A few years ago (before SciBase was founded), one of our executives was leading a search for a specialist in synthesizing polymers for high temperature applications. He had hired a recruiter to aid with the search, but it has been about 8 weeks and no solid candidates had some through. Exasperated, he decided to start doing some digging himself. After a few hours, he had come across someone who appeared to be the perfect candidate: a senior level chemist with significant experience synthesizing and formulation high-temperature expoxys. He reached out to the candidate directly, who seemed interested in the position.

Next time he saw the recruiter, he gave this candidate's profile to the recruiter as an example of the kind of person they were looking for. To his surprise, the recruiter told the executive that he had actually come across this candidate a few weeks ago, but didn't think that he was a good fit. Surprised, the executive asked the recruiter why. "Because he doesn't have any experience with polymers!" It turned out that the recruiter did not realize that epoxys were a type of polymer; instead - like far too many recruiters - he simply had been looking for a specific set of "keywords", without really understanding what he was looking for.

This is why traditional recruiters often struggle with highly technical hires: they simply don't have the in-depth understanding of the subject matter required.: