For employers
You have a board to get to production, a product to ship or a team to grow, and the last three CVs you were sent did not survive the first technical question. SEM exists because the person reading those CVs should be able to tell before you do.
Every candidate has a technical conversation with us before you see anything. Not a competency interview, and not a quiz. A conversation about work they have actually done, with follow-up questions that only land if the work was theirs.
You get the answers in writing alongside the CV. Where someone was vague, we say so rather than smoothing it over, because you will find out at interview anyway and it wastes an hour of your engineers' time.
We would rather send you three people and tell you the fourth was not ready.
Examples of what we ask
bring-upWalk me through the first power-on of a board you worked on. What did not work?busWhich bus was it, and why that one rather than the obvious alternative?debugLast bug that took more than a day. How did you find it, and with what on the bench?scopeOf the project you just described, which parts were yours and which were the team's?shipDid it reach production? What changed between the prototype and the shipped unit?constraintWhat were you tight on: memory, power, cost, certification or the schedule?Six stages
In that order, every time. You will know which stage your role is at whenever you ask.
A call with whoever the engineer will report to. We want the stack, the product, the team they join, the constraints they will work under, and what would make you say no at interview.
We go and find people, including the ones who are not applying for anything. You get told what the market really looks like for that role, including when the salary will not reach it.
The technical conversation. Anyone who cannot stand behind what is on their CV stops here.
A small number of people, each with written notes: what they built, what they want next, notice period, salary expectation, and anything we are not sure about.
We handle scheduling, brief the candidate properly so they arrive prepared, and give you honest feedback from their side after every stage.
We manage the offer, the counter-offer conversation and the notice period, and stay in touch through the first months so nothing goes quiet after the start date.
Companies that design and build their own products, at every stage from the first prototype to an established manufacturing line.
First engineering hires, where one wrong appointment costs a quarter. Often the founder is technical and wants to talk to someone who follows what they are building.
Growing a team that already works, without breaking it. Usually a mix of permanent hires and contract cover for a deadline.
Replacing hard-to-find specialists and covering long-running programmes, where the constraint is certification, legacy hardware or domain knowledge.
Due diligence on an engineering team, and hiring into a portfolio company after an investment.
Reply within one working day
Send the stack, the team it sits in and what would make you say no at interview. If we are not the right firm for it, we will say so on the first call rather than take the brief anyway.