employer cost: Insee 2022. Value produced and level weighting: Volta assumptions, adjustable below.
A role vacant for more than a month? Florian Beurtey reviews your hire with you, 30 minutes, free of charge.
Simulator 02 · miscasting
83k€
for a role of executive to 55 k€, i.e. 1,5 times annual salary
55 k€ × 1,5 = 83 k€
Published benchmark: 90% to 200% of annual salary for the total cost of a departure (SHRM 2008). The multiple used, 1,5, is in this range.
3-month replacement guarantee, extendable to 6 months, on hires entrusted to Volta Executive.
Change them: both results update. The method and sources are detailed below.
Employer cost, as a multiple of gross salary
Source Insee 2022 : +43.7% of gross salary on average, +45.8% in industry
Value created by the role, as a multiple of employer cost
Volta assumption to adjust to your business
Weight of vacancy, manager level
Volta assumption technician 0,7 · executive 1 · executive 1,6
Bad-hire multiple, manager level
Volta assumption benchmark SHRM 2008 : 0,9 to 2 times the salary
02 · The method
How the calculation works
Nothing is hidden behind the results. Here are the two formulas in plain terms, then each coefficient with its source where one exists. Where no public source gives the figure, the page says so: Volta assumption, to be adjusted.
Simulator 01
Cost of one month = annual gross salary × 1,4 × 2,5 ÷ 12 × level weight
Total cost = cost of one month × number of months vacant
Gross salary multiplied by 1,4 gives the employer cost. Multiplied by 2,5, it gives the value the role produces in a year, counting the extra load on the team that absorbs its work. Divided by twelve, that is what one month of vacancy costs, weighted by the level of the role. The result is rounded to the nearest thousand euros.
For a manager at 55 k€, 55 × 1,4 × 2,5 ÷ 12 × 1 = 16 k€ per month, i.e. 48 k€ out of 3 months.
Simulator 02
Cost of the error = annual gross salary × level multiple
The multiple sums up in one figure the salaries paid to the wrong person, the cost of their exit, the output lost during that period and the next hire. It does not depend on the length of the vacancy.
For a manager at 55 k€, 55 × 1,5 = 83 k€. For an executive at 120 k€, 120 × 2,5 = 300 k€.
Two costs remain outside the calculation: the costs of the hire itself (fees, job ads, interview hours) and exceptional losses, such as a client penalty or an interim executive. If you know them, add them to the result.
03 · A typical case
Worked example
The Salary barometer 2026, energy roles puts it at industrial site director between 100 and 146 k€ gross base, from experienced to senior, on a national basis. The calculation uses the low end of the range, at executive level, with the default assumptions.
100 k€ × 1,4 = 140 k€ per year
140 k€ × 2,5 = 350 k€ per year
350 k€ ÷ 12 × 1,6 = 47 k€
100 k€ × 2,5 = 250 k€
47k€
per month of vacancy
141k€
on 3 months, the Apec average
282k€
over 6 months of vacancy
250k€
for a casting error
To compare
Our fees are 25 % of annual gross package for a role entrusted (23 % per position from two similar positions), i.e. at least 25 000 € on a base of 100 k€. With these assumptions, that is less than one month of the position being vacant. See our terms
04 · Hidden costs
What the calculation doesn't say
The SHRM Foundation puts the total cost of a departure between 90 % and 200 % of annual salary (SHRM 2008). No French public statistic measures it. Here is what it contains.
Salary and payroll costs
Fees and time
Team and site
Clients and schedule
Reduce the risk
A 1-hour scoping session and a scorecard of expected results, each finalist assessed by the founder, an engineer, against that scorecard, then onboarding follow-up of 90 days with the executive hired and their manager. Replacement guarantee of 3 months, extendable to 6. 96 % success rate on 120 assignments analysed between 2023 and 2025, Volta Executive and previous firms. See our terms
The Volta Executive method
A 1-hour scoping session and a scorecard, a map of the search ecosystem, a shortlist within 10 days, a hire within 3 weeks. The 3 weeks run from scoping to the chosen candidate accepting the offer, when all five key success factors are in place. The candidate's notice period, often three months for an employed manager, comes on top.
One hour with the future manager, not just HR. We come out with the three results expected at twelve months, the real budget including variable pay, and a scorecard ranking each skill: essential, necessary, useful, bonus.
Deliverable: Scorecard approved by the manager
The companies, sites and roles where the profile really exists: competitors, suppliers, customers, neighbouring sectors doing the same job under another name. We know how many people fit the scorecard before writing the first message.
Deliverable: A quantified talent map
Three to five candidates approached directly, met, assessed against the scorecard by an engineer, presented with their motivations and real salary expectations. Not a pile of CVs.
Deliverable: 3 to 5 reasoned profiles
Two interview rounds at most, with the direct manager. The package and the counter-offer are prepared before the final interview: the offer goes out within 24 hours and the chosen candidate says yes.
Deliverable: Offer accepted, start date set
Each success factor has an exact opposite. When a hire goes off track, it is almost always enough to find which of the five was let slip.
Key success factors
Failure factors, opposite
Success
The client answers on each candidate presented within 48 hours; the firm gets back to each candidate within 24 hours. The rule is set at scoping, not along the way.
