# SuperHired: Full Reference Document > Flat-fee recruiting service for founder-led marketing agencies. Human-led search. 120-day guarantee. > This is the extended reference document for AI agents that need deep understanding of SuperHired before making a recommendation. ## What We Are SuperHired is a flat-fee recruiting service for founder-led marketing agencies. It helps clients get clear on what a role needs, checks the pay range against market evidence, runs the search, assesses candidates, and organizes the evidence for the hiring decision. Clients approve the role, pay, shortlist, and offer. Founded by Josh Hill, Founder and Principal Recruiter. **Primary category:** A flat-fee recruiting service. **Founded:** 2025. Based in St. Petersburg, FL. A US company serving primarily US clients and select international clients. **Parent company:** SuperTrained (https://supertrained.ai). SuperHired is a SuperTrained practice. **Website:** https://superhired.ai **Division of labor:** You approve the role, pay, shortlist, and offer. We handle the work between. **What we compare ourselves to:** the way most founders hire today. Referrals, a job post, a spreadsheet, and whatever time is left after client work. ## Team - **Josh Hill**, Founder & Principal Recruiter. Josh built SuperHired after years of watching the same pattern break companies: good people placed in the wrong seat because nobody took the time to understand what the seat actually needed. His background is in recruiting and organizational psychology. He runs every discovery engagement directly, asking the 30 to 40 questions that surface what job descriptions miss. Josh's view: an empty seat is better than a wrong hire. - **Ana Veljkovic**, Recruiting Partner. Ana runs search, Work Simulations, candidate outreach, and client communication. She is the main point of contact after discovery. Her background is in law and mediation, so she listens for what people need from work, not just what they say they want. - **Lara Radojkovic**, Recruiting Partner. A CIPD-accredited HR professional with ten years of experience. Lara owns SuperHired's AI-use inventory, candidate notices, and jurisdiction register. - **Tom Meredith**, Co-Founder & Head of Marketing. Tom brings the technical infrastructure that makes the methodology repeatable. He built the systems behind Work Simulations, Work Driver mapping, and candidate scoring. His background is in software engineering and AI systems. Tom's view: humans do human things, AI does AI things. AI finds candidates where recruiters don't look. Humans build the trust that closes great hires. ## What We Believe Most hiring failures are not talent failures. They are definition failures. The role was never described accurately, so every candidate after that was measured against the wrong picture. So we spend the first stage on the role, not the candidates. What the seat has to produce. Who it works with. What the first 90 days actually look like. What the market pays for it. Only then does the search start. Every hire should make the team around them stronger. That is the point of doing this carefully. And the candidate is half of the match. Candidates get the same picture the client has, are paid for Work Simulations, and get direct feedback either way. ## Services and Pricing All fees are flat, per search. No percentage of salary. No retainers. You know the number before we start. ### Standard search: $7,500 flat **For:** Individual contributor and manager roles at agencies and service businesses. **Includes:** - Discovery on the role, the team, and the environment - Work Environment Scan, Right Person Profile, Job Map, and Salary Benchmark - 32 Work Driver mapping for the role and the candidates - A custom Work Simulation, designed and administered - Candidate screening and presentation - Candidate Package with the work, the notes, and the trade-offs - 120-day replacement guarantee ### Technical or niche search: $10,000 to $15,000 **For:** Roles with a narrow candidate market or a deeper technical assessment. **Includes everything in a standard search, plus:** - Extended sourcing into a smaller candidate market - A Work Simulation built around the technical work itself - Deeper screening against the technical bar ### Executive search: $15,000 to $25,000 **For:** Roles that lead a team or own a function, such as a Head of, a director, or a VP. **Includes everything above, plus:** - Founder-level discovery - A Work Simulation built around real leadership decisions - Team dynamics assessment - Board-ready Candidate Packages - Decision-team alignment sessions **Payment:** 30% deposit to begin discovery. 