Go Fractional vs. DHR Global: Which Executive Recruiting Partner Is Right for You?
Compare Go Fractional and DHR Global for executive hiring. Learn why Go Fractional’s fractional and interim-to-full-time model offers speed, flexibility, and access to founder-level talent.
May 15th, 2026
Executive search firms come in many forms—from global giants to boutique specialists. Choosing the right partner depends on your specific needs: speed, budget, flexibility, and the type of leadership you’re seeking.
DHR Global is a leading executive search and leadership consulting firm with nearly 50 offices worldwide, known for its data-driven approach and deep industry expertise. Go Fractional offers a specialized alternative featuring a curated network of 10,000+ pre-vetted, multi-exit entrepreneurs and former C-suite executives available for fractional, interim, and full-time placements—giving companies access to founder-level talent with the ability to “try before they buy” and validate both subject matter expertise and cultural fit before making a permanent commitment.
This comparison breaks down the key differences between DHR Global and Go Fractional, helping you decide which partner is right for your executive hiring needs.
Quick Comparison Table
| Factor | DHR Global | Go Fractional |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1989 | 2021 |
| Headquarters | Chicago, IL | New York, NY |
| Company Size | 700+ employees, ~50 offices globally | Boutique platform with 10,000+ vetted executives |
| Time to Hire | 3-5 months (retained search) | As fast as 3 days | Engagement Types | Primarily full-time permanent | Fractional, Interim, and Full-Time | Search/Placement Fee | 25-33% of first-year salary | No placement fees | Try Before You Buy | Limited | Yes (interim-to-full-time conversion) | Talent Pool | Passive candidates via retained search | 10,000+ pre-vetted, multi-exit entrepreneurs & C-suite executives | Best For | Mid-market to enterprise companies | Startups, growth-stage, PE-backed companies |
About DHR Global
- DHR Global is an executive search and leadership consulting firm founded in 1989 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. With nearly 50 offices across the Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, DHR has established itself as a leading firm for C-suite and senior leadership placements, known for its rigorous assessment methodology and industry specialization.careers: You're interested in working with two or three clients at a time, combining advisory, hands-on leadership, and possibly board work.
- Value flexibility: You want more control over your schedule and the types of businesses you support while still operating at an executive level.
What DHR Global Offers
DHR Global provides comprehensive executive search and leadership services:
- Executive Search: Retained searches for CEO, C-suite, and senior leadership
- Board Services: Director recruitment and board composition consulting
- Leadership Consulting: Executive assessment, succession planning, organizational design
- Interim Leadership: Temporary executive placements for critical gaps
Industry Practices: Specialized teams across technology, healthcare, financial services, industrial, consumer, and more
How Their Process Works
DHR’s executive search combines research rigor with assessment expertise:
- Engagement: Retainer agreement with defined scope, timeline, and success criteria
- Position Specification: Detailed role analysis, competency modeling, and culture assessment
- Research & Sourcing: Systematic candidate identification using proprietary methodology
- Assessment: Structured interviews, psychometric assessments, competency-based evaluation
- Candidate Presentation: Curated shortlist with detailed profiles and assessment summaries
Selection & Integration: Interview facilitation, offer negotiation, onboarding support
Their Pricing Model
DHR Global uses retained search fees:
- Search Fee: Typically 25-33% of first-year total compensation
- Minimum Fees: Varies by role level and complexity
- Additional Costs: Assessment tools, travel, administrative expenses
- Payment Structure: Retainer payments throughout engagement
For a $400K executive, expect total fees of $100K-$150K+ before the first day of work.
About Go Fractional
Go Fractional is a specialized talent platform founded in 2021 and headquartered in New York City. Our mission is to “Make the World Go Fractional” by connecting companies with founder-level executives on a fractional, interim, or full-time basis.
