We Told Them We Had Nothing. Twice.

In October 2023, this studio's talent coordinator emailed asking whether any new CVs had come in for their database administrator search.

We told her the truth: none uploaded yet, the search is on.

A month later she asked again. We said the same thing: none so far, calls this week and next.

That is not an impressive answer. It is a boring answer. It is also why we have worked with this studio since 2022 and were still in their calendar four years later.

The temptation, when a marquee client asks whether you have anything, is to send something. A profile that is roughly adjacent, to prove you are working. Every recruiter knows the move. It buys a week of looking busy and costs a hiring manager an hour they will not get back , and it teaches a good client to stop trusting your shortlists.

This studio's standards are high and their technical panels are demanding, which is what you would expect from a developer of that calibre. Meeting that bar takes as long as it takes. We placed a senior engineer there in early 2022, ran their database and full-stack searches through late 2023, and made two further placements that autumn.

We also kept the process transparent from our side. When an access issue meant we could not upload a candidate at the moment we wanted to, we said so immediately rather than letting a strong profile sit unexplained.

"An empty pipeline reported honestly is worth more than a full one padded out."