Chasing Unicorns

Stop Chasing Unicorn Hires

I keep seeing the same hiring mistake: companies chasing “unicorns.”

By unicorns, I mean the candidate with precisely the right mix of knowledge, experience, and niche skills. Someone who can step into the role on day one and solve every problem with no learning curve.

The problem? Unicorns are rare, expensive, and waiting for one can stall a company for months.

Here’s the truth: knowledge can be taught. If your team can’t pass knowledge on to a new hire, then you don’t have a hiring problem — you have a knowledge management problem.

What can’t be taught is enthusiasm for engineering and problem solving. That spark is either there or it isn’t. That’s why, when I interview engineers (especially younger ones), I always ask about their hobby projects. The things they’ve built, tinkered with, or experimented on outside of work. Those conversations reveal far more about ability, creativity, and potential than a checklist of past jobs ever will.

And here’s the kicker: while companies spend months chasing unicorns, the right people are slipping by. I’ve seen searches drag on for eight months looking for the “perfect” design engineer. When I took a different approach — focusing on attitude and potential, and tapping into a network of recruiters I’ve built over my career — I found a great candidate in two days.

So here’s my advice: hire for curiosity and problem-solving drive. Train for knowledge.

Your projects will move faster, your teams will grow stronger, and you’ll stop paying unicorn prices for skills that don’t guarantee success.

That’s exactly the kind of clarity Borrowed Brains brings. If you’d like structured help in your hiring process, take a look at my technical hiring panel service — designed to cut through unicorn thinking and get the right engineers on board quickly.

👉 If this sounds familiar, let’s talk.