LHQ Recruit - LeadershipHQ

We don't guess leadership fit. We assess it.

Leadership-verified hiring from the team that spends its days inside leadership teams. Every shortlisted candidate is PRISM-assessed against a benchmark built from your own high performers, and interviewed against defined leadership behaviours. You get the reports.

Most recruiters read a CV. We read a leader.

LeadershipHQ has spent 35+ years assessing leadership capability — 360s, diagnostics, and structured evaluation used by organisations across construction, infrastructure, government and corporate.

LHQ Recruit brings that same rigour to hiring, combining PRISM with structured interviewing. Every candidate is assessed for:

A mis-hire at leadership level costs a multiple of the fee. This is how we reduce that risk.

Two kinds of evidence.

A validated instrument tells you how someone is wired. A structured interview tells you what they actually did. Most search firms use neither rigorously. We use both on every shortlisted candidate, and you get the reports.

Evidence one

PRISM Brain Mapping

A validated, neuroscience-based behavioural assessment. Sonia is an accredited PRISM practitioner.

PRISM maps how someone is wired to work — where their energy goes, how they behave under pressure, and how that shifts between their natural preference and what the job demands of them.

Benchmarked to your business, not a generic ideal. PRISM builds a job benchmark from the behavioural characteristics of people who genuinely perform well in that role — in your organisation.

Run at shortlist, not at application. We assess the people you’re seriously considering — properly, with a report and a debrief — rather than screening a long list on a profile.

Evidence one

Structured leadership interview

Preference isn’t track record. PRISM won’t tell you whether someone rebuilt a relationship they broke, or what a period of sustained pressure cost their team.

So every candidate is interviewed against the same four capabilities, in the same order, and scored against written anchors — independently, before interviewers compare notes. Referencing tests the same behaviours with people who have actually seen them.

Structured interviews substantially outperform unstructured ones at predicting performance. The gain comes entirely from the structure.

Judgement when information is incomplete and the decision can’t wait. Whether they seek out views that challenge their own.

What happens to this person under real pressure, and what that does to everyone around them. Presence, not charisma.

Whether people trust them enough to bring bad news early. Whether they give direct feedback without leaving damage behind.

Whether clear thinking and trust convert into sustained delivery — and what it costs the team to get there.

What it costs. 15% of the successful candidate’s first-year package, with a $5,000 engagement fee at the start credited in full against the total. PRISM assessment and debrief for every shortlisted candidate included. No surprises, and nothing hidden behind a phone call.

We assess against defined behaviours and a validated instrument. We don’t reduce a person to a single score, and we don’t screen anyone out on a number — the assessment informs a judgement, it doesn’t make one.

Five steps, deliberately slow.

I

Discover

We get clear on what "great" looks like — outcomes, leadership style, team dynamics, culture.

II

Benchmark

We build a PRISM job benchmark from what strong performance actually looks like in your business — before we approach anyone.

III

Curate

We search our network, approach aligned talent, and assess fit well beyond the CV.

IV

Assess & shortlist

Every shortlisted candidate is PRISM-assessed against your benchmark and interviewed against the four capabilities. You get the report and the debrief.

V

Support

We help both sides set expectations, communicate clearly, and start well.

Roles where the wrong hire is expensive

We connect

We’re not the right fit for

Volume hiring, or roles that need filling this week. We’re slower than a contingent agency by design, and we’ll say so early if speed matters more than fit.

If that’s what you need, we’ll tell you honestly rather than take the brief.

It costs us candidates. We think it’s the only way a leadership development firm can credibly run a search practice.

Straight answers.

How do you charge?

15% of the successful candidate’s first-year package, with a fixed engagement fee of $5,000 payable at the start and credited in full against the total. The engagement fee covers the work that happens before any candidate is presented — building the PRISM job benchmark with you, defining the role properly, and running the search. On a $180,000 role that’s $27,000 in total, $5,000 of it at the start. We confirm everything in writing before any work begins.

What assessment do you use?

PRISM Brain Mapping — a validated, neuroscience-based behavioural assessment that Sonia is accredited to administer and debrief. We pair it with a structured leadership interview scored against defined behaviours, because an assessment tells you about preference and an interview tells you about track record. You need both.

When in the process does assessment happen?

At shortlist. Once we’ve got to a small group of people you’re seriously considering, each one is PRISM-assessed against your benchmark and interviewed against the four capabilities. You receive the reports and a debrief before you make a decision. We don’t assess long lists — that’s screening, and it’s not what assessment is for.

What is a job benchmark?

A profile of the behavioural characteristics shared by people who actually perform well in that role, in your organisation. We build it with you before the search starts, so candidates are understood against what works in your business — not against a generic idea of a good leader.

Do you screen candidates out on assessment scores?

No, and we won’t. PRISM can pre-screen automatically against a benchmark; we don’t use it that way. Assessment informs the conversation, it doesn’t replace it.

Do you recruit for all roles?

No. We’re selective, and we focus where leadership, trust and culture fit genuinely change the outcome.

Do you advertise roles publicly?

Sometimes. Many searches are confidential or run through our network.

Can you help us define the role first?

Yes, and it’s one of our strengths. Plenty of searches fail because the role was never clearly defined. We’d rather spend time there than send you a shortlist against the wrong brief.

Will you share my CV without asking?

Never. Not without your explicit consent, every time.

Tell us about the role.

A short conversation first. If we’re not the right partner for this search, we’ll say so.

If you're looking rather than hiring.

We keep a small, curated network rather than a database. If your experience fits what we’re working on, we’ll be in touch — and if it doesn’t, we won’t fill your inbox.