Building a TA Capacity Model that actually works

Capacity planning for TA teams is one of those evergreen challenges: everyone agrees it’s important, few agree on how to do it, and fewer still execute it well.

On a recent Open Source Hiring podcast, I sat down with Stephen Collopy (Head of Talent Operations & Enablement at Delivery Hero) to unpack how to build a capacity model that actually works—one that can support recruiter wellbeing, give leadership realistic hiring forecasts, and drive productivity without burning your team out.

Here are the key takeaways:

1️⃣ There’s No One-Size-Fits-All Framework

Stephen stressed that capacity modelling depends heavily on hiring goals, team size, and role complexity. It’s less about applying a universal number of requisitions per recruiter and more about understanding:

• The type of roles (senior data scientists vs. marketing admins require different bandwidth)
  
  
• The hiring velocity your business expects (and what’s actually realistic)
  
  
• The support layers your recruiters have (coordination, sourcing, automation)
  
  

“If you don’t understand the complexity of your roles, any predictive model will be off.” – Stephen

2️⃣ A Simple Framework That’s Surprisingly Effective

Stephen uses a 6-to-1 scoring system for each live role:

• 6 = High load (kickoffs, JD writing, posting, sourcing)
  
  
• 1 = Low load (offer out, near close)
  
  

Example:

• A recruiter with 10 active reqs maxing at a load of 6 would have a base capacity score of 60.
  
  
• Add 30% to account for inevitable interruptions (Slack pings, urgent hiring manager asks), taking it to 78.
  
  

This helps quantify when your recruiters are actually at capacity, enabling data-led conversations with stakeholders on trade-offs.

3️⃣ Conversion Rates Are Your Best Friend

While many leaders obsess over time-to-fill or hires per recruiter, Stephen argued the holy grail is conversion rates across your funnel. They show:

• Where candidates are falling out
  
  
• If your process or hiring teams are calibrated
  
  
• Where coaching or process tweaks can have the biggest impact
  
  

“If I see a recruiter making 18 calls but only getting one to final interview, that’s a signal to investigate.” – Stephen

4️⃣ Sourcing as Talent Intelligence

We discussed how sourcing shouldn’t just be about filling pipelines but about capturing market signals: candidate sentiment, compensation trends, tech stack shifts, and rejection reasons. This can inform:

• Employer branding
  
  
• Market feasibility for roles
  
  
• Competitive positioning
  
  

Stephen noted that capturing and summarising qualitative insights from screening calls is an underused data stream for TA teams.

5️⃣ Slowing Down to Speed Up

Many new TA leaders feel pressure to make immediate impact. Stephen’s advice:

“Make time to slow down. Understand the context before changing processes. Quick decisions without context often lead to double work.”

Taking a beat to analyse data, engage with hiring teams, and understand the nuances of role complexity will lead to more sustainable and credible TA operations.

Final Thoughts: Why It Matters

Building an effective capacity model isn’t just about avoiding recruiter burnout (though that’s critical). It’s about:

✅ Giving your recruiters space for growth
✅ Providing accurate, credible forecasts to your business
✅ Driving a TA function that balances quality with speed

As TA leaders, the goal isn’t to keep recruiters “busy.” It’s to enable them to deliver consistently while creating room for development and process improvement.

If you’re working on your own capacity model or want a peek at the frameworks we use to support scaling TA teams, drop me a note at info@wearemove.com.