Tier 01
Career Blueprint
$499
- Resume & LinkedIn rebuild
- One 1:1 strategy session
- Custom 90-day execution plan
- Negotiation script pack
McKinley Malbrough III, J.D., MS-HRM
60+ clients since 2017 · 12+ years in HR · About
Start here · Which one are you?
I'm an urban professional
Urban professionals
Resume writing and a LinkedIn rebuild, a 90-day plan, interview rehearsal and the offer negotiated. Three fixed-price tiers, published, from $499.
Take the first offer and a $10,000 difference can cost you $269,000 over a career.
Take me there ↓We're an urban organization
Urban organizations
For startups, minority-owned businesses, and nonprofits of 10 to 150 people: handbooks, classification, pay equity, terminations and retention. Fractional HR runs $5,000 to $10,000 a month, HR advisory $2,000 to $4,000, and single projects are quoted to scope, in writing.
Losing one star can cost up to twice their salary to replace.
Take me there ↓Part one · For urban professionals
I help urban professionals increase their chances of landing the highest salary and rewards possible for their work.
Urban professionals are first-generation and underrepresented professionals negotiating for the roles they earned. What "urban" means here →
What changes when we work together
What you leave with
- Materials that clear a recruiter's first pass, written for the role you actually want.
- A week-by-week plan that names what to send, to whom and how many.
- Your number, a market range and a walk-away, set before the first salary conversation.
- The exact words for the salary question, the counter and the deadline.
What I need from you
- Your resume, your target roles, and any interview or offer already in motion.
- The sessions your tier includes, from one to eight.
- The outreach itself; the plan names the volume and we adjust on what comes back.
Every step, and samples from all three tiers →
Proof: a senior HR leader went from about 35 applications and no interviews to an offer on day 19. Read the case study →
Internal case: the candidate is affiliated with Urban Human Resources. Same method paid clients receive.
Three ways to work together
Pricing · Fixed and published
If you are looking for your own next role, the price is set. Three tiers, each fixed-scope and fixed-price, listed in full below: what you see is what you pay.
Tier 02 · Most chosen
High-Velocity Campaign
$1,499
- Everything in the Blueprint
- Targeted market outreach
- Four weekly 1:1 sessions
- Live interview prep
- Direct offer negotiation
Tier 03
Executive Concierge
$3,499
- Everything in the Campaign
- C-suite positioning
- Eight bi-weekly 1:1 sessions
Full deliverables, timelines and what happens in each session →
Why me
The system wasn't built for you. I know exactly where it breaks.
I came up where the standard HR advice breaks: first-generation, East Oakland, then a law degree, an HR master's and 12+ years inside HR. AI and the standard advice read you as the average. I read you as who you are. AI and HR: where it's going →
Fewer than 2 in 100 California HR professionals hold a professional degree. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2023, California microdata. Data current as of September 2026.
J.D.
University of San Francisco School of Law. Employment law read the way it is actually applied, not summarized.
MS-HRM
Colorado State University Global, specializing in Online Learning Innovation and Design: training that holds up when it is delivered remotely.
2017
Urban Human Resources has operated since 2017, based in Oakland and working across California, on 12+ years in HR.
Full background, credentials and how this practice was built →
How it works
01 · Consult
Twenty free minutes. You describe where you are and where you want to be; I tell you honestly which tier fits, or that you don't need me yet.
02 · Blueprint
I set the target roles, rebuild your resume and LinkedIn around them, and write your 90-day plan with the weeks laid out.
03 · Campaign
Outreach goes out, interviews come in, and I rehearse each one until the answers are yours rather than scripted.
04 · Negotiate
You bring me the offer before you answer it. I price the whole package and hand you the words, or take the conversation myself.
Free · No pitch attached
For urban professionals
The five-minute resume audit
Send me your resume and I'll send back the three things a recruiter notices first, and the one thing costing you interviews. No cost, no pitch attached.
Five categories
For urban professionals
Which tier, how long it takes, what the sessions cover, refunds, installments, and what is free.
Read the answers →I never share your information, and one reply is not a subscription.
Twenty free minutes. Tell me where you are and where you want to land; I'll tell you which tier fits, or that you don't need me yet.
Part two · For urban organizations
I help urban organizations hire right, pay fairly and keep the people they can't afford to lose.
