Defence Needs A Human Approach. Not A Faster One.
Seen the video? This is what's underneath it.
Recently, Matchtech posted a video on LinkedIn highlighting why I returned; now it’s my time to tell you what the return looks like in practice.
Quality. Not Quantity
Two CVs per interview, and 1.88 interviews per placement. Not a 'send whatever I've got' approach. After 25 years in recruitment, those are the ratios I hold myself to.
A fast, methodical approach, built on understanding a business's objectives, culture and the drivers behind the hire before I ever open a candidate database.
That distinction matters more than ever in Defence manufacturing right now.
Why this matters. Right now.
When I interview candidates, I'm assessing skills, but just as importantly, whether they have genuine passion for the role and will complement the team and culture, not just whether their CV ticks the right boxes.
The sector has a genuine skills gap in certain areas: demand for welders and platers supporting naval shipbuilding and ship repair programs is extreme, coupled with a lack of availability - the result of high retirement levels and too few new entrants coming through to replace them. Demand for electronics assembly candidates with the skills to work to defence or aerospace standards is also outstripping the available candidate pool in some areas. At the same time, confirmed Defence spending is now converting into live recruitment, and the unmanned systems space is a clear example. For talent teams and manufacturing managers, that combination makes contract recruitment a core part of delivery, not a stopgap.
Contract roles within this space span a genuinely wide range, from £14-per-hour assemblers to £600-per-day manufacturing engineers, covering everything from sickness cover to niche skills a business doesn't hold in-house.
The core issue clients face isn't just a shortage of CVs. It's a lack of understanding, from their recruitment partner, of what they actually need, how their organisation works and the ability to solve these challenges.. Which is why my ratios matter.
AI. Where it fits (and where it doesn’t).
I use AI. But not to complete the task, or to replace me. Our internal AI is a sanity check, a second pair of eyes on my own thinking once I've already assessed the market and a CV.
My starting point is always 25 years of real-world experience, with AI supporting that rather than forming it.
Part of that support comes from the database itself. Matchtech's database and tech stack provide me with visibility not just of the required skills, but of the handful of highly specialised candidates that are being used and developed across non-defence-related sectors.
Proof in practice.
A Defence manufacturing client based in the Bournemouth area was already working with three agencies, all focused on candidates local to Bournemouth. I widened the search to a broader geographic area instead, which was the main driver of getting candidates interested from further afield than the other agencies had managed. Their feedback wasn't about volume, it was that the process felt considered, with clear CV presentation and no push for exclusivity from the start. This was a standing start: I'd never worked with that client before; we're now placing contractors with them.
Three things run through that, and every placement I make.
It starts with discovery before search, a proper conversation to understand the business, its live projects and its challenges, before I open a candidate database.
Deliberate market differentiation, knowing where other agencies are already looking so I can consciously widen the search rather than compete for the same shrinking pool.
Quality over quantity: a curated, clearly presented shortlist filtered for personality fit and genuine motivation as well as skills, not a high-volume CV drop.
Backed by a stable business.
Matchtech has been ranked in the Sunday Times' Top 10 Best Places to Work, with 91% employee engagement, 91% confidence in management, and 88% of employees rating reward and recognition as excellent.
For me and the Defence audience, that matters beyond the accolade: consultants like my team and I, who are engaged and confident in leadership, tend to stay in Defence recruitment for years, not months. Together, we are building the long-term, cleared networks that clients rely on.
My final thought.
My approach works both ways. If you're a candidate, it means an honest conversation about whether a role genuinely fits, not a CV forwarded just to look like a match.
For both our clients and candidates, the ratio I actually care about isn't CVs to interviews. It's whether the person I place, and the business they join, are still glad of that match years from now.
That only happens through our partnership, not a transaction.
Looking for that human approach?
