About HQ Career
We Built This Because We Saw What Happens When You Don't Have It
This isn't a pivot from a staffing background. It's a response to a specific, documented failure mode in the executive job search — and the conviction that it's fixable.
The Origin
Six Months on the Other Side of the Table
Before HQ Career existed, its founder spent six months sitting across from hiring managers instead of job seekers. Sitting inside the room where offers are extended and rejected. Watching what actually determined outcomes.
What he saw wasn't always merit. It was process. Candidates who were technically stronger than the person hired — passed over because their resume didn't clear the ATS, or their outreach hit the wrong inbox, or they accepted the first verbal offer at face value and left money on the table that the winning candidate had negotiated back.
The executives who won those roles weren't necessarily better. They were better prepared. Or they had someone who had run this specific process before.
That's the gap HQ Career closes. Not talent — process.
You've spent twenty years becoming excellent at your craft. We've spent ours learning exactly how the hiring machine works from the inside — and how to run it in your favor.
What HQ Career Is Not
We are not a staffing firm. We don't represent companies or collect placement fees from employers. Our only client is you — and our only incentive is an outcome you'd take.
We are not a resume service. A better resume is occasionally part of what we do, but it's a tool, not the work. The work is finding the right role, building the right case, and executing the search without your fingerprints on the process until the moment you want them there.
We are not an outplacement firm. Outplacement exists to reduce employer liability. It's not built around your interests. We are.
We are not a coaching service. Coaching is valuable. It's also something you do while you're still running the search yourself. We don't hand you a framework and watch you apply it. We run it for you — you make the calls only you can make.
Operating Principles
How We Work
Precision over volume
The industry optimizes for activity metrics: applications sent, calls booked, candidates moved. We optimize for outcomes. That means sending fewer, better applications — and being willing to say no to roles that don't genuinely fit.
You approve everything
Clause 4.2 of every engagement letter. Nothing bearing your name leaves our system until you've seen it and clicked approve. That's not a feature. It's the foundation of what we consider a professional service.
Discretion is non-negotiable
Most of our clients are employed when they come to us. One visibility breach can cost them a job they haven't left yet. We treat information like attorneys treat client files — with absolute professional discretion.
The free consultation earns its name
We don't run consultations to pitch. We run them to produce at least one concrete named action the executive can take that day — whether they become a client or not. If we can't do that in 30 minutes, we haven't earned the next conversation.
Small by design
Twelve clients at any one time. That ceiling isn't a marketing line — it's the operational constraint that makes everything else possible. Scaling past it would mean degrading the attention each search requires. We're not interested in that trade.
Open about our tools
We use AI-assisted sourcing, filtering, and drafting. We're transparent about that with every client. The technology runs the repeatable parts. The judgment — about fit, timing, voice, and strategy — is always human.
The Team
Intentionally Small. Entirely Focused.
We cap at 12 active clients because quality of attention is the service. Every search is run personally — not delegated to an account manager, not managed through a junior coordinator.
Darren Miller
Founder & Lead Strategist
Darren spent years inside the hiring process before he spent time running searches for executives. He watched strong candidates lose roles they deserved — not because they were underqualified, but because they were outmatched by the process itself. He built HQ Career to remove that disadvantage. He runs all client engagements personally.
Open Source
Built on CareerOps
The sourcing and filtering infrastructure underlying HQ Career's search process is built on CareerOps, an open-source reverse-recruiting framework created by Santiago Fernández de Valderrama and released under the MIT License.
We are grateful for the foundation his work provides. The CareerOps project made it possible to build a serious, production-grade search infrastructure without starting from zero — and to focus our proprietary development on the judgment layer: the 10-Dimension Fit Score, the HITL Gate, and the negotiation methodology that CareerOps doesn't include.
CareerOps is used under the MIT License. Attribution is provided in accordance with its terms.
We are currently accepting clients.
The founding cohort locks your monthly rate for as long as you remain a client — including any future re-engagement. The first five founding clients also receive a private briefing on every significant methodology update before it's rolled out to the broader client base.
We're currently at fewer than 12. That won't always be the case.
Book a Free Consultation →30 minutes. No pitch. Produces at least one concrete action you can take today.
See exactly how we run the search.
The How It Works page walks through all four phases in detail — from the 10-Dimension Fit Score through offer negotiation.
See the Process →