Talent acquisition consultancy · Melbourne · Australia-wide

Recruitment, billed by the hour. Not a percentage.

Marque Talent is the smarter way for growing businesses to hire: senior recruitment expertise on demand, around half the cost of an agency, with every hour itemised and no lock-in.

~½ the cost of an agency
100% of hours itemised
0 percentage fees, ever
Scroll

The problem

Hiring help shouldn't punish you for hiring.

Most businesses believe they have two options when a role opens up. Both were designed around someone else's margin.

Option one: the agency

0%

of first-year salary, per hire

On a $100k role that's a fee of $0, for a few weeks of work, priced against your candidate's salary rather than the effort involved. And the more the candidate costs you, the more the agency makes.

Option two: hiring in-house

$0

a year in salary and on-costs

A dedicated recruiter is wonderful, if you hire constantly. Most growing businesses don't, so the desk sits quiet between roles while the salary, super and software keep running.

◆

There is a better way. Pay a senior talent partner for the hours worked, and nothing else.

See how it works ↓

The Marque model

Your talent partner, by the hour.

Marque Talent runs your recruitment the way an in-house talent lead would: scoped up front, tracked to the task, and billed only for time actually worked. Take the whole search or just the stages you need.

  • ◆
    Cheaper. Hourly beats a percentage fee, usually by around half.
  • ◆
    Transparent. You see every hour, itemised to the task. Estimates and caps agreed before work begins.
  • ◆
    Aligned. Paid for good work and honest advice, never for closing the priciest candidate.
Explore the tiers

Side by side

Three ways to hire. One is on your side.

Traditional agency In-house recruiter ◆ Marque Talent
Cost 15–25% of salary Full salary + on-costs Hourly. Pay for time used
Commitment Per hire Permanent headcount None. Scale up or down
Incentive Close the placement Fixed Great work & honest advice
Transparency Opaque fee n/a Every hour itemised

The fee calculator

See what the percentage is costing you.

Drag the sliders. The difference is your money.

$100,000
20%

How hard is the role to fill?

Estimated effort: 35 hours at our blended rate of ~$220/hr

Typical agency fee

$20,000

Marque estimate

$7,700

You keep

$12,300

62% less than the agency route

Make it real: book a free chat

Estimates only. Every engagement is scoped with an estimate and a cap up front. You approve before we ever exceed it.

Engagement tiers

Senior expertise. Priced your way.

Same partner, same process. Choose how you'd like to buy the hours.

Flex

$250/hr

For occasional, one-off hires

  • Pay as you go, no commitment
  • Billed fortnightly, 14-day terms
  • Every hour itemised to the task
  • Full search or single stages
Start with Flex

Embedded

$180/hr

Your ongoing talent function

  • Retained monthly block of hours
  • Best rate, always-on partnership
  • Talent advisory can be bundled in
  • First call for every people question
Talk about Embedded

◆ New clients begin with a one-off $750 establishment fee, credited in full against your first work, so it costs you nothing to commit properly.

How an engagement runs

A rigorous process, without the theatre.

  1. 01

    Brief & scope

    We define the role, agree exactly which stages you're buying, and set the estimate and cap.

  2. 02

    Attract & source

    Sharp, honest advertising plus direct search, not just the people who happen to apply.

  3. 03

    Screen & shortlist

    Structured screening against the brief. You see a shortlist worth your time, with clear notes.

  4. 04

    Assess & verify

    Interviews, references and the checks that matter, verified before you commit.

  5. 05

    Close & onboard

    Offer managed, start date locked, and a follow-up rhythm so your new hire actually stays.

Every stage is logged and itemised. Your invoice reads like a story of the work, and you'll get a clear update every single week.

About Marque

Founder-led. On every single role.

Marque Talent was built on a simple frustration: recruitment fees that punish businesses for growing. After years inside the industry, our founder saw the same story on repeat: great companies paying $20,000+ per hire, without ever seeing where the money went.

So Marque does it differently. You work directly with a senior talent partner, not a junior juggling thirty roles. You see every hour. You get advice that's genuinely on your side, because we're paid for good work, not for closing the priciest candidate.

◆ A mark of great hiring.

Meet us over a coffee

Fair questions

Asked often. Answered honestly.

What if the hours run away on me?

They can't. You get an estimate and a cap up front, and we flag it before ever exceeding it. You approve any extension first, so you will never get a surprise invoice.

Why wouldn't I just use an agency?

You can, and you'll usually pay two to three times more, to someone whose fee grows with your candidate's salary. We're paid for the work, not the placement, so our advice doesn't have a commission behind it.

Do you offer a replacement guarantee?

No, and that's deliberate. Guarantees are how agencies justify percentage fees. You pay for expertise and a rigorous process at roughly half the cost. If a hire doesn't work out, you re-engage at the same hourly rate, and you're still ahead.

Can a boutique consultancy really handle my roles?

You get a senior partner, personally accountable for every role, not a desk of thirty jobs fighting for attention. Behind that sits a streamlined delivery system, so nothing waits and nothing gets dropped. Most clients find it faster than the agency they left.

What does the $750 establishment fee cover?

It's a one-off for new clients that confirms commitment on both sides, and it's credited in full against your first work. In effect it costs you nothing; it just means we both take the engagement seriously from day one.

Ready to hire without the fee?

A free, no-obligation chat about the role you're trying to fill. Worst case, you leave with better questions. Best case, you never pay a percentage again.

Prefer email? info@marquetalent.com.au