Hire an AI annual hiring and staff-cost planner

Everything it can hand back

Your task sets the actual outputs. The specialist picks the methods that cover them.

• A forecast of hires and exits, with the method and the range of error
• A hiring plan in priority order, with a monthly report for leaders
• A people-cost budget by team and by month
• Notes that explain the gaps to finance

How it does the job well

• Base people decisions on job-related evidence, applied the same way to everyone.
• Write in plain, respectful language the person affected could read.
• Keep personal data to what the task needs, and handle it privately.
• Check local employment law and company policy before advising on hiring, pay or exits.

Mistakes it avoids

• Biased wording in job ads, reviews or interview questions.
• Plans with no owner, timing or way to check progress.
• Treating a template as legal advice.

What a good result looks like

An example, not your task: You are planning next year's team and have no written hiring plan.

• Step 1: Headcount forecast. Method, headcount by month with low, mid and high cases, expected exits, hires needed and a back-test.
• Step 2: Hiring plan. Named roles in priority order, why each one, the start month and a monthly report for leaders.
• Step 3: People-cost budget. Cost by team and month, assumptions with sources, and a note for finance on gaps and risks.
• Hand-back summary. Each step's file and every MISSING line in one list.

How the work is checked

• The forecast states its method and a range, not one number.
• Every role in the plan ties to a goal or to a forecast gap, and the order has a reason you can say out loud.
• Budget totals match the plan, and every pay assumption is listed.
• Each step ran in order and used the file from the step before, or the run stopped at the step that failed and says why.
• States which checks passed, failed or could not run, and names missing inputs.

These checks have not been run against a model yet. Your AI uses them to check its own work.

Capabilities

• Forecast hires and exits. Projects the hires you need and the people likely to leave, month by month, and states the method and how far off it could be.
• Build the hiring plan. Turns your goals and the forecast into named roles, puts them in priority order and sets a monthly report for leaders.
• Price the plan. Takes the hiring plan and the forecast, adds the pay and cost rates you give it, prices each role, builds the budget by team and by month, and adds notes that explain the gaps to finance.

How the role works

1. Checks your task, context and available tools.
2. Picks the methods needed and prepares a work plan.
3. Carries out supported tasks, with each method's limits and review gates.
4. Checks the real deliverables and corrects supported faults.
5. Hands back files, evidence and unresolved gaps.

Your specialist's working setup

Download the base specialist without a task form or account. README.md and SETUP.md explain how to use the folder. SOUL.md defines its scope. INTAKE.md asks missing questions inside your AI. PLAYBOOK.md, SKILLS.md, BEST_PRACTICES.md, CHECKS.md and HANDOFF.md guide the work and its checked deliverables.

Complete associated skills, supporting files and licences are included. Choose only the methods needed for the actual task. Keep context, working files and accepted feedback in your AI project.

Use this specialist through MCP or the API

Call prepare_specialist with role_id plan-a-year-of-hiring-and-what-it-will-cost only. No task is required to load it. Your AI asks what job you need done, what you want back and which relevant context it can use.

For task-led hiring, call find_specialist, explain the suggested specialists and let the user accept or change the team.

Complete ZIP: Download base specialist. API: GET /api/v1/specialists/plan-a-year-of-hiring-and-what-it-will-cost/pack. The host AI supplies its own model, tools and execution; a pack does not connect accounts or run a task.

Inputs and helpful context

The specialist starts from the task brief. Only active methods require their inputs.

For the primary method, when used

• Your headcount history, with hires and exits by month if you have them (optional)
• Your growth goals for the year
• Pay by role, or your best guess, and any budget limit
• Your starting headcount by team

Tools and access

• Google Sheets or Excel: The month-by-month view is a sheet, and finance will want to change the numbers.
• Any chat AI that reads spreadsheets: It can read your headcount sheet and return the budget as a table you can paste.

Functions and deliverables

• Annual hiring and staff-cost planner: Share team numbers, hiring goals, pay and start dates. Get a hiring sequence, headcount forecast and staff-cost budget.
  • A forecast of hires and exits, with the method and the range of error
  • A hiring plan in priority order, with a monthly report for leaders
  • A people-cost budget by team and by month
  • Notes that explain the gaps to finance
• Headcount and hiring forecast planner: Share past team counts, exits and business goals. Plan hiring needs with clear assumptions, scenarios and a method suited to your data.
  • A forecast of headcount, exits and hires needed, each with a low to high range
  • Hiring demand by team
  • The method used and why it fits your data
  • A back-test showing how far the method would have missed
  • The gap between the finance target and your bottom-up number
  Source: Tuan Duc Tran.
• Hiring headcount planner: Share team counts, business goals and budget. Get a hiring plan that separates approved roles, backfills and requests, with gaps to resolve.
  • A role by role hiring plan
  • A priority order for hires
  • Conservative, base and fast-growth versions
  • A monthly demand and supply report outline
  Source: Tuan Duc Tran.
• People cost budget builder: Share headcount, pay and hiring plans. Get a monthly team budget, assumptions and notes on changes from the plan.
  • A budget by team and cost center, with approved and planned roles apart
  • A month-by-month spend view
  • Attrition savings and shared cost shown as their own lines
  • Variance notes against actuals, with the cause in words
  • A half-page note for finance
  Source: Tuan Duc Tran.
• me.md builder: Answer a few questions, or let your AI use what it remembers. Get one private file that tells any AI who you are.
  • One me.md file with up to ten dated sections
  • A list of facts taken from memory, for you to check
  • A short note of what it removed for privacy
  • The two next steps, to save it and set it up

Tasks you can use it for

• You are planning next year's team and have no written hiring plan.
• Finance asks for a people budget and you only have a list of roles.
• You want to know how many hires you need just to stand still.

Limits to check before starting

• You have one role to fill, not a year of hiring: use the Job post writer or the Applicant evidence and hiring reply drafts.
• You only want to track a plan you already have against actual spend: use the Budget, forecast and cash gap review.
• You want to keep a hiring plan up to date every quarter: use the Team size, hiring plan and budget review.

Best way to use this role

Give it one clear outcome, the actual files and a definition of done. Keep the work in one AI project so it can reuse checked context and earlier files.

• Download the handoff pack. It is a zip with HANDOFF.md and every skill file this workflow uses.
• Give the folder to Claude (in Claude Code, or as files in a Claude Project) and say "Follow HANDOFF.md".
• Paste your past headcount and your goals. A spreadsheet export works.
• Read the forecast first. If the exit numbers look wrong, correct them before the plan is built.
• Check the budget totals by hand against your pay figures before you share them.

Read it as data

Read the complete role setup as JSON. Connect your AI to the AI Blocks MCP library and read aiblocks://roles/plan-a-year-of-hiring-and-what-it-will-cost for its role instructions and pinned sources.

This is a prepared AI role. No task has run. Your AI carries out authorized work using its available tools and reports the actual deliverables and checks.