Recruiting Capacity & Headcount Planning

Ever been asked "how many people can we hire this year?" and felt your eye twitch? Join Cathy Liu (Co-Founder, Caro) and Carlos Rodriguez-Munoz (Data Analyst, Recruiting Analytics) as they break down the surprisingly complex answer to this deceptively simple question.

We'll walk through the full journey from forecasting hiring demand to calculating realistic recruiter capacity and why the gap between the two matters more than you think. You'll learn how to forecast demand using net new roles, rollover, and backfills (while avoiding common traps), calculate recruiter productivity based on YOUR internal data instead of misleading external benchmarks, and balance the art and science of capacity planning. We'll show you real examples of what happens when demand exceeds capacity (spoiler: those "lost" hires in January haunt you all year) and give you frameworks to have better conversations with leadership about what's actually achievable. Whether you're trying to right-size your team, justify headcount, or stop feeling perpetually behind on hiring goals, you'll leave with practical approaches you can use immediately.