On paper, it looked like a perfect match.
The CV ticked every box. The candidate had the right job title, the right qualifications – they even had experience in a similar industry. So you did what every sane and sensible employer would and agreed to meet them. Huzzah!
Within minutes, it became clear they weren’t a good fit.
The CV wasn’t wrong. But that didn’t necessarily make the candidate right for the role either. A relevant job title and similar industry background can look convincing on paper, but your recruitment partner should be able to look beyond that and understand whether someone actually has the skills and experience your vacancy requires.
In technical and engineering recruitment, a job title only tells part of the story. The environment someone has worked in, the equipment they’ve used, and the challenges they’ve faced can make all the difference.
Why does technical and engineering recruitment require specialist knowledge?
Because roles in this field are rarely straightforward. The same job title can mean very different things from one business to another.
Take a Maintenance Engineer, for example. One candidate has spent the last eight years maintaining high-speed production lines in food manufacturing. Another comes from heavy engineering. A third has worked exclusively in FMCG but has never touched the type of equipment your site relies on.
They’re all Maintenance Engineers. But that doesn’t mean they’re the best fit for your vacancy.
That’s where specialist knowledge makes the difference. Understanding a person’s background means looking beyond the job title to assess what is genuinely applicable to the role, and what isn’t. It’s about knowing which questions to ask, considering the environment they’ll be working in, and identifying the skills that will transfer.
What questions should a specialist recruiter ask?
The questions a recruiter asks can help determine whether an applicant’s background is genuinely transferable. Someone doesn’t necessarily need to have worked in exactly the same setting to be a strong candidate. Sometimes the most valuable experience comes from a different environment altogether.
Before putting someone forward for interview, it’s worth finding out more about what they were responsible for, what they’ve had to solve, and how they’ve approached challenges. That can give a much clearer picture of what they could bring to the table.
The aim isn’t to find out everything before an interview. It’s to establish whether there’s enough of a match to make that interview worthwhile. Because anyone can read the brief. The real value comes from reading what’s between the lines.
And the result? Fewer wasted interviews. Better conversations. A shortlist that’s been built on genuine suitability rather than surface-level similarities.
How do we identify the right candidate?
At gap technical, we look beyond the vacancy to understand what the position really involves. A job description provides the requirements, but it doesn’t always capture what the day-to-day looks like. That understanding gives us a clearer idea of what to look for in a candidate.
In practice, we use that to assess candidates against the reality of the role, not just what’s written on the page. That means we don’t rule out people who might not appear to be an obvious match – because doing so could mean overlooking someone whose experience genuinely aligns with your business needs.
Ready to work with a recruitment partner who gets it?
The best technical recruitment isn’t about sending the most CVs. It’s about recognising what good looks like and sending the strongest ones.
When your recruitment partner understands the market, the industry you operate in, and the demands of the role, every stage of the hiring process becomes more effective.
If you’re looking for a specialist recruitment partner who puts that knowledge into practice, get in touch with the gap technical team today.
