Senior HR leadership for growing businesses, without the full-time hire.
We help small and growing businesses without an in-house HR team get their people practices right: compliant foundations, confident managers, and a strategic HR partner at the table.
PHR-certified · 20+ years in HR leadership
Led by Candy Olesen. Based in Kansas City, with HR experience across 35+ states.
You don't have HR in-house. You're not sure you're ready to hire for it.
The work falls to whoever has time
Handbooks, hiring, hard conversations. Owners and office managers absorb it between everything else.
Risk builds quietly
Classification, documentation, compliance. Nothing looks wrong until an audit or a claim says otherwise.
A full-time hire is a big leap
You need senior judgment embedded in the business, not a full-time salary. Most of the time, that's a few days a month.
Real situations. Real partnership.
A manufacturer realizes their employee handbook hasn't been updated in years… and they just got flagged in an audit.
The Hilltop Approach: A full compliance review, handbook rewrite, and manager training on the key changes.
A growing nonprofit promotes three team leads with no management experience… and turnover starts climbing.
The Hilltop Approach: A custom Manager Essentials series across 4 sessions, with real tools and practical frameworks.
A business founder wants to step back but has no HR infrastructure in place for a leadership transition.
The Hilltop Approach: An ongoing fractional partnership to build infrastructure and prepare the organization for what's next.
An organization navigating a difficult termination needs guidance… fast.
The Hilltop Approach: One call Tuesday morning. They handle it confidently by Thursday.
The HR work a growing business actually needs.
Handbook Audits & Builds
A new employee handbook from the ground up, or a line-by-line review of the one you have, written for your organization and current with the law.
Compliance Audits
I-9s, required postings, employee classification, and recordkeeping, reviewed against current requirements, with a clear list of what to fix first.
Workplace Investigations
Fair, documented, and neutral investigations of employee complaints, conducted by someone with a decade of experience doing exactly this.
Manager Training
Practical sessions that prepare supervisors for feedback, documentation, conflict, and the conversations most new managers avoid.
People Program Design
The programs that help people grow and stay: performance management, onboarding, mentorship, and internship programs, designed and launched with you.
Fractional HR Leadership
A senior HR leader in your corner every month: advising leadership, handling employee relations, and building the systems as you grow.
Work with us by the month, by the project, or by the hour. See how engagements work →
What working with Hilltop gets you.
You stop being the HR department.
The questions, the paperwork, and the hard calls have somewhere to go. You get your time back for running the business.
Problems get handled before they're claims.
Current policies, clean documentation, and a second set of eyes on the risky decisions, before an audit or an attorney finds them.
Your managers know what to do.
Supervisors who can give feedback, document fairly, and handle conflict themselves, so fewer problems land on your desk.
Getting started is simple.
Schedule a free call
Thirty minutes to talk through what's happening in your organization. No pitch, no obligation.
Schedule a CallGet a clear recommendation
You'll hear what we'd prioritize, how we'd work together, and what it would cost. If we're not the right fit, we'll tell you.
We get to work
Whether it's one project or an ongoing partnership, you'll have a clear scope, regular check-ins, and a partner who follows through.
Two decades of doing this work from the inside.
years in strategic HR leadership
years conducting workplace investigations
employee handbooks written or overhauled
manager and employee trainings delivered
PLACEHOLDER: add real recommendations from leaders Candy has worked alongside, then turn this section on.
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A partner at the table, not a consultant on call.
Strategic, not administrative
No payroll processing, no benefits enrollment. Every hour goes to the work that shapes your organization.
Senior experience, across industries
Two decades in manufacturing, fintech, engineering, insurance, education, legal, marketing, and retail, including two people functions rebuilt from the ground up, a co-created mentorship program, and an internship program built from scratch.
Sized to what you need
Monthly partnership, a single project, or an hour of guidance. You're never paying for more than the work requires.
Remote and multi-state ready
Based in Kansas City, with HR experience across 35+ states and organizations wherever their people are.
Before you reach out.
What happens on the free call?+
Thirty minutes, no obligation. We talk through what's going on in your organization, what you've already tried, and where HR support would make the biggest difference. No slides, no pitch.
How are engagements priced?+
Defined-scope work, like a handbook or compliance audit, is a flat fee. Ongoing partnership is a monthly retainer scoped to your needs. Projects are quoted against a defined scope, and hourly consulting is billed as used.
Do you replace an in-house HR team?+
Not necessarily. Some clients have no HR function at all. Others have a capable administrative team that needs strategic leadership above it. We work both ways.
Can I bring you a single question?+
Yes. Hourly consulting exists for exactly that: one situation, one conversation, no ongoing commitment.
Do you work with organizations outside your state?+
Yes. Hilltop works remotely and brings HR experience across 35+ states, so supporting multi-state organizations is straightforward.
Is this legal advice?+
No. Hilltop provides HR guidance grounded in compliance practice, and we'll tell you plainly when a situation needs an employment attorney.
