Nic van Heerden

Nic began her career in financial markets, working for The Treasury, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, Barclays, and ABN AMRO. Working in derivatives and financial markets gave her a strong commercial foundation and a practical understanding of how organisations operate. After returning to New Zealand, Nic made a deliberate move into recruitment, choosing it as a way to combine business, people, pace, and problem-solving. She started by door-knocking agencies and was given a desk and chair with the challenge to build a business. From there, she built a successful recruitment practice, winning top consultant awards, before moving into branch leadership and winning awards there too. Since then, Nic has run her own business, supported board recruitment through the Institute of Directors, delivered career coaching and workshops, and recruited across everything from entry-level roles to executive and board appointments.

Nic is known for bringing clarity, pace, and care to complex hiring conversations. She is often trusted with searches where the brief is evolving, the role is difficult to define, or leaders need help understanding what capability they really need. Curious, determined, and commercially minded, Nic moves quickly while taking the time to understand the business, the role, and the people involved. She brings structure, asks thoughtful questions, and constructively challenges assumptions when needed.

Nic is proud of building successful recruitment businesses, leading high-performing teams, and supporting organisations through important hiring decisions. Her work has spanned finance, accounting, marketing, HR, engineering, executive, and board-level appointments, including technical searches that have required her to quickly understand new industries and recruit globally.

Nic chose recruitment because it brings together the things she enjoys most: business, people, pace, and problem-solving. She is motivated by helping organisations make considered talent decisions, especially during moments of growth, uncertainty, or change.

Fast-moving, practical, and highly relationship-led, Nic combines commercial judgement with genuine curiosity. Clients value her energy, honesty, and ability to help leaders move forward with more confidence.