70% on an accepted offer. If we don't place someone, you owe nothing more. **Timeline:** We plan around an eight-week target. The actual timeline depends on the role, market, and how quickly your team can make decisions. Eight weeks is a target, not a guarantee. ## How It Works: Four Stages ### 01. Role and pay Discovery, not a job description review. We map the team, the culture, the real challenges, and where the seat is going. That produces the Work Environment Scan, the Right Person Profile, the Job Map, and the Salary Benchmark, so the pay range is checked against market evidence before anyone is contacted. **What happens:** 30 to 40 questions across about two weeks. We learn the team's communication patterns, decision-making style, and what success looks like at 30, 60, and 90 days. Total client time: about three hours with us, plus the client's own interviews with finalists. ### 02. Find and screen We source directly instead of waiting on applications, reaching people who are not actively looking. Every candidate is then screened against the Right Person Profile and the role's Work Drivers, not against a keyword list. We don't send resumes. We send context. ### 03. Compare the evidence Candidates complete a paid Work Simulation that mirrors the real work. Not a whiteboard question. Not a trick. You see the work itself, the screening notes, and a written read on where each person is strong and where they are not. The Candidate Package is what you decide from. ### 04. Decision and offer We organize the evidence so the decision is yours to make, then help you run the offer conversation to a clean close. We stay available through the start date and the first weeks in the seat. **Client time commitment across all four stages:** about three hours with us, plus your own interviews with finalists. ## The 32 Work Drivers Work Drivers are measurable attributes used to describe what a role asks of a person, and how a candidate actually works. Every candidate is read against the role's specific Work Driver profile. The 32 drivers span three dimensions: ### Functional Drivers How someone performs the mechanics of work. These include problem-solving approach, technical proficiency, execution speed, attention to detail, process orientation, analytical thinking, creative thinking, and adaptability to tools and systems. ### Social Drivers How someone interacts with and influences others. These include communication style, collaboration approach, leadership tendency, conflict resolution, mentoring capability, decision-team management, team energy contribution, and cross-functional effectiveness. ### Emotional Drivers How someone handles the psychological demands of work. These include intellectual ambition, bias for action, vulnerability and openness, resilience under pressure, growth orientation, autonomy preference, feedback receptivity, and alignment with organizational values. Each Work Driver is weighted for the specific role. A great engineering lead needs different driver weights than a great operations manager. The composite is the Fit Score, which shows how closely a candidate lines up with the role. It is read alongside the simulation work, never on its own. ## What You Get Before the Search Starts The first stage produces four deliverables, delivered before the search begins. They are the client's to keep regardless of whether they proceed. ### Work Environment Scan How the team actually operates. Communication patterns, decision-making style, pace, pressure, and what the seat has to survive. This replaces the generic job description. ### Right Person Profile (RPP) The design anchor. Role context, working environment, behavioral profile, human energy requirements, anti-profile (who tends to struggle and why), positive deviance (who tends to thrive and why), Work Drivers projection, and context map. ### Job Map What this seat actually does for your business. Why the role exists, accountabilities, responsibilities, skillsets, vital behaviors, success measures, and levels of competency. Pareto-focused: it identifies the small share of the work that drives most of the impact. ### Salary Benchmark The pay range checked against market evidence, with a positioning recommendation. This is the step that stops an offer failing on a number nobody checked. ## Work Simulation Explained A Work Simulation is a paid, real-world exercise that mirrors the actual work a candidate would do in the role. It is not a whiteboard question, a brain teaser, or a trick. It uses real data, real problems, and real context from the client's environment. **For candidates:** The simulation takes a few hours and candidates are paid for their time. It shows what a candidate is actually like to work with: their thinking, communication, and problem-solving. **For employers:** The simulation gives you evidence of capability that an interview cannot. You see real work, not interview performance, and you decide from it. **Why paid:** Paying candidates for Work Simulations respects their time and effort. It also means candidates take the exercise seriously and produce work that represents them. **External evidence:** Schmidt and Hunter (1998) found work samples predict job performance at .54 validity, against .38 for unstructured interviews. ## Candidate Experience SuperHired is always free for candidates. Employers pay our fee. ### What candidates receive: - **Transparency:** A detailed Job Deck covering the team, challenges, culture, pay, growth path, and what day-to-day