Urban organizations are small businesses, startups, minority-owned businesses and nonprofits of 10 to 150 people. As a fractional HR partner and HR consultant for Oakland and the Bay Area, I build and run the people function behind them: the handbook, the pay structure, the classifications and the hard conversations, done before a penalty or a resignation forces it. What "urban" means here →
Who's behind it: McKinley Malbrough III, J.D., MS-HRM. A law degree that reads the risk, 12+ years inside HR, and an Oakland HR consulting practice operating since 2017. Three results from client work:
8%
Voluntary turnover at a client I supported, against a 15.6% tech-industry benchmark.
Zero
Hours of work stoppage in a three-year union agreement closed with a client.
88
Live job postings audited for California pay transparency compliance.
What changes for your company
What your company gets
- You know which California rules apply at your headcount, and where you stand on each.
- Every gap has a fix, an owner and a date, with penalty and back-pay items first.
- Your documents hold up when a wage claim, an agency letter or a diligence request arrives.
- Your managers know what to do the day a complaint lands on them.
What your team provides
- One point person who can pull documents and make decisions.
- The documents on a short list; most companies pull them in a day.
- Decisions on owners and dates. I do the heavy lifting; you approve what changes.
What it covers · Nine disciplines
Pricing · Quoted per engagement
Fractional HR and HR advisory are monthly; a single project is scoped to the question and quoted in writing, a fixed fee agreed before anything begins. Pricing for all three is below the list.
The whole function,
nine disciplines
Engage one service, a cluster, or the function entire. Every scope is defined and priced before work begins.
01 · 7 services
Talent acquisition & workforce planning
02 · 6 services
Compensation & pay equity
03 · 6 services
Benefits & wellness
04 · 7 services
Employee relations & performance
05 · 6 services
Compliance, policy & legal risk
06 · 4 services
Global workforce & mobility
07 · 5 services
Organizational development & leadership
08 · 4 services
HR technology & operations
09 · 5 services
Labor relations, M&A & transitions
Company pricing
How companies work with me
Fractional HR, my thinking and my hands: $5,000 to $10,000 a month.
HR advisory, my thinking and your team's hands: $2,000 to $4,000 a month.
A single project, a classification worry, a handbook three years old, a merger closing next quarter: a written scope and a fixed fee before anything starts.
Why this work matters
HR done early costs less than HR done late
Claims that never get filed
Handbooks, classifications and documentation set up before a dispute, with your counsel brought in when a legal opinion is required. California penalties are often counted per employee, per pay period.
Pay you can explain
A range structure and a pay equity review give every offer and raise a documented reason. California requires a pay range on job postings once you reach 15 employees.
People who stay
Replacing an employee can cost up to twice their salary. Onboarding, manager training and the hard conversations done right keep them.
Expertise without giving up control
No co-employment, which makes it a PEO alternative. You keep your own payroll and benefits and buy only the expertise you need, on a written scope with a fixed fee.
Published work
Primary research
An original FLSA classification report
Researched and written for a national employment law firm, built on a survey of 22 verified HR and business leaders: including a confidence-trap finding on how companies rate their own classification accuracy.
Thought leadership
Original published articles
Published across labor economics, leadership and public policy: ongoing engagement with the subject matter, not just client delivery.
Since 2006
Twenty years in virtual training design
Founded Online Facilitation Skills in 2006, backed by an MS-HRM specialization in online learning design: the foundation under my onboarding, manager training and leadership coaching work.
Free · For your files
For urban organizations
The California HR compliance checklist
Twenty-two items every California company is expected to have on file: handbook clauses, I-9s, required postings, IIPP, harassment training. Print it and tick it off.
Six categories
For urban organizations
How quoting works, how I differ from a PEO or a law firm, audits, layoffs, M&A, and who does the work.
Read the answers →I never share your information, and one reply is not a subscription.
Twenty free minutes on the problem in front of you. You leave with a scope and a written quote, or a straight answer that you don't need one.
In one paragraph
Urban Human Resources is an HR consulting firm in Oakland and a career coaching practice for Bay Area professionals, founded in 2017 by McKinley Malbrough III, J.D., MS-HRM, for two clients the system reads last. Urban professionals, first-generation and underrepresented Bay Area professionals, come to me to increase their chances of landing the highest salary and rewards possible for their work, and to plan the move after this one. Startups, minority-owned businesses and nonprofits of 10 to 150 employees come to me to hire right, pay fairly and consistently, and keep the people they cannot afford to lose, without the penalties that sink small companies. A law degree reads the risk, 12+ years inside HR knows how the decision really gets made, and a negotiator's chair sets the strategy. Custom company work is quoted to scope in writing; career tiers and templates carry published prices.