What Go Fractional Offers
Go Fractional provides the full spectrum of executive hiring:
- Fractional Executives: Part-time leadership (10-25 hours/week) for ongoing needs
- Interim Executives: Full-time temporary leadership during transitions
- Full-Time Placements: Permanent hires, often through our “try before you buy” model
- Interim-to-Full-Time Conversion: Start fractional or interim, convert when fit is validated
How Our Process Works
Go Fractional’s process is streamlined for speed and flexibility:
- Discovery Call: Free 20-minute call to understand your needs
- Candidate Matching: Pre-vetted executives presented within 3 days
- Interviews: You meet candidates and assess fit
- Engagement: Flexible terms—fractional, interim, or full-time
- Conversion (Optional): Transition to permanent if both sides agree
Pricing Model
Go Fractional offers transparent, flexible pricing:
- No Search Fees: No 25-33% placement fees
- Fractional Engagements: Monthly retainers based on hours/scope
- Cost Savings: Typically ~50% of full-time executive cost
- No Long-Term Commitment: Flexible terms, scale up or down as needed
Key Stats
- 10,000+ executives in our vetted network
- 4.7 stars on Trustpilot
- 300+ testimonials from clients and talent
- 3 days average time to match
Key Similarities
Before diving into differences, it’s worth noting where DHR Global and Go Fractional overlap:
- C-Suite Focus: Both serve senior leadership roles—CEO, COO, CFO, CMO, CTO, and other C-suite positions
- Quality Emphasis: Both prioritize placing high-caliber executives who can drive business outcomes
- Assessment Rigor: Both evaluate candidates beyond resumes—considering leadership style, competencies, and cultural fit
- Multiple Industries: Both serve clients across technology, healthcare, financial services, and other sectors
- Interim Capabilities: Both can place interim executives for temporary leadership needs
Key Differences
1. Speed to Hire
DHR Global: Traditional retained searches take 3-5 months from engagement to start date. Their rigorous assessment methodology—including psychometric testing, competency-based interviews, and extensive referencing—ensures thoroughness but requires time.
Go Fractional: Pre-vetted executives can be matched in as little as 3 days. Because our talent pool consists of executives actively seeking fractional and interim work—not passive candidates who need to be convinced—the process moves dramatically faster.
The Impact: Every month without the right leadership costs you in strategic direction, team alignment, and competitive positioning. A 3-day match vs. a 4-month search represents a 40x speed advantage.
2. Cost & Fee Structure
DHR Global: Retained search fees typically run 25-33% of first-year total compensation. For a $400K executive, you might pay $100K-$150K in search fees alone—before salary, benefits, and equity.
Go Fractional: No placement fees. You pay for the executive’s time through flexible engagement terms. Fractional arrangements typically cost ~50% of full-time equivalent, and there are no six-figure search fees.
The Math: - DHR Global: $125K search fee + $400K salary + benefits = $575K+ first-year cost - Go Fractional: $0 search fee + fractional engagement = Dramatically lower total investment
3. Engagement Flexibility
DHR Global: Primarily focused on full-time permanent placements. While they offer interim leadership solutions, their core business model is retained search for permanent executives. Once you hire, you’re committed.
Go Fractional: Offers the full spectrum—fractional (part-time ongoing), interim (full-time temporary), and full-time (permanent). Engagement terms are flexible: start at 15 hours/week, scale to 30, convert to full-time, or adjust as needs change.
Why This Matters: Not every company needs 40+ hours of C-suite attention. A fractional CFO at 20 hours/week might deliver more strategic value than a full-time hire who’s still ramping up—at half the cost.
4. Try Before You Buy
DHR Global: Traditional search relies on their comprehensive assessment methodology—psychometric testing, competency interviews, and extensive references—to predict fit. You make a significant commitment based on evaluation processes. If it doesn’t work out, you’re facing severance, another search, and months of disruption.
Go Fractional: Our interim-to-full-time model lets you work with an executive before committing permanently. Start with a fractional or interim engagement, evaluate fit based on actual performance, then convert to full-time when confidence is high.
The Risk Equation: Executive mis-hires cost $500K-$1.5M when you factor in salary, severance, lost productivity, team disruption, and opportunity cost. The “try before you buy” approach dramatically reduces this risk by validating both expertise AND cultural/team fit before permanent commitment.
5. Talent Pool & Approach
DHR Global: Sources passive candidates—executives currently in senior roles who aren’t actively looking. Their systematic research methodology identifies potential candidates across industries. The process is thorough but time-consuming.
Go Fractional: Our network of 10,000+ executives have actively chosen fractional work—available for interim, contract-to-hire, and remote engagements. They’re multi-exit entrepreneurs, former C-suite leaders, and senior operators who want flexibility and impact across multiple companies. They’re not settling for fractional—they’re selecting it.
The Quality Advantage: Executives who choose fractional work are often the highest-caliber talent. They’ve already had successful exits, built companies, and now want to apply their expertise where it creates maximum value—without the constraints of traditional full-time employment.
6. Assessment Approach
DHR Global: Known for rigorous, data-driven assessment including psychometric testing, structured competency interviews, and comprehensive referencing. This approach is thorough but adds time and cost.
Go Fractional: Pre-vetting happens before executives join our network. Then, the real assessment is the engagement itself—you see the executive in action, working with your team, delivering results. This is more predictive than any interview or psychometric test.
