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Recruiter Capacity Planner
Size the recruiting team your pipeline needs. Enter your open reqs by complexity and your current team, and the planner returns the recruiters you need, who on the roster is over or under capacity, and what moving to the recommended team adds or saves each year.
Set recruiter availability and the most reqs one recruiter can carry in each bucket, then enter your open reqs as high-volume, professional, or hard-to-fill. The planner divides each bucket by its maximum, adjusts for availability, and returns the recruiters you need, the recommended whole-number team, your utilization, and the gap. A Recruiter Roster tab lists each recruiter with a weighted load and an over, at, or under capacity flag. A Cost tab prices your team now and at the recommended size, so you can weigh adding a recruiter against agency fees on the overflow, a one-page Summary rolls the need, the gap, and the cost into a board-ready view, a Benchmark tab holds typical req loads by complexity from SHRM and Gem’s 2025 report, and it opens on a worked example so the logic is clear before you change anything.
The common shortcut is one number of open reqs per recruiter, which treats a hard-to-fill executive search as the same job as a high-volume hourly opening. This planner weights the buckets separately: each divides by its own maximum, 25 high-volume, 15 professional, and 5 hard-to-fill by default, all inside published ranges, so four senior searches register as most of a desk while four hourly reqs barely move it. Recruiters spend roughly 80% to 90% of their time on reqs after intake meetings and admin, so the planner divides the need by availability. Utilization over 100% is the early warning, showing up as longer time to fill and lost candidates before it shows up in headcount requests, so read the gap and the right-size cost together.
If you are looking for whether to fill roles with an outside agency or your own recruiters, the Agency vs Internal Recruiter ROI Calculator runs that. For headcount across the wider workforce sized from productive hours, see the FTE Headcount Planner.
What format is it, and can I edit it?
It is one Excel workbook that also works in Google Sheets. Every input and formula is editable, and the file is yours to keep; add recruiters to the roster by inserting rows, and duplicate the file to plan a second team. Checkout delivers an instant download link, with the same link emailed on your receipt.
What does the paid workbook do that a free calculator does not?
This workbook adds a Recruiter Roster that spreads the load across named recruiters and flags who is over, at, or under capacity, a Cost tab that prices your team now and at the recommended size, a board-ready summary, and a sourced Benchmark tab. Every formula is open, so you calibrate the maximums to your own throughput and reuse the file as the pipeline changes. A quick browser estimate runs the bucket logic once; this names the recruiters, prices the team, and keeps the file.
What counts as high-volume, professional, or hard-to-fill?
High-volume is hourly and entry roles with heavy applicant flow and lighter screening per opening. Professional is the mid-level mix of sourcing, screening, and hiring-manager coordination most corporate recruiters carry. Hard-to-fill is senior, niche, or executive work with heavy proactive sourcing and long pipelines. If a req sits between buckets, put it in the nearer one or adjust that bucket’s maximum.
What is the refund policy?
Digital products are covered by a 14-day money-back guarantee. See the refund policy for the full terms. Questions? Email support@truestephr.com.
These are planning estimates, and the capacity assumptions drive them. How many reqs a recruiter can carry varies widely with role complexity, sourcing channels, your applicant tracking system, and recruiter experience, so track your real throughput and set the maximums to match.
How the download works
Your files arrive as a single ZIP download, best opened on a computer: save it, extract it (right-click and Extract All on Windows, double-click on a Mac), and open the Start Here file first. PDFs open in any reader, and the editable files work in Microsoft Word and Excel or their free equivalents, including LibreOffice and Google Docs and Sheets. No other software is needed. Step-by-step help for every device is at truestephr.com/pages/download-help.
This tool is a planning and analysis model. Its outputs depend entirely on the inputs and assumptions you enter, and they are estimates for decision support, not accounting, tax, or legal conclusions. It is not legal, tax, or financial advice, and it is not a substitute for qualified counsel on your specific situation. Check the assumptions against your own data and have any decision with pay, headcount, or separation consequences reviewed against applicable law before you act on it.
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