Pay a recruiter $40,000 OR go it alone.
There's a third option. Get the hiring framework, strategy and market insight behind 39 years of successful senior finance recruitment. $2,500. Delivered in 5 days.
Book a free 10-minute call
Tell us who you're trying to hire. You'll get a straight read on what the market looks like right now, whether your brief is right, and what the fastest path to the right person actually is.
Responded to personally by Richard Holmes, usually within the same day.
800+ senior finance appointments. 39 combined years in the market. 78% of clients come back for their next hire. This is what it looks like when the right people are in your corner.
After 39 years combined placing senior finance professionals across Australia, we know exactly where companies lose great candidates. It's rarely about talent supply. It's almost always about process.
Most job ads are internal wish lists dressed up as opportunities. They lead with requirements, not reasons to join. The best candidates, the ones with options, don't apply.
Strong finance professionals aren't sitting around waiting to be told a role exists. They need to be sold on why this business, this team, this moment. Most hiring managers never do this.
Five interviews. Four decision-makers. Six weeks with no feedback. The best candidate has accepted another offer by week three. Speed is a competitive advantage, most companies treat it as optional.
Interviews test confidence and communication more than capability. People who interview well get hired over people who perform well. That's a process failure, not a judgment call.
Three people interview the same candidate and come back with three different opinions based on different criteria. Without a scorecard, it becomes a popularity contest.
Approvals get locked before anyone checks current market rates. The role is benchmarked against last year's data. Qualified candidates look at the range and don't even apply.
According to SHRM, replacing a failed senior hire can cost up to 5x their annual salary once you factor in recruitment, lost productivity, and team disruption. Robert Half research across 300 Australian hiring managers found that 65% have made a hire that didn't work out, and it takes an average of 16 weeks to realise and replace them. That's four months your business doesn't get back.
Sources: SHRM, The Cost of a Bad Hire Can Be Astronomical; Robert Half Australia, The Rising Costs of a Bad Hire.
This isn't a cheaper version of using a recruiter. It's a different model entirely, you run the process, we give you everything a top search firm would use to do it properly.
| DIY | HPR Advisory | Recruiter | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salary Benchmarking | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Interview Framework | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Candidate Network | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Market Insights | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Offer Management | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cost | Free | $2,500 | $30k to $60k |
Advisory fee is credited against your HPR Consulting placement fee if you later choose to engage us for a retained search.
You get 39 years of senior finance recruitment expertise applied directly to your role. Built around who you're trying to hire, what the market looks like right now, and what it actually takes to attract and close the right person. Not a one-size-fits-all system you have to figure out yourself.
A complete hiring system built around your specific role by Richard and Mitchell, not a template you fill in yourself. Delivered within 5 business days.
Fee credited against HPR Consulting placement fee if you proceed to a retained search.
Everything in the Hiring System, plus a 1-hour session with Richard or Mitchell to pressure-test your brief, sharpen the role, and make sure you're set up to win.
Fee credited against HPR Consulting placement fee if you proceed to a retained search.
Everything in System + Advisory, plus ongoing support throughout your hiring process. For businesses that want to run the search themselves but would value an experienced finance recruiter sitting beside them every step of the way.
Ideal for CFO, Head of Finance, Finance Director and Financial Controller appointments where the cost of getting the hire wrong is significant.
Get Hiring Partner Support, $9,500Fee credited against HPR Consulting placement fee if you proceed to a retained search.
Not sure which is right? Email richardh@hprconsulting.com and Richard will give you a straight answer.
How To Avoid Expensive Hiring Mistakes And Build A High-Performing Finance Team
Most senior finance hires fail before the first interview, not because of the candidate, but because the process was broken from day one. This guide walks through the seven reasons finance searches fail and the exact framework Richard and Mitchell use to fix each one, from role design and salary benchmarking through to interview structure, offer strategy, and onboarding.
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Tell us about the role, we build everything around it. There's nothing generic here.
Select the package that fits your situation. Payment is processed securely and you'll receive a short intake questionnaire immediately.
Ten minutes. We ask about the hire, the context, the team, the salary, and what good actually looks like for your business. This drives everything that follows.
Richard and Mitchell work through your intake and build the full five-pillar hiring system. Customised to the role. Delivered within 5 business days.
If you've chosen the advisory option, Richard or Mitchell walks you through the full system on a 1-hour call, challenging assumptions, answering every question, and making sure you're ready to move forward.
This product exists because most senior finance hires fail due to decisions made before the search begins, not because the talent isn't there.
Richard Holmes and Mitchell Parsons have 39 combined years of senior finance recruitment experience in Australia. That's 39 years of understanding what CFOs care about, what great candidates actually want, and where businesses keep making the same mistakes.
HPR Hiring Advisory is that expertise, packaged so you can use it without needing them in the room. You run the process. You own the outcome. You keep the system.
Get the Hiring SystemTrack record via HPR Consulting
Richard and Mitchell have placed hundreds of senior finance leaders across Australia. They know what the market looks like right now, and they both answer their own messages.
Richard has spent 20 years at the senior end of finance recruitment across Australia. He's the person clients call when a search has gone wrong, or when they want to get ahead of that happening. Active daily on LinkedIn. Ask him anything.
Mitchell has 19 years of experience across senior finance and commercial recruitment in Australia. He's across the detail that most people miss: candidate mapping, salary calibration, process design, and how to close a search without losing the person at the finish line.
No pitch. No obligation. If you're not sure which option is right, reach out to Richard directly and he'll give you a straight answer.
Part of HPR Consulting · hprconsulting.com · Servicing clients nationwide.