Request engineers

How we work

Hiring quality

A large bench is a claim about volume. What a client actually buys is the filter in front of it. This is ours, in full, including the stages that cost us money.

7Stages before placement
2Engineers assess each candidate
2References contacted by phone
1 weekReplacement window at our cost

The process

How an engineer reaches the bench

Stages run in order. A candidate who fails any stage does not proceed, and we do not make exceptions when a client is waiting.

  1. Screening

    Right to work in the relevant jurisdiction, genuine availability window, and stated experience checked against the record rather than accepted from the CV. Most candidates who do not proceed fail here, usually on availability that does not survive contact with a real start date.

  2. Technical interview

    Conducted by a practising engineer in the same discipline, not by a recruiter working from a keyword sheet. The interviewer has configured, written or operated the thing under discussion within the last year, which is what makes it possible to distinguish experience from vocabulary.

  3. Practical exercise

    A time-boxed task drawn from real client work, sized to two hours or less and paid where local law requires. It is reviewed blind by a second engineer who has not seen the CV or the interview notes.

  4. Reference checks

    Two contactable references from the two most recent engagements, spoken to by telephone rather than collected by form. The useful question is not whether the person was good, but what their colleagues had to work around.

  5. Background and compliance screening

    Identity and qualification verification as standard. Where the engagement requires it, criminal record and credit screening are run to the standard the client's compliance function specifies, and certificates are made available.

  6. Client interview

    You interview the engineer before they are assigned. This is not a formality and declining is expected. If you decline, the next profile comes from the same shortlist within one business day.

  7. First-month review

    Check-ins at week one and week four, held with you and with the engineer separately. If the fit is wrong in the first week we replace and absorb the ramp cost. This is the stage that keeps the previous six honest.

What we will not do

  • Propose against availability rather than the brief. If the bench is thin for a skill this month, we say so. Filling a senior seat with an available mid-level engineer damages the relationship far more than a delay does.
  • Substitute after acceptance. The engineer you interviewed is the engineer who starts. Any change requires your written approval.
  • Skip the client interview to hit a start date. The date moves instead.
  • Subcontract without telling you. Any subcontracted element is declared and named before it is used.
  • Bill for a ramp we caused. If we replace an engineer within the guarantee window, the replacement's ramp is at our cost.

Ask us about a skill and we will tell you the truth about depth.

The technology directory shows current bench numbers by skill, seniority mix and region.

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