How we work
Two processes: one for the people, one for the delivery.
Whichever service line you engage, the work runs on one of two documented processes. People go through twelve screening steps before they reach your team. Projects go through four movements, and we are still accountable at the last one rather than handing over at design.
Both are published here in full, because process is easy to claim and harder to show. If a step below is not happening on your engagement, that is a fair question to put to us.
- 12
- Screening stepsBefore a candidate reaches your team
- 4
- Screening phasesDefine, source, qualify, verify
- 3
- InterviewsTelephone, in depth, then on site
- 4
- Delivery movementsAnalyze, design, develop, implement
Recruitment process
Twelve steps before anyone reaches your team.
Screening is deliberately slow at the front so that delivery is not slow later. A resource who cannot do the work was never the cheaper option, which is why cost control sits in this process rather than in a rate negotiation.
Phase 01
Define
A role written against a real business need, not a template. Most bad placements are decided here, before anyone has been sourced.
2 of 12 steps
Write the job description against real business need
Publish to our site and partner portals
Phase 02
Source
Research first, database second. The screened pool is constantly extending, so a critical position does not start from zero.
2 of 12 steps
Research to locate the talent
Check our existing candidate databases
Phase 03
Qualify
Three separate reads on the same person: a conversation, a depth interview, and an evaluation against the actual technical work.
3 of 12 steps
Qualify by initial telephone interview
Run in-depth interviews with finalists
Technical evaluation
Phase 04
Verify
Everything claimed on the resume is checked against a source that is not the candidate, and the last interview happens face to face.
5 of 12 steps
Reference checks on past performance
Background screening
Certificate screening
On-site interview for technical and communication skills
Selection
The same process governs our own hires. Candidates applying for a role at the firm move through it exactly as candidates we place for a client do.
Delivery process
Four movements, and we are still there at the last one.
The same four movements on every engagement, whatever the service line. Full project lifecycle management means we are still there at implementation, not just at design.
Analyze
Establish the real requirement, including the parts the brief does not state.
Hands over
Requirements analysis and definition, use cases and user stories
Design
Produce the technical and functional design, and agree it before anyone builds.
Hands over
Functional and technical design, signed off before anyone builds
Develop
Build and unit test against that design, with progress visible throughout.
Hands over
Build and unit test against that design, progress visible throughout
Implement
Carry it through test execution into production, and support what we deployed.
Hands over
Test execution, production deployment, and break-fix support after it
After implementation
Full project lifecycle management is the whole point of the fourth movement. Break-fix support from test execution through to production deployment is work we have done under federal process, not a line in a proposal.
Screening is where cost control happens
Not in the rate. A placement who cannot do the work costs more than the expensive candidate you passed on, and it costs it later, when it is harder to fix.
Design is agreed before build
The technical and functional design is produced and accepted first. Everything after it is measured against something both sides already signed off.
Feedback is asked for, not waited on
We survey clients through the engagement, positive and negative. Preferred supplier status with several of them came from that habit rather than from a sales cycle.
Let us look at the requirement
Tell us the role, the system or the program. We will tell you honestly whether we are the right firm for it.
Corporate office
11445 Compaq Center West Dr, Bldg CCA6Houston, TX 77070-1433
- 281-968-0916
- 281-968-2077
- [email protected]