Practical Ways to Manage Unplanned Headcount
About this Episode
In this episode of Offer Accepted, Tommy Hansen, Head of Recruiting at Juniper Square, shares how his small team hired more than 300 people in a year despite 40 to 60 percent of those roles being unplanned. He explains how redefining headcount, embedding recruiters in the business, and connecting hiring to OKRs helped recruiting secure resources, influence executives, and even close the company’s largest deal.
About (blog): In this episode of Offer Accepted, Tommy Hansen, Head of Recruiting at Juniper Square, breaks down how his team managed to hire more than 300 people in a single year, even when 40 to 60 percent of those roles were unplanned. With over a decade of recruiting experience across agencies and high-growth startups, Tommy shares a framework for turning unpredictable hiring into a strategic advantage.
We unpack how his team created shared definitions of planned vs. unplanned headcount, built dashboards that made invisible work visible, and used company OKRs to guide tough trade-offs with executives. Tommy also explains how embedding recruiters in the business and designing flexible associate roles allowed his team to stay engaged, retain talent, and flex with shifting priorities.
Full of tactical examples and leadership lessons, this conversation is a guide for recruiting teams that want to transform unplanned hiring from a source of chaos into proof of their value.
Topics
This Episode's Guest
Tommy Hansen
Head of Talent @ Juniper Square
Tommy Hansen is Head of Recruiting at Juniper Square, where he has scaled the team globally from 100 to nearly 950 employees. With more than a decade of recruiting experience, Tommy has led his team through hypergrowth, developed associates into leaders, and pioneered an embedded recruiting model that connects hiring directly to business impact.
Takeaway 1
Make the invisible workload visible 👀
Through data digging, Tommy’s team uncovered that 40 to 60% of their hires were unplanned. By defining and tracking both planned and unplanned roles, they surfaced how much of the company’s growth depended on work no one had accounted for at the start of the year. The data shocked executives and reframed recruiting’s role in the organization’s success.
Why It Matters:
When recruiting’s unseen workload becomes visible, executives finally understand the true scope of what the team is delivering. That clarity is what creates momentum for more support and stronger influence.
Quick Tips
- Define planned vs. unplanned in your ATS. Add custom fields to tag jobs consistently as planned or unplanned and classify them by type such as incremental or backfill.
- Visualize it for leadership. Build a dashboard that shows planned, unplanned, and adjusted totals side by side so executives can quickly see the real workload.
- Track changes each quarter. Keep a change log to document when and why headcount shifted so leaders can follow how goals evolved.
Takeaway 2
Turn headcount into a business decision 📊
When Juniper Square faced more than 100 unplanned roles in a single quarter, Tommy’s team reframed the challenge. By mapping every role to company OKRs, they guided executives to align on priorities in just 30 minutes. That alignment helped the team secure RPO support, new tools, and additional budget to deliver.
Why It Matters:
Executives act when hiring is tied to company outcomes. Recruiting earns credibility when it facilitates trade-offs and shows what can be delivered with existing resources versus what requires more investment.
Quick Tips
- Connect roles directly to OKRs. Bring objectives into the discussion and let leaders decide which hires best support them.
- Facilitate trade-offs. Group roles into priority one, two, and three and push for alignment as a group instead of allowing everything to remain “priority one.”
- Frame capacity limits. Present what your team can achieve with current bandwidth and outline what requires additional budget or support.
Takeaway 3
Structure your team for resilience 💪
Through rapid expansion and constant pivots, Tommy’s team did not just deliver results, they retained every team member, achieved the highest engagement score in the company, and promoted three teammates. What stood out was how the team stayed engaged and motivated during constant change, turning unpredictable growth into opportunities for development.
Why It Matters:
Resilient teams are the ones that can weather change without losing energy or talent. When recruiters feel connected to the business and see growth opportunities during pivots, they are more likely to stay engaged and deliver.
Quick Tips
- Embed recruiters in the business. Have them join team meetings, attend offsites, and build context by being present in the day-to-day of the functions they support.
- Design flexible roles. Create associate or generalist positions that can shift across functions when priorities change, giving the team built-in adaptability.
- Celebrate change as progress. Recognize promotions, project wins, and tough pivots the team navigated successfully to reinforce pride and engagement.
What Hiring Excellence Means to Tommy
For Tommy, Hiring Excellence is an embedded recruiting model. Recruiters should be resourced at the same level as other embedded functions and fully integrated into the business. Excellence is when recruiters shape strategy inside the company while also building strong candidate relationships in the market.
Tommy's Recruiting Hot Take 🔥
AI dominates talent conversations, but Tommy believes leaders are overlooking the bigger responsibility. He argues the most important job of today’s TA leaders is to develop the next generation of recruiters to succeed in an AI driven world. Tools will change, but preparing people to adapt is how you future proof recruiting.
Timestamps
(00:00) Introduction
(00:43) Meet Tommy Hansen
(03:04) Why unplanned headcount matters more than ever
(04:55) Defining planned vs. unplanned headcount at Juniper Square
(06:28) How Ashby dashboards helped visualize TA’s real workload
(09:06) 40–60% of hiring was unplanned—here’s how leadership reacted
(11:10) Driving prioritization with data and OKRs
(14:28) Forecasting future headcount through business metrics
(16:20) How recruiting helped close a $10M client deal
(17:35) Leading a team through constant change
(20:04) Retaining team engagement during hypergrowth
(22:06) Using business transparency to win over skeptical candidates
(24:02) What hiring excellence means to Tommy
(26:01) Recruiting hot take: AI is great, but we must develop future TA leaders
(29:18) Advice to his early-career self
(30:13) Where to connect with Tommy
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