We appreciate that we are not the only route to recruitment and prospect clients will usually wish to try to identify and attract the people they want through direct routes such as industry recommendations and referrals their own job postings on their website, LinkedIn and other job boards. However, in an industry that is growing and at the same time experiencing skills shortages, we find that candidates are not proactively looking for a new role in the traditional ways, so direct company adverts are either not seen (because few people are looking) or are bypassed because the timing and or intention to move is not there.

That is where the value of a recruiter comes into play as we will reach out into the market to “go and get” the people that our clients need.

Enigma People Solutions got involved with Ai – Exploration having been recommended to them by various people. In fact, Alex Tsekenis co-founder of Ai-Exploration said that almost everyone he asked in the industry mentioned Enigma People Solutions as a company to approach.

Ai Exploration was formed in 2019. The company develops and commercialises hardware sensors and data analytics solutions for the Energy sector to provide real-time insights to optimise production & reduce emissions.

In 2021 the company successfully conducted independent testing of their watercut sensing technology for Oil & Gas, called Poseidon, at the National Engineering Laboratory (NEL), attracting strong interest from clients for the mass-produced product. The device integrates easily into high pressure and temperature multiphase flow pipelines – a very challenging measurement to make reliably. In early 2022 they demonstrated their ppm-level moisture sensing technology for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), called Aether, at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), for integration into the BP Teesside project – the UK’s largest net-zero carbon industrial hub once operational. The company won the Net Zero Technology Centres’ (NZTC) 2022 Open Innovation Programme – CCS category, targeting disruptive CCS technologies focusing on transportation and storage of CO2 as part of the North Sea Transition Deal. They have achieved commercial traction with BP, Saudi Aramco, Chevron, BP, Total, Harbour Energy, Equinor, NOV and Expro. Based out of Edinburgh, Ai-Exploration maintains a well-equipped R&D lab and separate but collocated office space and a multiphase flow loop facility used for technology testing located at the National Subsea Centre in Aberdeen.

We got to know Ai Exploration through a series of face to face and online meetings as well as spending time with each other at some industry events. That allowed us to be particularly well aligned to them when they tasked us to go and find them staff for an Opto-Mechanical Engineering and Optical Engineering team.

However, in order to sell the opportunity, we need to know the culture so we spent two sessions discussing where Ai-Exploration were in the development of their product and their planned team growth as well as what their current and future expectations and ambitions were. Getting to know them and especially Alex helped us to present them to prospect candidates in a uniquely personal way. Being able to talk through culture, thought processes and what day to day would be like in this small company helped prospects see themselves in the role and the company in a real way.

Another important feature of this project was that we did it on a retained basis. The benefit of being retained was that it afforded the time not only to source the right candidates but to work through the process of engaging with them and helping them through the recruitment process. This paced approach makes the candidates and the client feel more at home with the process allowing the interactions to be more personable and in depth without making them arduous or laborious. This allows the candidates and client to gain a level of comfort with each other ahead of making the decision to work with each other.

Enigma People Solutions has been delighted to find experienced and talented people to fill Ai-Exploration’s Opto-Mechanical Engineering and Optical Engineering roles.

Enigma People Solutions specialises in the recruitment of specialist roles in the deep tech sector.

We also offer a complimentary recruitment review. If you have tried the following but have still failed to attract the right candidates, we can help you:

• If you’ve advertised the position but didn’t attract the applicants that you require
• You’ve asked your team for referrals 
• Talked to people in your own network
• No internal candidates have applied
• Advertised on job sites and your own website

If that describes your experience, then you need a new approach to your recruitment. Email us hello@enigmapeople.com or call 0131 510 8150 to find out more and to book your complimentary recruitment review now. 

Visit our job search page for the latest vacancies in photonics, electronics, semiconductor, and software in Scotland. Check out our blog for the latest in the technology industry.

Enigma People Solutions is an award-winning technology recruitment consultancy. We find technical leaders for the emerging and enabling technology industries. Visit our services page for more information. Visit our job search page for the latest vacancies in photonics, electronics, semiconductor, software and IoT in Scotland and the UK. Check out our blog page for the latest in the technology industry. You can get in touch with us hello@enigmapeople.com or call us on + 44 131 510 8150

Enigma People Solutions is an award-winning technology recruitment consultancy. We find technical leaders for the emerging and enabling technology industries. Visit our services page for more information. Visit our job search page for the latest vacancies in photonics, electronics, semiconductor, software and IoT in Scotland and the UK. Check out our blog page for the latest in the technology industry. You can get in touch with us hello@enigmapeople.com or call us on + 44 131 510 8150