Four stages. 4.3 days. 92% get it right the first time.
Every specialist placement goes through a 4-stage consulting-led evaluation designed by practitioners — not recruiters. Each stage filters for a different dimension of fit: technical skill, scenario performance, professional references, and domain-specific depth. Here's exactly what happens at each stage, what gets filtered out, and why the result is a 92% first-match acceptance rate.
The 4 stages
What happens between your requirement and the curated profile
01
Requirement deep-dive
Before we source anyone, a domain expert (not a recruiter) spends 30-60 minutes understanding your architecture, team dynamics, technology stack, and the specific context that determines success. "I need a Fabric architect" becomes "I need someone who's migrated a 2TB SQL Server warehouse to Fabric medallion architecture with Purview governance, and who can work alongside a team of 3 junior data engineers."
What this filters: 70% of failed placements happen because the requirement was wrong — not because the candidate was wrong. This stage prevents that.
02
Pre-qualified sourcing
We source from 200+ delivery partners we've worked with — relationships built over years, not a database search. Our domain leads know which partners have strong Fabric teams, which have RAG experience, which have worked in healthcare. This isn't keyword matching across a 500,000-person database. It's consulting-led selection from a curated network where we already know the quality.
What this filters: Partners who don't have the specific capability get filtered immediately. No "let me check if we have someone" — we know before we ask.
03
Scenario-based evaluation
Candidates don't answer quiz questions. They solve problems. A Fabric architect candidate designs a medallion architecture for your data sources. An LLM engineer builds a RAG retrieval strategy for your document corpus. A Power BI developer models your business KPIs into a semantic model. Real scenarios from your domain — because "knows Fabric" is meaningless without "can solve my Fabric problem."
What this filters: Tutorial-completers, certification-collectors, and people who've used the technology in a demo but never in production. Scenario evaluation is the single biggest quality gate.
04
Reference check + domain validation
Professional references from recent engagements — not just "was this person employed here?" but "what did they deliver? How did they handle production issues? Would you hire them again?" Combined with domain-specific validation: does this person understand your industry's regulatory requirements? Can they work within your team's processes?
What this filters: People who interview well but don't deliver. The reference check catches what the scenario evaluation can't — work ethic, communication, reliability under pressure.
The math
Why 92% first-match acceptance is the natural result
Traditional staffing sends you everyone who mentioned the keyword. Out of 40 resumes, maybe 5 are qualified, maybe 1 fits your context. That's a 2.5% hit rate — and you did all the filtering work.
Our 4-stage process filters before you see anyone. Stage 1 (requirement deep-dive) eliminates misaligned sourcing. Stage 2 (pre-qualified network) eliminates unknown quality. Stage 3 (scenario evaluation) eliminates skill gaps. Stage 4 (references + domain) eliminates delivery risk. By the time a profile reaches you, it's been evaluated across four dimensions of fit — not just "has the keyword on their resume."
You receive 2-3 curated profiles. Not 40 resumes. You interview. You decide. And 92% of the time, the first profile you see is the one you deploy.
4.3
Days average — requirement to profile
92%
First-match acceptance rate
2-3
Curated profiles per requirement
200+
Pre-qualified delivery partners
Send us a requirement. See the process in action.
One email with the role, the stack, the timeline. We'll show you exactly how consulting-led matching works — for your specific challenge.