When to Choose DHR Global
DHR Global is a strong choice in specific scenarios:
✅ Mid-market to enterprise company needing a permanent C-suite executive
✅ Organizations valuing rigorous assessment—psychometric testing, competency modeling, extensive referencing
✅ Board-level or CEO searches requiring comprehensive evaluation
✅ Industry-specific expertise in healthcare, technology, financial services, or industrial sectors
✅ Companies with 3-5 month hiring timelines and substantial budgets ($100K+ for search)
✅ Leadership consulting needs including succession planning and organizational design
When to Choose Go Fractional
Go Fractional is the better choice when:
✅ You need leadership now, not in 3-5 months
✅ You want to validate fit before making a permanent commitment (try before you buy)
✅ Budget is a consideration—you need senior expertise without six-figure search fees
✅ You need fractional/part-time leadership (10-25 hours/week)
✅ You’ve been burned by previous executive mis-hires and want lower risk
✅ You’re a startup, growth-stage, or PE-backed company that values speed and flexibility
✅ You believe real work is the best assessment—not psychometric tests
✅ Cultural and team fit are paramount—you want to see the executive in action before committing
Can You Use Both?
Absolutely. Many companies use Go Fractional and traditional search firms for different needs:
- Immediate coverage: Engage a Go Fractional interim executive to provide leadership while DHR Global runs a permanent search
- Different roles: Use DHR Global for CEO or board searches where comprehensive assessment matters, and Go Fractional for VP-level or functional leadership where speed and flexibility are priorities
- Risk mitigation: Use Go Fractional’s interim-to-full-time model as an alternative to traditional search—if the interim executive works out, you’ve found your permanent hire faster and with less risk
The approaches serve different needs and can complement each other.
Client Success Story: Lob
The Challenge: Lob needed experienced engineering leadership quickly but wanted to validate fit before committing to a full-time hire.
The Go Fractional Solution: Lob engaged a fractional VP of Engineering through Go Fractional. Within 12 days of the first call, the executive was in place and making an impact.
The Outcome: After just 6 weeks of fractional work proving his value, the executive converted to a permanent VP of Engineering role.
The Quote: “Working with Go Fractional has been an absolute pleasure. They connected us with high-quality engineering leaders and filled the role within just 12 days of our first call. After six weeks of fractional work, he joined as our permanent VP of Engineering. Go Fractional’s speed and partnership significantly boosted our team’s productivity, and we are thrilled to have filled the position seamlessly without any gaps.” — Victoria Ashton, Vice President of People, Lob
The Bottom Line
DHR Global is a well-established executive search firm with rigorous assessment methodology, global reach, and deep industry expertise. For companies seeking comprehensive evaluation, permanent executive placements, and leadership consulting services, DHR delivers.
Go Fractional offers a modern alternative built for speed, flexibility, and reduced risk. Our fractional, interim, and full-time model—with the ability to “try before you buy”—is ideal for companies that need leadership now, want to validate fit before committing, or prefer the flexibility of fractional arrangements.
The Decision Framework: - If you want comprehensive assessment and have 3-5 months for a search → DHR Global may be appropriate - If you need leadership in days, want flexibility, or want to de-risk your hire → Go Fractional is the smarter choice.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does Go Fractional’s pricing compare to DHR Global?
DHR Global charges retained search fees of 25-33% of first-year salary. Go Fractional has no placement fees—you pay only for the executive’s engagement time, typically at ~50% of full-time cost for fractional arrangements.
Can Go Fractional help with full-time executive hiring?
Yes. While we specialize in fractional and interim placements, many engagements convert to full-time. Our “try before you buy” model is actually one of the best paths to a successful permanent hire—you validate fit with real work before committing.
What types of executives does Go Fractional place?
We place VP to C-suite executives across all functions: CTO, COO, CMO, CFO, CRO, CPO, CHRO, CIO, CISO, and more. Our network includes 10,000+ multi-exit entrepreneurs and former C-suite leaders.
How quickly can Go Fractional find an executive?
We typically match companies with pre-vetted executives within 3 days. Because our talent pool consists of executives actively seeking fractional and interim work, there’s no lengthy sourcing process.
How does Go Fractional’s vetting compare to DHR Global’s assessment process?
DHR Global uses psychometric testing, competency interviews, and extensive referencing. Go Fractional pre-vets executives before they join our network, then the engagement itself serves as the ultimate assessment—you see the executive in action with your team.
What if the fractional executive doesn’t work out?
That’s one of the key advantages of the fractional model—if it’s not a fit, you can adjust or end the engagement without the cost and complexity of terminating a full-time executive. There’s no severance and no $500K mistake. Plus, Go Fractional can replace your fractional executive in as little as 3 days at no additional cost—try doing that with a traditional search firm.
Ready to Get Started?
Skip the lengthy search and placement fees. Get matched with a pre-vetted fractional or interim executive in as little as 3 days.
Go Fractional: Fractional Talent, Full-Time Impact.
