The Memsolos Delivery Engine
Six stages. One standard. The same discipline whether the mandate is a single principal engineer or a capability centre of three hundred.
The principle
Understand the work before you hunt for the worker
Most failed searches were lost in the first week, not the fourth. The job description was aspirational, the compensation band was last year's, the interview loop had six rounds and nobody had agreed what "senior" meant.
Our model front-loads that argument. We spend the first three days making the role real, in writing, with the hiring manager in the room, and only then do we go to market. It is why our shortlists convert at three interviews per hire instead of eight, and why our offer-to-join rate sits at 92%.
The stages below are not a marketing funnel. They are the actual gates in our delivery system, each with an owner, an artefact and a service level attached.
Stage by stage
What actually happens, and when
Every stage produces an artefact you can read. If you ever wonder where a search stands, the answer is a document, not a phone call.
Calibrate: days 0 to 2
A 60-minute working session with the hiring manager and, where relevant, the team the hire will join. We convert the job description into a scorecard: four to six must-have competencies with the evidence that would prove each one, explicit deal-breakers, the compensation band checked against live market data, and an interview loop we both believe a strong candidate will tolerate.
Map: days 2 to 4
Before a single approach, we build the market map: which organisations hold this talent, how deep the pool is in your locations, what the realistic salary distribution looks like, and what notice periods will do to your joining date. Where the map contradicts the brief, you get that conversation immediately. Roughly one mandate in five changes shape at this point, and those are the mandates that would otherwise have failed in month three.
Engage: days 3 to 8
Named-account headhunting against the map, activation of our 240,000-strong network, referral chains through placed candidates, and community sourcing in the places your target talent actually gathers. Every approach is written for the individual and states the role, the team and the reason we thought of them. No bulk mailers leave this building.
Assess: days 4 to 9
A structured competency interview against the scorecard, work-sample or portfolio review where the discipline allows it, verification of employment history and qualifications, and an explicit read on motivation, competing processes and counter-offer risk. The output is a submission note that your hiring manager can act on without repeating the screen.
Close: days 10 to 28
We manage the offer as a process, not an event: expectation alignment on both sides before numbers are exchanged, a written offer strategy, resignation coaching for the candidate, and structured contact at least weekly through the notice period. Joining-risk flags go to you the day they appear, not the week the candidate fails to show.
Sustain: days 1 to 90 post-joining
Structured check-ins with both the hire and the manager at day 7, day 30 and day 90, so a fitment issue surfaces while it is still fixable. Each completed search closes with a written retrospective: what the market told us, what we would change, and what it means for your next requisition. Permanent placements carry a 90-day replacement guarantee we have invoked on 3% of hires.
The assessment framework
What we look for, and how we prove it
Four dimensions, scored against the calibrated scorecard. Every submission note answers all four with evidence rather than adjectives.
Capability
Can they do the work at the required depth? Established through competency interviewing, work samples, architecture discussion or portfolio review depending on the discipline.
Trajectory
Is the role a genuine step forward? A hire who is stepping sideways for money is a retention risk we flag before you interview them.
Context fit
Have they operated at your stage, scale and level of ambiguity? A brilliant enterprise architect can still struggle in a 40-person product team.
Closability
Competing processes, notice period, relocation dependencies, family constraints and counter-offer exposure, captured honestly, because a surprise here costs you a month.
Transparency
You see the same numbers we do
Reporting is not a quarterly slide deck. It is a weekly document with the metrics that predict whether your role will close.
- Approaches made and response rate, by target company.
- Funnel conversion at every gate from approach to offer.
- Declines with reasons: band, brand, location, loop or role scope.
- Market feedback verbatim, including the parts you will not enjoy.
- A recommendation whenever a metric drifts outside its expected range.
| Metric | Memsolos | Industry typical |
|---|---|---|
| Time to first shortlist | 4 days | 9–12 days |
| Interviews per hire | 3.1 | 7–9 |
| Offer-to-join conversion | 92% | 72–80% |
| Fill ratio, committed mandates | 87% | 55–65% |
| 90-day retention of placements | 97% | 88–92% |
Memsolos figures are trailing-twelve-month averages across all mandates. Industry ranges are drawn from published staffing-sector benchmarks and our own client baselines at onboarding.
Scaling up
How a delivery pod is built
For volume hiring and RPO, we assemble a pod rather than adding recruiters to a queue. Roles are explicit and the ratio is fixed.
Account Partner
Single point of accountability, owns the SLA and the quarterly business review. Reachable directly, no ticket queue.
Lead Consultant
Runs calibration, owns assessment quality and writes the submission notes. The person your hiring manager actually talks to.
Sourcing Specialists
Market mapping, named-account headhunting and network activation. Never in front of a hiring manager, always behind the pipeline.
Coordination & Compliance
Interview scheduling, documentation, background verification and onboarding paperwork. The reason nothing slips between offer and joining.