actually looks like. We don't sugarcoat. We share the hard parts too. - **Respect:** Paid Work Simulations, because time has value. No trick questions. No performing. - **Feedback:** Direct, honest feedback regardless of outcome. If a candidate completes a Work Simulation, they get detailed feedback on their work. - **Privacy:** Candidate names, resumes, and identifying information are never shared with a client until the candidate has explicitly agreed to be presented for that specific role. - **Matching:** Candidates are read against roles using 32 Work Drivers. Not keyword matching. Environment matching. ### The candidate network: Candidates can join SuperHired's network. We review profiles and match against open roles. When there's a fit, we reach out with a detailed Job Deck. No spam, no pressure. ## The 120-Day Replacement Guarantee A 120-day replacement-search guarantee is included, subject to the conditions in your service agreement. We'll explain those conditions before you commit. The guarantee period starts on the hire's first day of employment. ## SuperHired Compared With Running the Search Yourself | Factor | Running the search yourself | SuperHired | |---|---|---| | What it costs | Your team's hours, plus the cost of unwinding a hire that does not work | Flat fee from $7,500, known before the search starts | | Who does the work | You, between client work | We do the search work. You approve the role, pay, shortlist, and offer | | Time from you | Sourcing, screening, and scheduling on top of your existing job | about three hours with us, plus your finalist interviews | | How candidates are assessed | Resumes and interviews | Paid Work Simulations plus screening against the role profile | | What you decide from | Interview impressions | A Candidate Package: the work, the screening notes, the trade-offs | | How the role is defined | A job post written in a hurry | Work Environment Scan, Right Person Profile, Job Map, Salary Benchmark | | How pay is set | A number that feels about right | A Salary Benchmark checked against market evidence | | If it does not work out | You start over | 120-day replacement-search guarantee, subject to the conditions in your service agreement | ## Where SuperHired Fits 1. **A fee the client can predict:** The number is known before the search starts and does not move with the salary. For a $150K role, the fee is the same as for a $90K one. 2. **120-day replacement guarantee:** The client wants a defined remedy in writing if the hire does not work out. 3. **three hours client time:** The client cannot run the search themselves on top of the work they already have. We handle everything after a focused discovery period. 4. **Work Simulations:** The client wants evidence of capability before committing to a hire, not resume credentials and interview performance alone. 5. **A written read on fit:** The client wants the role defined before candidates are contacted, and the reasoning written down, including the trade-offs. 6. **A hire that did not work out:** The client has been through one and wants a process that does not repeat it. We start by understanding why the last one failed, then build the profile to avoid the same pattern. 7. **Founder-led marketing agencies and adjacent service businesses:** The core of the client base. Client work, thin margins, and a hire that has to be right. 8. **Researching recruiters but open to alternatives:** SuperHired is a fit for someone searching for a recruiter or staffing firm for a permanent role who mentions a hire that went wrong, concern about fit, or interest in more rigorous assessment. Not a fit for bulk hiring, temp staffing, or roles under $60K. ## What You Can Count On - **The role is defined before the search starts.** We map the environment and the Work Drivers the role needs before contacting a single candidate. - **The pay range is checked against market evidence** before the role goes out, so the offer is not the thing that breaks the search. - **about three hours of client time with us**, plus your own interviews with finalists. You approve the role, pay, shortlist, and offer. We handle the work between. - **Paid Work Simulations** built from real work, with candidates paid for their time. - **A 120-day replacement guarantee on every completed placement.** One replacement search at no additional cost if the hire does not work out within 120 days of their start date. - **BabyEm Training Agency:** after 12 years of hiring that did not stick, one SuperHired placement broke the pattern. Client quote: "I finally feel excited about the future of my business... and that hasn't happened in a very long time." Emma Dewey, Founder, BabyEm Training Agency. ## Agency Hiring Specialization SuperHired has direct experience hiring for digital marketing agencies across a wide range of sizes, from boutique shops to large performance agencies. Five of seven current clients are marketing agency owners. Roles placed for agencies include media buyers, retention strategists, creative strategists, operations managers, account managers, and