Hire the Expert Who Actually Is One
Most companies know they need to hire a specialist, but without the deep domain knowledge to assess one, they end up guessing. We sit alongside your hiring team, evaluate candidates on your behalf, and make sure you only hire people who genuinely know their craft.
Everything you get
- Candidate skills assessment for digital and SEO roles
- PPC and paid media candidate evaluation
- Technical interview design and facilitation
- Live candidate interviews on your behalf
- Written assessment review and scoring
- Portfolio and case study critique
- Red flag detection and risk profiling
- Shortlist scoring and comparison reports
- Interview question frameworks per role
- Post-interview debrief and hire recommendation
- Job description and brief review
- Salary benchmarking for specialist roles
The process
Role and requirements briefing
We start by understanding exactly what you need: not just the job description, but the actual performance expectations, seniority level, and what great looks like in this role. This shapes how we design the evaluation.
Assessment framework design
We build a tailored vetting framework for the role: the right questions, tests, and evaluation criteria to separate candidates who talk a good game from those who can actually deliver.
Candidate review
We review the CVs, portfolios, and any written submissions your applicants have provided, scoring them against the role requirements and flagging anything that doesn't add up.
Expert interview
We conduct a live technical or competency interview with each shortlisted candidate, asking the questions only a domain expert would ask, and knowing what answers actually signal mastery versus surface-level knowledge.
Recommendation and debrief
You receive a clear written recommendation on each candidate: their genuine skill level, strengths, concerns, and whether we'd back them for the role. No ambiguity, just a straight expert opinion.
What you actually get out of it
Hire with confidence
You no longer have to guess whether a candidate actually knows SEO, PPC, or digital strategy. You get an expert assessment from someone who has operated at the highest levels in these fields.
Avoid the cost of a bad hire
A mis-hire at specialist level can cost two to three times the annual salary in wasted time, re-hiring costs, and lost performance. One advisory engagement is a fraction of that risk.
Level the knowledge gap
If your HR team or leadership can't assess an SEO expert's actual ability, they're at the mercy of whoever interviews well. We close that gap, so the best candidate wins, not the best talker.
Faster, sharper decisions
Clear, written candidate scoring means your leadership team can make a confident hire decision quickly, without weeks of back-and-forth or second-guessing.
Common questions
Can you vet an agency rather than an individual hire?
Yes, and it's a common request. Same principle: I ask the questions that separate a competent agency from a good pitch deck, then give you a written read on whether their proposal holds up.
Do you get involved before we post the role?
Ideally. Reviewing the job description and salary band first tends to be the highest-leverage part, because a vague brief attracts the wrong shortlist and no interview process fully recovers from that.
Is there a conflict if you also do the work?
Fair question. If I'm vetting a candidate for a role I'd otherwise be hired to do, I'll say so up front. In practice most advisory clients want an in-house hire and want an independent opinion on whether the person is real.
What roles do you cover?
SEO, PPC and paid media, analytics and tracking, and general digital marketing leadership. For deep engineering or design roles I'd point you to someone better placed to assess them.
What does this cost?
Every engagement is scoped individually, so there is no price list to point you at. What moves the number: how much of the work is a fixed-scope project versus an ongoing retainer, the size and complexity of the site or account, how competitive your market is, and whether your team executes the recommendations or I do. Paid media is priced as a flat monthly fee tied to scope, never as a percentage of your ad spend, because that would reward me for spending more of your money. You get a written scope and a fixed number before anything starts, and I would rather tell you the budget is better spent elsewhere than sell you a retainer that will not work.
Ready to grow with Hiring Advisory?
Book a free discovery call. I'll come to it having already looked at your account.
Tools that answer this before you call me
Built for my own client work and free to use. If one of these tells you something alarming, that's usually a good reason to talk.
Law Firm AI Readiness Audit
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Hiring Advisory by industry
Professional Services
Consultancies, accountancies, and B2B service businesses that need to generate qualified pipeline without compromising their brand.
Enterprise & Fortune 500
Proven at the highest level, with active consulting engagements at Fortune 500 organisations and years of embedded experience inside a Fortune 100.