Hiring Plan
Definition
Forward-looking narrative on next-period hiring priorities — target roles, sequence, sourcing strategy, and any unusual asks (executive search, specialized recruiter spend, location flexibility shifts). Anchors the board's understanding of where capacity is heading and what approvals or help are needed. Common pitfall: a stale plan that gets copy-pasted across quarters — the hiring plan should evolve with strategy shifts. Best practice is to lead with the 2–3 highest-priority hires and their justification, then a brief on backfills and bench-builds.
Why it matters
Converts `hr.approved_headcount_budget` (a number) into a board-relevant sequence (a story). Without this, board members lack the context to help with intros, validate strategic-role timing, or push back on questionable role specs.
How to interpret it
Strong plans name specific roles, target start dates, and what board help would accelerate the hire. Pair with `hr.key_openings` for the structured priority list — narrative here, table there.
Source
imboard Editorial
Stage relevance
Typically owned by
Related KPIs
Board-approved end-of-period headcount target. The contractual reference point against which `hr.total_headcount` and `hr.open_positions` are read — drift means either hiring under plan (typically a growth concern) or over plan (typically a burn-discipline concern). Common pitfall: silent in-year adjustments — boards approve a number, the CEO informally expands or contracts to it, and the variance never gets reconciled. Best practice is to treat changes to this number as board-action items, recorded in `hr.board_actions`.
Count of board-approved roles that are currently posted and unfilled (requisition open, offer not yet accepted). The leading-edge indicator for upcoming hiring capacity demand. Common pitfall: "approved" drift — roles that were verbally green-lit but never went through the approval gate get counted here, inflating the number. The board number should match the approved headcount budget; everything else belongs in narrative as "pipeline ideas."
Field-array of priority open roles the board should be aware of and may be able to accelerate — typically C-1 executives, hard-to-fill specialists, and any role open >60 days. Per-item shape: title, department, level, urgency, owner. Rendered via the T2 collapsible-card gallery pattern. Structural, not numeric. Common pitfall: padding the list with every open req — boards add the most value on the 3–8 strategic openings, not on backfilling the next IC.
Mean elapsed days between requisition opening (approved and posted) and offer acceptance, averaged across requisitions filled in the period. The headline recruiting-velocity KPI commonly tracked in the SHRM Talent Acquisition Benchmarking Report. Common pitfall: choosing between time-to-fill (req-opened to offer-accepted) and time-to-hire (first-applicant to offer-accepted) without locking the convention — the two can differ by weeks. Best practice is to standardize on time-to-fill (the SHRM benchmark convention) and document any deviation.
Count of employees whose first day fell within the reporting period. The growth-input side of the headcount equation, paired with `hr.voluntary_exits` and `hr.terminations` on the loss side. Common pitfall: counting accepted offers vs actual start dates — these can diverge by weeks (notice period) or fall through entirely (offer rescind, candidate ghosting). The board number should be actual starts, not signed offers; pipeline movement belongs in `hr.hiring_plan` narrative.
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