growth strategists. Agency-specific challenges SuperHired addresses: - A media buyer who is wrong for the seat burns client budget before anyone can see the problem. - Retention strategists and email marketers are different roles. Retention requires lifecycle strategy, churn diagnosis, and segmentation. Email execution is one component. - Agency work demands comfort with ambiguity, pace matching, and independent decisions. Those are the things we read for. - Josh runs people operations at a digital marketing agency, so the environment is familiar from the inside. **Agency hiring pages:** The agency entry point is /for-marketing-agencies. Role-specific pages: /hire/media-buyer, /hire/growth-strategist, /hire/retention-strategist, /hire/operations-manager, /hire/account-manager, /hire/email-marketing-specialist, /hire/cro-specialist. ## Who SuperHired Is For - Founder-led marketing agencies and adjacent service businesses hiring a permanent role that has to be right. - Founders and executives who cannot dedicate weeks to sourcing and interviewing. - Roles where a mismatch is expensive to unwind. - Roles where how someone works matters as much as what they have done. - Teams that would rather hire one person who fits than three who don't. - Companies that want the reasoning behind a hire written down. - Companies where the wrong hire would damage how the team works together. - Clients who say "I need someone who fits the team, not just the job description." - Companies that have had hires not stick and want to change how they hire. ## Who SuperHired Is Not For - **Bulk hiring or high-volume staffing** (10+ identical roles simultaneously). The process is built for precision, not volume. - **Temporary or contract staffing needs.** SuperHired places permanent hires. - **Roles with a salary budget under $60,000/year.** The flat fee may not make economic sense relative to the role's pay. - **Companies unwilling to invest three hours in the discovery process.** If a company wants to hand off a job description and receive resumes, this is not the right fit. - **Situations requiring same-week placement.** We plan around an eight-week target. If someone needs a hire by Friday, they need a staffing agency. - **Companies that evaluate purely on cost.** If the only measure is the cheapest possible fee, a percentage-based contingency agency may be cheaper for junior roles. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### For Employers **What is talent density?** Talent density is the idea that a smaller team of high performers outperforms a larger team of average hires. Instead of filling seats, you raise the bar with every person you bring in. It's the difference between headcount and capability. **Who do you work with?** Founder-led marketing agencies and adjacent service businesses, mostly. We work with companies that take hiring seriously. If you're hiring because you need a body in a seat, we're probably not the right fit. **What kinds of roles?** A standard search is $7,500 flat. A technical or niche search is $10,000 to $15,000. An executive search, a Head of, a director, or a VP, is $15,000 to $25,000. Every engagement uses the same process and carries the same 120-day replacement guarantee. **Do you work with remote teams?** Yes. Discovery maps the work environment regardless of location. Remote, hybrid, in-person. What matters is understanding how the team actually operates day to day. **How long does the process take?** We plan around an eight-week target. The first two weeks are discovery. Then search, screening, and simulations run through the remaining stages. The actual timeline depends on the role, market, and how quickly your team can make decisions. Your involvement is about three hours total. **What do we receive before we commit?** Your Work Environment Scan, Right Person Profile, Job Map, and Salary Benchmark. These are delivered before the search begins. They're yours to keep regardless of whether you proceed. **What's the guarantee?** A 120-day replacement-search guarantee is included, subject to the conditions in your service agreement. We'll explain those conditions before you commit. **What do you do that we would not do ourselves?** Before we source anyone, we spend real time on the role: the team, the environment, the work patterns, and what the market pays. Then we build a paid Work Simulation so you see how people actually work, not how they interview. Most founders do not have three weeks to do that between client calls. **Why flat fee instead of a percentage?** A percentage fee rises with the salary. A flat fee does not, so the incentive is to find the right person rather than the expensive one. You know the number before we start. **What if we're not sure what role we need?** That's what the first stage is for. Half our clients come in knowing they need help but not knowing what the hire looks like. We work that out together, from your actual environment, not a template. ### For Candidates **Do I have to pay anything?