Hiring plans rarely survive first contact with reality. So how do you lead when half your headcount is unplanned?

Tommy Hansen, Head of Recruiting at Juniper Square, joins Shannon to share how his small team hired over 300 people in a year—despite 40–60% of those roles being unplanned. He explains how redefining “planned” vs. “unplanned” headcount changed how recruiting partnered with the business, earned more resourcing, and helped close the company’s largest deal to date.

Tommy also shares how embedding recruiters with the business, strengthening exec partnerships, and prioritizing business acumen helped his team thrive through rapid change.

Key takeaways:

1. Redefining headcount unlocks clarity: Creating shared definitions of “planned” vs. “unplanned” headcount revealed the true scope of TA’s work and made invisible efforts visible.
2. Visibility drives resourcing: By tracking unplanned hiring and visualizing it clearly, Tommy’s team earned more budget, tools, and RPO support.
3. Business acumen builds influence: Connecting headcount to company OKRs helped recruiting steer prioritization and secure executive alignment fast.

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