Inside the candidate-first model - and the hidden tech job market.

In an interview with the data innovation alliance, our founders set out the model behind Rockstar Recruiting: a personal platform that connects strong IT and technology experts with ambitious tech companies, candidates first. Rather than the impersonal channels most recruiters lean on, the approach is to be genuinely present in the community - organising hackathons, speaking at tech events, and growing the network organically as part of the ecosystem.

The founders are complementary by design. Klaus Fuchs did his PhD in Information Management at ETH Zürich with the University of St. Gallen and went on to help build the ETH AI Center; Justus Spengler studied psychology at the University of Zürich and brought years of tech-recruiting experience. Rockstar started as a University of Zürich spin-off and grew into a team where every consultant learns enough data science and tech to speak with candidates as peers.

For strong engineers, finding a job is rarely the problem - they have too many options. The hard part is finding the right company. Because of direct relationships inside firms, many placements go to roles that were never advertised: candidates get access to the hidden market, and companies get strong people before a posting ever goes live, which matters in a fast-moving market where momentum decides who wins the best people.

The track record reflects it: helping a major American tech company tap the Swiss talent pool through close ETH ties (their hiring manager said he had never interviewed a stronger candidate), building data-science teams for an international gaming company in Switzerland, and helping a funded Swiss start-up bring in people from established global firms. Almost all of it comes through referrals - the side-effect of investing in real relationships rather than chasing new business.

Even back then, the long-term direction was clear: to grow into executive search on top of the professional and expert level, and to search for entire teams - all while holding to the values the team calls sustainable recruiting. That executive-search practice is techxecutive today.