Your search partner does not need to design chips. They need enough understanding to distinguish similar job titles from relevant experience, and enough judgement to say what they still need to learn.
1. What outcome do you think this role must deliver?
Do not start with database size. Ask the partner to describe the assignment in their own words. Do they understand the product stage, responsibility and missing capability? Reading the requirements back to you is not calibration.
2. Which requirements narrow the market most?
Can they distinguish essential conditions from preferences? Calibration with your technical lead should identify what cannot change and where experience in an adjacent area could be sufficient.
3. Where will you search, and why?
Expect a rationale for target employers, teams and products. A list of recognisable technology companies is not enough. A useful specialist search plan connects sources with the work the person will perform.
4. How will you distinguish similar-looking profiles?
Ask for calibration questions. What establishes that someone owned a project stage rather than merely worked near it? You are not asking the recruiter to pass a chip-design exam. You are testing whether they know which evidence to collect.
5. What will we know after the first phase?
It need not be a hire. It should be a clearer market picture: pools examined, availability, responses and constraints. Agree the review point and the decisions that the findings should enable.
6. Who actually delivers the assignment?
Who maps, who approaches, who assesses and who makes the recommendation? How is information shared? Several contributors can improve speed, but responsibility can also disappear between them.
7. What attention will this role receive?
Do not hunt for a universal projects-per-recruiter number. Ask about active workload and task allocation. One difficult calibration may need more attention than several candidates already negotiating offers.
8. How will technical assessment work?
Separate initial verification from specialist assessment by an appropriately qualified person. Define criteria and evidence. OPM's structured-interview guidance uses predetermined questions and common rating standards. That principle helps comparison; it does not replace the assessor's technical expertise.
9. How do you establish interest as well as capability?
What does the candidate understand about the project? What would motivate a move, and which conditions must be met? A perfect-looking profile adds little if the person will not consider the location or working arrangement.
Ask when these points are tested. Discovering a non-negotiable location mismatch after the technical panel is an avoidable use of everyone's time.
10. What limits your access to the market?
Request disclosure of conflicts and employers that cannot be approached. Ask which countries and languages the team actually works in. Geographic coverage should describe delivery capability rather than dots on a slide.
11. What happens if the brief is not supported by the market?
Expect more than “we will keep searching”. How will the constraint be demonstrated? When will they recommend changing profile, location, compensation or the division of responsibilities?
A useful partner should be able to tell you that a condition is blocking the search without treating that finding as an excuse to avoid responsibility.
12. What counts as success, and what does the guarantee do?
Separate a shortlist, an accepted offer and a start. Clarify support through the offer stage and the conditions for another search. Agree the terms before you need to rely on them.
After the meeting, identify three things: who will do the work, what you will learn about the market and how candidates will be assessed. If you remember only client logos and database size, you know too little.
How to evaluate the answers
Do not score confidence. Look for concrete examples, clear responsibilities and a willingness to challenge the brief. “We need to validate that with your technical lead” can be more professional than an immediate claim to know everything about the niche.
Must we disclose a confidential project before an agreement? An initial assessment can often use an anonymised problem and requirements. Agree the information boundary and confidentiality arrangements before sharing sensitive materials.
Should the partner promise a shortlist date immediately? Ask them to explain the assumptions behind any date. A confident deadline without a validated market is a sales statement, not a delivery plan.
Choosing a partner for a niche technical role?
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