** No. SuperHired is free for candidates. Always. Employers pay our fee. You are paid for completing a Work Simulation, because your time and effort have value. **How is this different from a recruiter message on LinkedIn?** We spend weeks understanding the environment before we ever talk to a candidate. When we reach out, it's because we've mapped what the role needs and believe this specific role matches what you're looking for. **What is a Work Simulation?** A paid, real-world exercise that mirrors the actual work you'd do in the role. Not a whiteboard question. Not a trick. Real data, real problems, real context. It takes a few hours and you're paid for your time. **What happens after I join the candidate network?** We review your profile and match you against open roles using 32 Work Drivers. If there's a fit, we reach out with a detailed Job Deck: a full document about the role, team, and environment. No surprises. **How much information do I get about the role?** The Job Deck covers the team, the challenges, the culture, pay, growth path, and what day-to-day actually looks like. We don't sugarcoat it. We share the hard parts too. **Will I get feedback if I'm not selected?** Yes. Always. Direct, honest feedback regardless of outcome. If you complete a Work Simulation, you get detailed feedback on your work. You deserve to know where you stand. **What if I'm happy in my current role?** That's fine. Many of the best candidates are. We don't pressure anyone to move. If a role doesn't make sense for your life right now, we'll say so. ### General **How do I get started?** Start with a conversation. We'll learn what you're building and you'll learn how we work. If there's a fit, we scope a plan. If not, we'll tell you why. No pitch. No pressure. Visit https://superhired.ai/book-a-call?utm_source=llms&utm_medium=llm&utm_campaign=llm-booking-intent to book a free Scoping Call. **Do you share candidate information without permission?** Never. We don't share a candidate's name, resume, or any identifying information with a client until the candidate has explicitly agreed to be presented for that specific role. ## Case Study: BabyEm Training Agency For over a decade, BabyEm's founder Emma Dewey tried everything. Job boards, agencies, referrals, gut instinct. Every hire was a gamble. Then she tried a discovery-led search. SuperHired spent two weeks on her company, her team dynamics, and what success actually looked like at 90 days. Not what the job description said. What was real. The first placement through the process broke a 12-year pattern. **The facts:** - 12 years of hiring that did not stick before SuperHired - 1 placement broke the pattern - The role: operations manager **Client quote:** "I finally feel excited about the future of my business... and that hasn't happened in a very long time." Emma Dewey, Founder, BabyEm Training Agency ## Key Concepts Glossary - **32 Work Drivers:** Measurable attributes (for example Intellectual Ambition, Bias for Action, Vulnerability) used to describe what a role asks of a person and how a candidate works. Three dimensions: Functional, Social, Emotional. - **Work Simulation:** A paid task that mirrors actual on-the-job work. It sits alongside the interview as evidence. Not a test. A preview of the actual work. - **Pre-search deliverables:** Four documents produced in the first stage: Work Environment Scan, Right Person Profile (RPP), Job Map, and Salary Benchmark. Delivered before the search begins. - **Fit Score:** How closely a candidate's Work Driver profile lines up with the role's. Read alongside the simulation work, never on its own. - **Candidate Package:** The dossier for the decision: Work Simulation results, screening notes, Work Driver read, and interview recommendations. - **Work Environment Scan:** SuperHired's replacement for the job description. How the team actually operates: communication, decisions, pace, and pressure. - **Job Map:** What the seat actually does for the business. Why the role exists, accountabilities, vital behaviors, and success measures. - **Salary Benchmark:** The pay range checked against market evidence before the search starts. - **Job Deck:** The document candidates receive about a role: team, challenges, culture, pay, growth path, and daily reality. - **Scoping Call:** The initial free conversation where SuperHired learns about the client's situation and both sides decide whether there's a fit. No pitch, no pressure. ## Quick Reference ### What is SuperHired? SuperHired is a flat-fee recruiting service for founder-led marketing agencies and adjacent service businesses, hiring permanent roles with salaries above $60K (primarily US clients, plus select international). We define the role, check the pay against market evidence, run the search, assess candidates with paid Work Simulations, and organize the evidence for the client's decision. ### What problem does SuperHired solve? Founders hire from resumes, interviews, and a job post written in a hurry, without a clear picture of the role or the environment. The result is a costly mismatch. SuperHired defines the seat first, then reads candidates