CoolLED.
The brief he thought was impossible.
CoolLED design and manufacture LED illumination systems for life science microscopy. They sit in Andover, part of Judges Scientific, and they hire the kind of R&D engineers who do not show up on job boards.
This was a new relationship. It started with a recommendation.
The situation
We had just finished a campaign for Deben UK, another Judges Scientific business. James, their Technical Director, had asked us to fill a Production Manager role. Not a typical brief for us, but James trusts how we work, so we went to market and closed it in nine days.
A few weeks later, James picked up the phone to Gerry, Technical Director at CoolLED, and told him to call us.
The brief
Gerry needed an R&D Engineer with laser experience. Specifically Zemax. Specifically someone technical enough to do real optical design work, but also outgoing enough to talk to customers and support the sales team.
His exact words on our first Teams call: 'In an ideal world I'd love someone more outgoing and customer focused, and also more technical, someone who can do the Zemax. But I'm probably asking too much.'
He was not asking too much. He was just asking the wrong people.
What we did
The job ad had not worked. We did not run another one. We went to market, identified the small population of engineers in the UK who actually combine laser R&D, Zemax, and customer-facing experience, and approached them directly.
Three candidates. All interviewed. Two went through to second stage.
The outcome
Gerry made two offers. Both accepted. Both starting.
The role he thought was a unicorn turned out to be two people, and he hired them both.
Why it works
Most 'impossible' briefs are not impossible. They are just outside the reach of job boards and generalist agencies. When a client tells you they are probably asking too much, the right answer is not to push back on the spec. It is to go and find the people who match it.
That is what specialist networks are for.