Check for segment fit, role coverage and engagement model before anything else: a specialist EV charging recruiter should name comparable work across charge point operators, EVSE OEMs, installers or software platforms, cover the specific role family you're hiring, and offer the right model, whether permanent, contract, contract-to-hire or executive search. We work across EV charging operations, sales, engineering and executive search in the US, with named placements including a VP of Finance at Mitra EV and a VP of Sales at Go Eve.
The rest of this is the checklist we'd want a client to run against us, or against anyone else, before signing a brief.
Does the agency actually recruit for your segment?
Start with the business model behind your vacancy, not the job title. Charge point operators, charging hardware manufacturers, installation and EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contractors, service and maintenance providers, fleet and depot operators, site hosts, and charging software platforms all sit under "EV charging," and they need different things from a recruiter.
We've built the entire operations team for Mer Charging, L-Charge and Mitra EV, and the sales function at Go Eve, L-Charge and Mitra EV. That's the kind of segment fit worth asking for: not a claim of general EV experience, but a specific answer to "have you built a team like mine, for a business like mine, recently?"
If your hiring involves utility capacity constraints, permitting, interconnection coordination, authority having jurisdiction approvals, or live-network uptime, ask the recruiter to talk through those constraints unprompted. A recruiter who understands the deployment shouldn't need you to explain it.
Can it cover the roles you actually need?
EV charging hiring spans several distinct role families, and a recruiter should be able to name which ones it works in regularly:
• Field, installation and service: field service technicians, EV charger installers, commissioning engineers, maintenance engineers, technical support engineers, electrical qualifying supervisors
• Engineering, project and network: electrical engineers, hardware design engineers, software integration engineers, infrastructure project engineers, EV project managers, grid connection managers, network operations managers, operations directors, compliance managers
• Commercial and leadership: sales and business development, customer solutions, construction and program leadership, VP and C-suite, board-level
We placed a VP of Finance (now SVP) at Mitra EV, a VP of Sales at Go Eve, and an MD at Sync EV. Those are leadership searches, and leadership searches are answered with named outcomes, not a general statement of sector coverage. Ask any recruiter you're evaluating for the same: a role, a level, a business, and roughly when.
How should technical and field readiness get checked?
For field-facing roles, the screening should be concrete before it's fast. Ask whether the recruiter verifies electrical licenses and certifications, EVSE (electric vehicle supply equipment) experience, familiarity with Level 2 and DC fast charging (DCFC) equipment, OSHA training where the role requires it, and a valid driver's license with genuine travel and deployment readiness.
This matters because a resume that uses the right language isn't the same as a candidate who's done the work. A recruiter should be able to explain how it tells the difference, not just that it does.
Which delivery model actually fits your hiring plan?
Match the model to the work and the timeframe, not the other way around.
Permanent recruitment suits core roles in engineering, operations, commercial teams and leadership, where you're building something that stays. Contract staffing supports time-bound installations, deployment surges and field-service peaks. Contract-to-hire gives you a window to assess field technicians or operations staff before converting them permanently. Executive search fits confidential or business-critical leadership appointments, which is where our own record is strongest: the finance, sales and MD placements above were all executive search engagements. RPO (recruitment process outsourcing) or multi-hire support suits larger hiring ramps, though we're a 1-consultant specialist team built for focused searches, not for running 50+ simultaneous hires.
Whichever model you pick, ask who owns sourcing, screening, interview coordination, offer support and, for contract roles, payroll and compliance.
Can the recruiter support your geography and deployment plan?
US charging hiring can be local, multi-state or national, and those are different sourcing problems. A single-site installer role needs local coverage; a national deployment program needs a recruiter who can source across several regions at once and separate roles that stay local from roles that travel.
Ask how the recruiter organizes coverage by region and how it assesses travel readiness specifically, rather than assuming a candidate who's technically qualified is also deployment-ready.
What should a written search plan actually contain?
Ask for a plan that sets out the role brief, required qualifications, compensation and timeline; where candidates will come from; the assessment criteria used before submission; what's included with each candidate profile, such as certifications, charging experience, technical capability, availability and geographic coverage; the update cadence for submissions and feedback; the terms for whichever engagement model applies; and any replacement or placement guarantee, including its conditions.
A recruiter who can walk you through each of these before you sign is telling you something useful. A recruiter who offers only a general statement of sector coverage is telling you it hasn't scoped your search yet.
What evidence should you ask for before you appoint anyone?
Request evidence that's aligned to your specific requirement, not to the size of a recruiter's wider clean-energy or engineering book:
• A recent example of a comparable role, team build or infrastructure engagement
• The role types and seniority involved
• The charging segment: network operations, installation, hardware, construction or software
• The locations covered
• The engagement type used
• The qualifications verified for field roles
• The submission process and communication cadence
• Fee structure and guarantee terms
What to ask on the first call
• Which charging businesses and role families do you recruit for in the US?
• Have you recruited for a requirement comparable to this role's function, seniority and location?
• How will you assess the technical requirements for this position?
• For field roles, which licenses, certifications, EVSE experience and deployment requirements will you verify?
• Can you support our required states or regions, including multi-site deployment if needed?
• Should this be a permanent, contract or contract-to-hire search, and why?
• Who will conduct the search and candidate screening?
• What does a submitted candidate profile include?
• What update schedule, terms and guarantee apply to this engagement?
What to bring to that call
Give the recruiter a brief that states the charging business model you run, the outcomes the role needs to deliver, the technical requirements, the location or travel expectations, the employment model, and your hiring timeline. That's enough for a recruiter who knows this market to tell you, on the spot, whether it can cover the search and how it plans to find the people you need.
We've built ops teams, sales teams and executive leadership for EV charging companies for seven years. In our experience, the searches that move fastest are the ones where we get that brief upfront rather than piecing it together after the fact.
If you have a role open now, our live EV charging jobs page shows the kind of searches we're running today, with full comp, locations and job descriptions attached.
Should you hire for field roles or corporate roles first when scaling EV charging teams?
Match the search to what's blocking deployment right now. If installation or commissioning is the bottleneck, field service technicians, installers and commissioning engineers come first; if the constraint is coordinating that field work, network operations managers or project managers matter more. We build both, and the brief should say which one is slowing you down.
Can one recruiter cover both field technicians and executive search?
Yes, but ask how, not just whether. Field roles need verified electrical licenses, EVSE (electric vehicle supply equipment) experience and deployment readiness; executive search needs a different kind of evidence, like named comparable placements at the right seniority. We've placed a CFO at Mitra EV and a VP of Sales at Go Eve through executive search, and built field-adjacent operations teams through a separate process, so ask any recruiter to show both, not just claim both.
What's the difference between contract staffing and contract-to-hire for EV charging roles?
Contract staffing covers time-bound work like a deployment surge or an installation push, where the need ends when the project does. Contract-to-hire is for roles you expect to keep, but want to assess a field technician or operations hire on the job before making it permanent. The choice depends on whether the work itself is temporary or the uncertainty is about the candidate.
How do you check if a recruiter actually understands EVSE and DC fast charging, not just the job titles?
Ask them to explain the difference between Level 2 and DC fast charging (DCFC) equipment unprompted, and how that difference changes what they screen for in a candidate. A recruiter who understands the hardware will talk about certifications, equipment platforms and commissioning experience specific to the charger type; one who doesn't will talk about the role title only.
Should a national deployment program use one recruiter or several regional ones?
One recruiter can usually work if they can source across your target regions and separate local service roles from travel-based ones, since that avoids managing multiple relationships and inconsistent screening standards. The test is whether they can name how they'd organize coverage region by region, not whether they have a big general network.