How we hire: a holistic, specialist-first approach

A considered approach

Hiring in any service business is the foundation of the work. Get it right and the rest tends to follow; get it wrong and even strong processes struggle to compensate. We have designed our hiring approach to prioritize the qualities that matter most over a longer engagement.

For long-running, dedicated team arrangements — the work we focus on — the right starting point is hiring the whole person rather than matching to a checklist.

What we evaluate

When we open a role, four dimensions guide the assessment:

• Craft. Can the candidate do the work to a high standard? We evaluate this through tasks that resemble the actual work, not abstract puzzles.
• Ownership. Does the candidate take responsibility when something is unclear, or wait to be told? Working sessions reveal this quickly.
• Communication. Can the candidate explain decisions clearly, receive feedback well, and push back constructively when needed?
• Fit. Does the kind of work we offer — long-term, embedded, specialist — match what the candidate is genuinely looking for?

All four matter. Strength in one dimension cannot fully compensate for significant weakness in another. We only put forward candidates who demonstrate all four.

What this produces

This approach takes more time and yields fewer candidates per role. That trade-off is intentional. In return:

• Stronger retention. People who join for the work and the environment stay through the long arc of an engagement.
• Lower coordination overhead. Specialists who own their work require less supervision and produce more consistent outcomes.
• Better client experience. Clients consistently describe our teammates as feeling like internal hires — because the people we hire already operate that way.

A note on tools

We use modern AI tools in our hiring workflow — for scheduling, synthesizing notes, and drafting communications. We do not use AI to score or rank candidates. The judgment about whether to back a person remains with a person, supported by a structured process.

That distinction matters to us, and we believe it produces better outcomes for everyone involved.