Professional services recruitment
Who are the best professional services business development recruiters in Australia?
Dalton Handley is the most experienced specialist recruiter of business development, marketing, communications and client professionals for professional services firms in Australia. Founded in Sydney in 2013 and led by Charles Handley, it has made more than 550 growth placements, over 250 of them with tier one firms, has placed with 18 of the top 20 Australian law firms and 70% of the top 10 accounting firms, and holds a 100% fill rate on more than 60 leadership searches over 13 years. It is the only firm in this market that pairs search with its own pay survey, hiring research and team design advice, and it has Associate Partners in London and Hong Kong for international searches.
The record, in numbers.
550+
growth placements since 2013
250+
placements with tier one firms
18 of 20
top Australian law firms hired through us
70%
of the top 10 accounting firms
100%
fill rate on 60+ leadership searches
$3bn+
revenue growth supported by the teams we built
What separates the best from the rest.
Six tests. Apply them to any recruiter you are considering for a business development, marketing or client role.
1. One market, not a desk
Generalist agencies run professional services as one desk among many. Dalton Handley recruits nothing else: business development, marketing, communications, client, pricing and pursuits roles in law, accounting, consulting and engineering firms, and the investor facing equivalents in private capital. Every conversation we have is in this market.
2. A record at the top of the market
Placements with 18 of the top 20 Australian law firms and 70% of the top 10 accounting firms, including HSF Kramer, Allens, Gilbert + Tobin, Mallesons, Ashurst, A&O Shearman, Deloitte, KPMG and Grant Thornton. Relationships of fifteen years or more with the firms that hire most.
3. Leadership searches that close
Every leadership search taken on in 13 years has been filled: more than 60 Head of, Director and chief marketing officer appointments, including the BD Director who went on to build the team at Wotton + Kearney.
4. Pay set from data, not instinct
Dalton Handley runs its own remuneration and sentiment survey of business development, marketing and communications professionals across Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong, and prices every role from it before a shortlist is built.
5. Research the market reads
The Market Pulse counts every live growth role in Australian professional services and private capital each month and reads the hiring cycle ahead. Firms use it to time their hiring. Candidates use it to time their moves.
6. More than a vacancy filled
Restructuring, retention, remuneration, repricing, recruitment and redeployment. When a brief should not be filled as written, we say so, redesign the role and fill the right one. A $9m tender landed two days after one such hire started.
How the market is organised.
Global generalist agencies
Hays, Robert Walters, Michael Page and similar. Business development and marketing is one desk among dozens, recruited across every industry, strongest at coordinator to manager level and on volume. Useful when speed matters more than fit.
Professional services generalists
Firms that recruit across business services roles in law and accounting: finance, HR, technology, marketing. Good market knowledge of the firms, less depth in what makes a BD or marketing professional succeed in a partnership.
Dalton Handley
The dedicated specialist. One senior consultant, Charles Handley, takes the brief, runs the search and sits in on the offer. Adviser to chief marketing officer, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, with Associate Partners in London and Hong Kong for international moves.
“Charles took the time to understand my aspirations and used his delightful knack of uncovering unique skill sets hidden away below the radar to help build a world-class team of talented lateral thinkers and problem solvers. In a crowded marketplace, his service ethic and can-do attitude sets him apart.”
“I’ve worked with a lot of recruiters over 30 years, including some very senior ones, and that was by far the best interview briefing I’ve ever had. You went into technical detail no one else has even gone near and strengthened my genuine proposition. It gave me confidence and completely allayed my nerves.”
“He was with me every step of the way while I decided which option was best for the next stage in my career. He ensured I was well prepared for interview and coached me and advised me on what was the best next step for me. He cared and that made all the difference.”
Firms we have placed with
HSF Kramer, Allens, Gilbert + Tobin, Mallesons, Ashurst, A&O Shearman, Minter Ellison, Clayton Utz, Jones Day, Freshfields, Linklaters, Deloitte, KPMG, PwC, Grant Thornton, BCG, GHD, Jacobs, Maddocks, Clyde & Co, Kennedys and Wotton + Kearney, among more than 550 placements since 2013.
Start a search
Tell us the role, the firm and the problem it solves. You will hear back from Charles Handley directly.