Anyone can call themselves a consultant. Here is exactly what we confirm before someone can take your brief, and just as importantly, what we can't.
Every expert clears all six before they get a Verified badge. If they can't clear one, they don't list.
Current government-issued photo ID, cross-checked against every other document on file. The names have to line up.
An active ABN, confirmed against the Australian Business Register. Not a cancelled one, and not an entity sitting in administration.
Every qualification on a profile has evidence behind it. Where a professional body keeps a public register, we check the register rather than the certificate. Anything we can't confirm comes off the profile.
Three years minimum in the field they're advising in, five for business coaching. Adjacent doesn't count. A manager who has had a few hard conversations is not an HR consultant.
Professional indemnity cover, minimum $1 million in most categories. We sight the certificate and track the expiry. If it lapses, they stop receiving briefs until it's renewed.
Submitted straight to us by the referee, never passed through the expert. At least one has to be a client or an employer, not a mate. One “I wouldn't recommend them” and the application is over.
We'd rather tell you this now than have you work it out later.
Verification confirms facts. It can't confirm judgment. We check documents and registers, and we check them properly. What we cannot check is whether someone will give you good advice.
So, plainly:
Meet both experts, ask them hard questions, and back your own read. That's exactly what matching you with two people is for.
Someone verified in January could be uninsured by June. So verification isn't a one-off.
| What | How often |
|---|---|
| Insurance expiry | Tracked continuously. Reminder at 30 days, badge suspended if it lapses |
| ABN status | Re-checked monthly against the Australian Business Register |
| Full re-verification | Every 12 months |
| Complaint or dispute | Triggers a manual review of the whole file |
A suspended badge isn't a ban. The expert stops receiving new briefs, finishes anything already underway, and is back the moment they send us a current certificate.
You fund the job before work starts, and the money sits with Stripe. Not with the expert, and not with us.
If an expert asks you to pay them directly, say no, and tell us.
This isn't a rule for our benefit. If the job runs through the platform, we can see what was agreed, we're holding the money, and we can actually help you if it goes sideways. If it moved to a private email thread and a bank transfer, there's no escrow to release, no record of what was promised, and nothing we can do but sympathise.
Seen something that looks off? Send it to hello@handballed.com.au and we'll take a look.
Post a brief and meet two verified experts. No obligation, no fuss.
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