Get your first hires in Europe right.
I'm the embedded recruiter and talent partner founders bring in when they're scaling into Europe — to shape the hiring strategy, build the recruitment process and ATS behind it, coach your team to interview well, and land your first key hires when you need hands-on help. Senior experience on tap, not another full-time hire.
Hiring is where promising startups quietly lose months.
A few of the things I get brought in to fix:
You're entering a new European market blind — no read on where the good people are, what they cost, or what makes them say yes.
Every role reinvents the process. Hiring is slow, ad hoc, and eats your week.
Your first critical hires are on the line — and one wrong call costs months and morale.
No ATS, no scorecards, no structure. Decisions ride on gut feel and bias.
Every hiring manager interviews their own way. Candidates notice — and your employer brand pays for it.
You need senior hiring experience, but a full-time talent lead is overkill — for now.
Fractional talent leadership, on call.
Embedded recruitment support for startups hiring across Europe — I bring the systems, the network, and the experience, and leave you with a hiring machine you own.
Talent advisory
Hiring strategy, who to hire and when, and a senior sounding board as you scale.
Hiring foundations
ATS, process, scorecards, and structured interviews tuned to the European market.
Workshops & coaching
Your hiring managers and interviewers, trained to interview consistently and fairly.
Recruitment support
When you need hands-on help, I step in and recruit your first critical and senior roles.
Build your team
I help you hire and onboard your first in-house recruiter — then hand over a function that runs itself.
Market-entry advisory
Local sourcing channels, comp benchmarks, and an employer story that lands in a new market.
A wrong hire is the most expensive mistake an early team can make.
And it's even easier to make in a market you don't know yet.
Sourcing, onboarding, and unwinding a mis-hire can burn the better part of a year's salary — before you count the roadmap that quietly slipped while the seat was wrong.
Hiring blind in a new country means overpaying, missing the strong candidates entirely, and losing offers to companies who already know the local playbook.
B2B vs. employment contracts, notice periods, what candidates actually expect — local details that quietly cost you good people, or land you somewhere you didn't want to be.
A clear ladder, from one call to a hiring machine.
Start with a conversation. Go deeper only when it's clearly the right fit.
Intro Call
One focused hour. Tell me what you're building and who you need — I'll give you a straight read on the market: where your people are, what they cost right now, how long they'll take to land, and exactly where I can (and can't) help. You leave with real direction and next steps, whether or not we go further.
Market Briefing
A working session built around the exact roles you need to fill. We map where your candidates actually are, benchmark what they cost today, size up your competition for them, and set a realistic timeline — then turn it into a hiring plan you can act on Monday. You'll know what it takes to staff your launch before you spend a euro on it.
Hiring Setup
I build the hiring engine your founders shouldn't be improvising. ATS chosen and set up, a clear process with scorecards, structured interviews your team is trained to run, salary bands and leveling, an EVP that makes candidates choose you, and a local sourcing playbook. Hiring stops being a fire drill and becomes a system you trust.
Full Launch
Everything in Hiring Setup — and I don't just hand you the system, I help you make it real. I run the search for your first strategic hire end to end (your in-house recruiter or first key leader), train them to run the engine, and stay close while hiring finds its feet. One hire is included; any further hires go through the recruitment fee below.
Recruitment fee
The full fee on annual gross salary, excluding bonuses — paid in two installments: a deposit to start the search, and the balance once we make the hire. 90-day replacement guarantee.
Fractional, on call
Already up and running, or just need a senior hand now and then? Bring me in fractionally — €100 per hour, a few hours whenever you need them or one-off smaller projects — without committing to a full engagement.
Not sure which fits? That's exactly what the intro call is for.
Maria Wolszczak
A strategic partner, not a vendor.
I'm Maria — recruiter, talent builder, and certified career coach. I've been the first HR hire in fast-scaling startups, turned slow gut-feel hiring into fast, structured processes, and trained hiring managers and interviewers to interview better.
I also coach individuals through their own career pivots — so I understand both sides of the table: what makes a great hire, and what makes a great candidate say yes.
Tell me where you're scaling.
Tell me what you're trying to hire and where. The intro call is one hour, €200 — and you'll leave with direction either way.