AEY & Associates - InsightsField notes on specialist hiring, talent strategy and the markets we work in. By Farid Ahmed, Founder & Principal of AEY & Associates.https://aeyandassociates.com/en-auWhat makes a CV worth our timehttps://aeyandassociates.com/insights/what-makes-a-cv-worth-our-time/https://aeyandassociates.com/insights/what-makes-a-cv-worth-our-time/We read several hundred CVs a week. Three signals separate the ones we read in full from the ones we close inside ten seconds. None of them are what most candidates think they are.Wed, 13 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTCandidatesCVJob SearchFarid Ahmed (farid@aeyandassociates.com)What we look for in a Head of Engineering for an advanced-technology scaleuphttps://aeyandassociates.com/insights/what-we-look-for-head-of-engineering/https://aeyandassociates.com/insights/what-we-look-for-head-of-engineering/Five signals that separate the engineers who succeed in advanced-technology environments from those who quietly leave inside eighteen months.Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTEngineering LeadershipAdvanced TechnologyHiringFarid Ahmed (farid@aeyandassociates.com)The questions to ask in your final-round interviewhttps://aeyandassociates.com/insights/questions-to-ask-in-the-final-round/https://aeyandassociates.com/insights/questions-to-ask-in-the-final-round/Most candidates spend three weeks preparing for the questions a firm will ask them. The strongest candidates spend the same time on the questions they will ask the firm. Here are the ones that matter.Sat, 09 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTCandidatesInterviewJob SearchFarid Ahmed (farid@aeyandassociates.com)Why low-latency hiring is broken - and what the best firms are doing insteadhttps://aeyandassociates.com/insights/why-low-latency-hiring-is-broken/https://aeyandassociates.com/insights/why-low-latency-hiring-is-broken/Quant trading firms still hire engineers using a process designed for an era when the bottleneck was finding people. The bottleneck has changed. The process has not.Wed, 06 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTQuantLow-latencyHFTHiringFarid Ahmed (farid@aeyandassociates.com)How to think about equity at Series B vs Series Dhttps://aeyandassociates.com/insights/how-to-think-about-equity-by-stage/https://aeyandassociates.com/insights/how-to-think-about-equity-by-stage/The same equity offer is worth radically different things at different company stages. Most candidates evaluate the headline number and miss the four variables that actually determine what their grant will be worth.Tue, 05 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTCandidatesEquityCompensationFarid Ahmed (farid@aeyandassociates.com)The case for retained search under $500khttps://aeyandassociates.com/insights/the-case-for-retained-search-under-500k/https://aeyandassociates.com/insights/the-case-for-retained-search-under-500k/Retained search has become shorthand for C-suite. It should be shorthand for any role where the wrong hire costs more than the right one's fee - which is most of them.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTRetained SearchCommercialHiring StrategyFarid Ahmed (farid@aeyandassociates.com)The fintech leadership hire we keep getting wronghttps://aeyandassociates.com/insights/the-fintech-leadership-hire/https://aeyandassociates.com/insights/the-fintech-leadership-hire/The Head of Engineering at a regulated digital bank is not the Head of Engineering at a consumer SaaS firm. Briefing it as if it is, is how you end up hiring the third one in eighteen months.Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTFintechEngineering LeadershipHiringFarid Ahmed (farid@aeyandassociates.com)Energy transition hiring is a geography problem.https://aeyandassociates.com/insights/energy-transition-geography-problem/https://aeyandassociates.com/insights/energy-transition-geography-problem/The build-out is happening in places the engineering talent does not currently live. Most firms are pretending this is a recruitment problem. It is not - it is a relocation problem dressed up as one.Fri, 17 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTEnergyRenewablesHiring StrategyFarid Ahmed (farid@aeyandassociates.com)A short note on counter-offershttps://aeyandassociates.com/insights/a-short-note-on-counter-offers/https://aeyandassociates.com/insights/a-short-note-on-counter-offers/Most counter-offers are not retention strategies. They are exit interviews paid in advance. We have seen too many to recommend accepting one.Tue, 14 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTCandidatesNegotiationRetentionFarid Ahmed (farid@aeyandassociates.com)What "cleared" actually costs the hiring firmhttps://aeyandassociates.com/insights/what-cleared-actually-costs/https://aeyandassociates.com/insights/what-cleared-actually-costs/Citizenship and clearance are not nice-to-haves on a defence-tech brief. They are the variable that determines whether the role is fillable in three months, twelve months, or never. The firms that win in this market treat clearance as a capital decision.Fri, 10 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTDefenceClearanceHiring StrategyFarid Ahmed (farid@aeyandassociates.com)The cyber GRC hire is harder than the SOC hirehttps://aeyandassociates.com/insights/cyber-grc-harder-than-soc/https://aeyandassociates.com/insights/cyber-grc-harder-than-soc/Most firms recruit governance, risk and compliance talent the same way they recruit operations talent. The two markets look nothing alike.Tue, 07 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTCyberGRCHiringFarid Ahmed (farid@aeyandassociates.com)What the data team you hired in 2022 looks like in 2026https://aeyandassociates.com/insights/the-2022-data-team-in-2026/https://aeyandassociates.com/insights/the-2022-data-team-in-2026/The hires that made sense in the analytics-everywhere era make less sense now. The structural mistake is treating the team you have as the team you would build today.Sat, 04 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTDataMLTeam DesignFarid Ahmed (farid@aeyandassociates.com)Three signals a hiring process is wasting your timehttps://aeyandassociates.com/insights/three-signals-process-wasting-your-time/https://aeyandassociates.com/insights/three-signals-process-wasting-your-time/Candidates spend, on average, twelve to twenty hours on a single senior interview process. A surprising fraction of that time is invested in processes that were never going to result in an offer. The signals are visible early - if you know to look.Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTCandidatesProcessJob SearchFarid Ahmed (farid@aeyandassociates.com)