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Why Specialist Roles Stay Open for Months
A practical guide for TA teams dealing with hard-to-fill roles, weak applicant pools and candidates who never apply.
Download the Free GuideHow we actually fill the Sales Director, Defense role everyone else struggles with
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.
ReadWhat a 6-month search for a solar construction manager in KSA told us
A 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.
ReadThe IT Procurement Manager isn't buying laptops anymore. They're managing your biggest spend category.
Why technical fluency is now a commercial risk control, not a nice-to-have, and five questions worth asking before you shortlist.
ReadThat Head of Continuous Improvement you hired might be excellent at projects. That's not the job.
Nearly 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.
ReadThe Category Manager, Professional Services: Procurement's hardest hire isn't a skills problem
A one-page competency framework, three interview questions worth stealing, and why "manage stakeholder relationships" on a job spec guarantees the wrong hire.
ReadThe complaint every TA team has made at least once
There'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.
ReadWhy some energy companies search before the project is awarded
I 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.
ReadWhy do we keep seeing the same engineers?
A 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.
ReadYou can’t search-engine your way to an HVDC engineer
Power systems hiring needs domain expertise! A case for why specialist knowledge, not just specialist process, changes outcomes.
ReadThe shortlist that surprised everyone: How we found a principal power systems consultant
A case study in what happens when AI sourcing, structured assessment, and domain expertise work together.
ReadWhy power systems consultants don’t apply for jobs (and how we find them anyway)
Passive talent, AI sourcing, and the human judgement that makes the difference.
ReadThe civil design lead dilemma: Is your candidate a designer or a coordinator?
One title, two very different profiles, and a video scenario that tells them apart every time.
ReadWhy HVDC engineers liked our video assessments
When the technical bar is this high and the talent pool this thin, assessment design is everything.
ReadWhat 45 minutes on camera reveals about a lead planner that a CV never will
Why structured video assessment is transforming technical hiring, and what it surfaces that paper cannot.
ReadSecondary design engineers are not primary design engineers: How to tell the difference
A surprisingly common confusion with surprisingly significant consequences.
ReadThe bid manager bottleneck: Why power contractors lose tenders while they are still recruiting
Speed is not a luxury in bid management hiring. It is the difference between being in the race and missing it.
ReadExecutive search is broken
I 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.
ReadHire a primary design engineer in 4 weeks without compromising on technical depth
A step-by-step process, from job spec to signed offer.
ReadGrid automation tendering: The art of pricing a proposal nobody fully understands
Why grid automation tendering specialists are among the most commercially valuable and least replaceable people in the sector.
ReadHVDC simulation engineers: The rarest skill in the energy transition (and how to interview one)
For anyone who has ever googled "what is PSCAD" at 11pm before an interview.
ReadThe hidden hiring crisis in high voltage: It take longer to find a HV substation PM than to build a substation
A practical guide for hiring managers, plus a competency framework you can use today.
ReadStuck talent sourcing? Try this!
If 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.
ReadChampagne vs. vodka releases
There 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.
ReadOn the use of AI in development
Developers 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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