“Find us an experienced engineer who does X when X is no longer a technology used by any company within 400 miles of us?”

Or how about

“We are developing a brand-new technology that we don’t think anyone has thought of. Please find us someone with experience of that technology?” I kid you not.

Companies can waste significant time and money by not researching and evaluating their own briefs. The reality is that the people responsible are often pretty unique individuals and often they don’t realise how unique they are. They are also focussing on their needs and a problem within their company that they need to solve and have no way of assessing the market to see if what they need exists.

In the particular case of finding someone for a burgeoning technology, we were able to carry out some initial research that identified a company in Tokyo and a company in San Francisco that were developing similar technology but the cost of moving the technical leaders in those companies to the UK would have been prohibitive.

So, what do you do in those cases?

Well, the key is about thinking of alternative solutions and actually that is where experienced recruitment partners can help significantly to guide the discussion and ,as in this case, give evidence to inform the decision making and choices.

So, in the first case it was about helping the company devise a package that would encourage people to relocate and so getting them to put in a relocation package and rewards programme for the engineers that we headhunted and relocated to the company made the difference. They didn’t have to compete solely on salary which would have been problematic. Looking at the overall package and rewards helped them structure a package that made the move not just acceptable but attractive.

In the case of the second it was our ability to demonstrate the client’s market and competitors that encouraged them to think differently about what they needed. They determined that rather than look for experienced engineers they could bring in two or three PhD students and have a team working on the solutions rather than just one experienced engineer. There was the right leadership in place and what they needed was to not be overwhelmed. Building a team around them reduced the overwhelm and workload.

The benefit that we brought was research and consultancy that lead to the companies being able to adjust the solution to solve the problem and take care of their needs.

So, before you head off on a recruitment project maybe ask your recruitment partner to help you with some research to evidence that what you are looking for exists and is available to you and if not, work with your recruitment partner to devise a plan that will work.

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