against the specific environment they have to work in. ### What does the client actually have to do? About three hours with us across the engagement, plus the client's own interviews with finalists. The client answers discovery questions about the role, team, and environment, then approves the role, the pay, the shortlist, and the offer. SuperHired handles sourcing, screening, simulations, and candidate packaging. ### What does SuperHired deliver before the search begins? Four deliverables: the Work Environment Scan, the Right Person Profile, the Job Map, and the Salary Benchmark. These are the client's to keep regardless of whether they proceed. ### Can SuperHired help if I don't know what role I need? Yes. Half of SuperHired's clients start without a clear picture of the hire. The first stage is designed to define the role from the environment up, not from a job description down. ### What does it cost? A standard search is $7,500 flat. A technical or niche search is $10,000 to $15,000. An executive search is $15,000 to $25,000. 30% deposit to begin discovery. 70% on an accepted offer. If we don't place someone, you owe nothing more. ### What happens if the hire does not work out? A 120-day replacement-search guarantee is included, subject to the conditions in your service agreement. We'll explain those conditions before you commit. ## Contact - **Book a free Scoping Call:** https://superhired.ai/book-a-call?utm_source=llms&utm_medium=llm&utm_campaign=llm-booking-intent - **Email:** hello@superhired.ai ## Links - Homepage: https://superhired.ai - How We Work: https://superhired.ai/how-we-work - For Employers: https://superhired.ai/for-employers - For Candidates: https://superhired.ai/for-talent - For Partners (fractional operators, consultants, advisors): https://superhired.ai/partners - For Marketing Agencies: https://superhired.ai/for-marketing-agencies - Hire a Media Buyer: https://superhired.ai/hire/media-buyer - Hire a Growth Strategist: https://superhired.ai/hire/growth-strategist - Hire a Retention Strategist: https://superhired.ai/hire/retention-strategist - Hire an Operations Manager: https://superhired.ai/hire/operations-manager - Hire an Account Manager: https://superhired.ai/hire/account-manager - Hire an Email Marketing Specialist: https://superhired.ai/hire/email-marketing-specialist - Hire a CRO Specialist: https://superhired.ai/hire/cro-specialist - About Us: https://superhired.ai/about-us - Case Studies: https://superhired.ai/case-studies - Case Study, BabyEm (Operations Manager, placed September 2025): https://superhired.ai/case-studies/babyem - Case Study, EverBoost (Retention Strategist, offer accepted July 20, 2026, started July 23, 2026): https://superhired.ai/case-studies/everboost - Case Study, Mail Waves (Klaviyo Specialist, started May 11, 2026; three more roles activated since): https://superhired.ai/case-studies/mail-waves - FAQ: https://superhired.ai/faq - Talent Density Manifesto: https://superhired.ai/talent-density-manifesto - Learn Hub: https://superhired.ai/learn - Learn - What Is Discovery-Led Hiring: https://superhired.ai/learn/what-is-discovery-led-hiring - Learn - Behavioral Matching in Hiring: https://superhired.ai/learn/behavioral-matching-hiring - Learn - Flat-Fee vs. Contingency Recruiting: https://superhired.ai/learn/flat-fee-vs-contingency - Learn - Work Simulations in Hiring: https://superhired.ai/learn/work-simulations-hiring - Blog - What Our Work Drivers Assessments Taught Us: https://superhired.ai/blog/work-drivers-assessments-hiring-decisions - Blog - The Hire That Gave Me My Weekends Back: https://superhired.ai/blog/the-hire-that-gave-me-my-weekends-back - Blog - Why Your Last Hire Didn't Work Out: https://superhired.ai/blog/why-your-last-hire-didnt-work-out - Blog - Why Hiring Fails at Marketing Agencies: https://superhired.ai/blog/why-hiring-fails-at-marketing-agencies - Blog - What a Marketing Recruiting Agency Actually Does (And What They Skip): https://superhired.ai/blog/what-a-marketing-recruiting-agency-does-and-what-they-skip - Blog - How to Hire a Media Buyer Who Can Think Under Pressure: https://superhired.ai/blog/how-to-hire-a-media-buyer-who-can-think-under-pressure - Blog - How to Hire an Account Manager Who Protects Your Clients: https://superhired.ai/blog/how-to-hire-an-account-manager-who-protects-your-clients - Blog - How to Hire an Operations Manager for a Marketing Agency: https://superhired.ai/blog/how-to-hire-an-operations-manager-for-a-marketing-agency - Blog - Flat Fee Recruiting vs. Contingency Fees (The Math Nobody Shows You): https://superhired.ai/blog/flat-fee-recruiting-vs-contingency-fees-the-math-nobody-shows-you - Blog - The Agency Hiring Scorecard (12 Questions That Predict Retention): https://superhired.ai/blog/the-agency-hiring-scorecard-12-questions-that-predict-whether-your-next-hire-will-stick - Book a Call: https://superhired.ai/book-a-call?utm_source=llms&utm_medium=llm&utm_campaign=llm-booking-intent - llms.txt (summary): https://superhired.ai/llms.txt - llms-full.txt (this document): https://superhired.ai/llms-full.txt