Case studies · Engineering & manufacturing
Engineering roles, filled
Three engineering hires, from a field electrician to a CNC programmer. 185 candidates worked between them, 22 put in front of a client, three hired. The gap between those numbers is the job.
Electrician
An energy and engineering support business working across UK client sites · Energy & engineering support
- Time to fill
- 56 days
- Brief taken
- 30 June 2026
- Filled
- 25 August 2026
- Package
- £35,000–£45,000
- Location
- Field-based across London sites, office in Essex
A field-based electrician covering client sites across London for a business whose work is reducing energy intensity for large organisations. Qualified electricians are not scarce; qualified electricians who will work across a spread of client sites, unsupervised, and represent someone else’s brand on arrival are a much smaller group.
So the volume went into the front of the funnel rather than the back. 108 candidates worked, 38 taken to an internal interview, and eight put forward.
Pipeline — candidates reaching each stage
- Sourced & screened 108
- Internal interview 38
- Presented to client 8
- Client interview 6
- Hired 1
108 candidates worked. 8 reached the client.
Of 108 candidates, eight reached the client and six were taken to interview. The other 100 were our problem, not theirs.
Filled in 56 days.
Field Service Engineer — meat processing equipment
A specialist engineering business supporting meat processing plants · Food processing equipment
- Time to fill
- 115 days
- Brief taken
- 16 March 2026
- Filled
- 9 July 2026
- Package
- £35,000–£42,000 DOE, paid overtime for weekend work
- Location
- Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire
Field service on meat processing equipment is a narrow discipline: production-line machinery, food-industry hygiene standards, unsociable call-outs and a customer whose line cannot stop. The pool of people who have done exactly this is small enough to count.
This search inverted the usual shape. Rather than screen a large field on paper, we interviewed almost everyone we found — 36 of the 40 — because the deciding factors were attitude to call-outs and comfort in a food-production environment, and neither shows up on a CV.
Pipeline — candidates reaching each stage
- Sourced & screened 40
- Internal interview 36
- Presented to client 8
- Client interview 4
- Hired 1
40 candidates worked — 36 of them interviewed by us before anyone was presented.
36 of 40 candidates were interviewed by us before a single CV went to the client. In a market this narrow, paper screening tells you almost nothing.
115 days, and the longest of the three. A small market takes the time it takes — the fee did not move.
CNC Programmer / Setter
A precision engineering business established in 2002, supplying machined components · Precision engineering
- Time to fill
- 60 days
- Brief taken
- 25 June 2026
- Filled
- 24 August 2026
- Package
- £36,000–£42,000 DOE
- Location
- The Midlands, relocation packages available
Programming and setting CNC machines is a skill that takes years and does not transfer neatly between shops — different controls, different tolerances, different materials. The client was open to relocation, which widened the map without widening the skill requirement.
26 of the 37 were interviewed by us. Six were presented, two were interviewed by the client, and one was hired.
Pipeline — candidates reaching each stage
- Sourced & screened 37
- Internal interview 26
- Presented to client 6
- Client interview 2
- Hired 1
37 candidates worked, 26 interviewed by us, 6 presented.
Relocation support widened the search geographically without lowering the bar. Six candidates presented, one hired.
Filled in 60 days.
How the fee works
Every role on this page was delivered on the same basis: a fixed fee, agreed before we start, with no percentage of salary attached. The straightforward search and the difficult one cost the client the same.
That is the point of the model. A percentage fee charges you more for hiring a better-paid person and rewards us for the easy search. A fixed fee puts the risk of a long search where it belongs — with us. And if we do not fill the role, you get every penny of your fee back.
Every figure here comes from our own placement records. Clients and placed candidates are not named. Full detail on the model is on our Guaranteed Hire page.