Thoughts from our team on hiring, product and notes from the engine room.
European defence budgets are climbing across the board — not just in Germany, which everyone talks about — while the Sales & BD talent pool qualified to sell into complex, multi-domain procurement has not kept pace anywhere on the continent. That imbalance is the backdrop. The part worth your attention is what we actually do differently to find and win these candidates.
ReadA solar EPC contractor delivering a utility-scale project in KSA came to us after six months of searching for a Construction Manager. What should have taken four to six weeks had turned into a half-year ordeal.
ReadWhy technical fluency is now a commercial risk control, not a nice-to-have, and five questions worth asking before you shortlist.
ReadNearly every Head of Continuous Improvement, Europe search is trying to hire a transformation leader. Most of them end up with an excellent project manager instead and the organisation takes eighteen months to figure it out.
ReadA one-page competency framework, three interview questions worth stealing, and why "manage stakeholder relationships" on a job spec guarantees the wrong hire.
ReadThere's a complaint I hear often enough that I've started to expect it in almost every first conversation with a new client. It's rarely about the quality of candidates, at least not at first. It's about not knowing what's actually happening with the search.
ReadI keep having a version of the same conversation with major EPCs. They know exactly which specialists they will need if a project is awarded. They just don't have approval to hire them yet.
ReadA client recently asked me why several recruitment suppliers kept presenting the same names. Different agencies had been briefed. The shortlists looked different at first glance. But once the client reviewed them, many of the candidates were already known. Several had been interviewed before. Some were being represented by more than one supplier at the same time.
ReadPower systems hiring needs domain expertise! A case for why specialist knowledge, not just specialist process, changes outcomes.
ReadA case study in what happens when AI sourcing, structured assessment, and domain expertise work together.
ReadPassive talent, AI sourcing, and the human judgement that makes the difference.
ReadOne title, two very different profiles, and a video scenario that tells them apart every time.
ReadWhen the technical bar is this high and the talent pool this thin, assessment design is everything.
ReadWhy structured video assessment is transforming technical hiring, and what it surfaces that paper cannot.
ReadA surprisingly common confusion with surprisingly significant consequences.
ReadSpeed is not a luxury in bid management hiring. It is the difference between being in the race and missing it.
ReadI once watched a retained leadership search take six months though the right candidate was clear in week three—manual sourcing, scattered updates, and email ping-pong with only six candidates.
ReadA step-by-step process, from job spec to signed offer.
ReadWhy grid automation tendering specialists are among the most commercially valuable and least replaceable people in the sector.
ReadFor anyone who has ever googled "what is PSCAD" at 11pm before an interview.
ReadA practical guide for hiring managers, plus a competency framework you can use today.
ReadIf your talent sourcing feels stuck, run this experiment. Give it 15 days. Pick one role, one talent market, one sourcing channel, define enough reps, and let focus replace the holiday-buffet approach.
ReadThere are two types of releases: champagne releases, where everything goes smoothly and vodka releases where nothing goes right. Strong CI/CD and testing infrastructure help and are well worth the investment. Champagne releases should be the norm and the occasional vodka release survivable.
ReadDevelopers are the canary in the coal mine for real-world productivity from LLMs. AI allowed us to release a massive new version of TalSource. Vibe coding accelerates development right until it leaves you stuck in the mud. How I program has changed more in the last 12 months than in the previous 12 years, but old lessons remain relevant.
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