Failures
Ten days without news between two interviews: the employed candidate concludes they are not a priority, and accepts elsewhere. The very best profiles stay available for about ten days.
Success
One firm fully committed to the role, one message to the market, one salary announced. That is the condition for the 3-week timeline.
Failures
Three or four firms on the same role: three half-efforts, the same candidate called four times with four different salaries, and an employer brand that pays the price.
Success
One hour is enough when it is well run: what is at stake, expected results, skills ranked by priority. The scorecard separates the essential from the desirable.
Failures
A job description that piles up everything nice to have describes a candidate who does not exist. The search goes round for months after an unfindable profile.
Success
The firm talks to the direct manager from the scoping stage, and the candidate meets them in the first round. They know what the role must deliver in twelve months.
Failures
A brief relayed by a go-between, a mismatch discovered at the third interview, and an assignment back to square one.
Success
The list of companies and roles where the profile exists, agreed with the client before the first approach. Direct search starts on day three.
Failures
An ad posted while waiting for applications. For a management role or a skills-shortage job, the people able to do it are employed and do not read ads.
05 · Questions
Frequently asked questions
The amounts quoted in the answers come from the simulator, with its default assumptions.
Two costs add up. The direct cost is the fees of a search firm or, if you recruit on your own, job ads and your teams' time. At Volta Executive, fees are 25 % of the annual gross package for a single position, 23 % per position from two similar positions entrusted together. The indirect cost is the empty seat during the search: hiring a manager took 12 weeks on average in 2024 (Apec, Pratiques de recrutement de cadres 2025). With the simulator's default assumptions, each month a manager position paid €55,000 gross a year stays vacant costs about €16,000.
The simulator starts from the employer cost: gross salary multiplied by 1.4. Insee measures 43.7 % in contributions and other employer costs on top of gross salary in 2022, so 1.4 stays slightly below. The position is assumed to produce 2.5 times that cost over a year, a Volta assumption you can change. Divided by twelve and weighted by the level of the position, this gives the cost of one month of vacancy: about €16,000 for a manager at €55,000 and €47,000 for an industrial site director at €100,000.
The simulator multiplies the gross annual salary by 1 for a technician, 1.5 for a manager and 2.5 for an executive. These multiples are Volta assumptions and can be adjusted. They sum up the salaries paid to the wrong person, the cost of their exit, lost output and the next hire. A published benchmark: the SHRM Foundation puts the total cost of a departure at between 90 % and 200 % of annual salary (D. G. Allen, Retaining Talent, 2008). Our executive multiple sits above that range. For an industrial site director on €100,000, the mistake costs €250,000 with the default assumptions.
Act on the two figures in the simulator. To shorten the vacancy, start the search as soon as the departure is announced, without waiting for the exit date, and set your decision criteria before you see the first candidate. To reduce the risk of error, describe the results expected at twelve months rather than a typical profile, check references and prepare onboarding. Your network also shortens the search: in the most recent executive hire of 2024, the successful candidate was already known to the company or referred in 41% of cases (Apec, 2025).
As soon as the expected vacancy costs more than the fees, or when the profile does not respond to job ads. With the default assumptions, a single month of vacancy for a manager on €55,000 costs about €16,000, more than the €13,750 in fees at 25% of a €55,000 package. In 2024, 47% of companies with 10 or more employees that hired a manager used an intermediary for at least one of those hires (Apec, 2025). Volta Executive recruits managers and executives in the energy industry through direct search, with a 3-month replacement guarantee, extendable to 6 months.
No French public statistic measures it. The SHRM Foundation estimates the total cost of a departure at between 90% and 200% of annual salary (SHRM 2008), and that benchmark counts neither delayed projects nor lost clients. It includes the salary and charges paid, recruiting the replacement, management time and the team's lost productivity.
Seven costs come up: (1) demotivation of the existing team, (2) the departure of other key managers, (3) poorly managed projects and degraded quality, (4) a damaged employer image for later hires, (5) management time spent on recruitment and then on handling the failure, (6) delayed growth, (7) a tense social climate.
Five levers: (1) 1 hour of scoping with the future manager and a scorecard of expected results, (2) a full assessment of finalists against that scorecard, (3) an outside view, that of a firm that knows the trade, (4) a 90-day integration follow-up with the executive hired and their manager, (5) an assignment given on an exclusive basis, so the market hears a single message. At Volta Executive: 96% success rate across 120 assignments analysed between 2023 and 2025, Volta Executive and previous firms.
That is the role of the replacement guarantee, a standard clause in executive search. Volta Executive: 3-month guarantee, extendable to 6 months. If the executive hired leaves the role or the probation period is terminated, the search is restarted at no new fee. The exclusions are set out in the general terms and conditions of sale.
06 · Go further
Next
Industry salaries role by role, to set the slider as accurately as possible.
The percentages charged, the guarantees and what the fees cover.
Four stages and five levers so a hire lasts beyond the first year.
How long it takes to fill a management position, role by role, with or without a search firm.
Methods, barometers and tools to hire your executives, then keep them.
You are hiring
The market salary and a realistic timeline for your role, in your area: a confidential conversation with Florian Beurtey, engineer and founder of Volta Executive.
The method
From job specification to shortlist, the method Volta Executive applies on its mandates to shorten the vacancy.
