Sooner or later, most growing quantum businesses ask the same question.
If we can't find enough people with direct quantum experience, can we hire from somewhere else?
The answer is often yes. Many of the skills quantum organisations need already exist in adjacent industries, from semiconductors and aerospace to software and advanced manufacturing.
But adjacent hiring is not a shortcut. Done well, it widens the talent pool and brings valuable industrial experience into a business. Done poorly, it creates mismatched expectations, slow onboarding and hires who struggle to have the impact everyone hoped for.
The difference usually comes down to one thing: knowing exactly which parts of the role genuinely require quantum expertise, and which do not.
Why are quantum companies looking beyond the quantum talent pool?
The experienced quantum workforce remains small.
Many of the most capable specialists are already employed, often within organisations that work hard to keep them. Those who are open to a move tend to be approached by several businesses at once.
At the same time, the shape of quantum hiring is changing. As organisations move from research towards engineering, manufacturing and commercial delivery, they need more people who understand how to build reliable systems at scale, not only how to demonstrate a physical principle in a laboratory.
That is exactly the experience adjacent industries can offer.
The challenge is that "adjacent" covers a very wide range of backgrounds, and not all of them transfer in the same way.
Where does adjacent experience work best?
Adjacent hiring tends to succeed where the heart of the role is a challenge other industries have already solved.
As quantum businesses grow, many of the roles they need are less about quantum itself and more about engineering, delivery and scale. Building reliable products, running complex projects, developing software and putting the right processes in place are things experienced professionals in other sectors do every day.
In these roles, the candidate brings proven experience of doing the job well. The quantum context can often be learned in post, provided the business is prepared to support that learning.
Where does it fall short?
Some roles depend on knowledge that cannot realistically be picked up on the job.
Research-led and highly specialised technical positions usually require years of focused experience. A capable candidate from another sector may have the potential to grow into that work, but expecting them to contribute at a senior level from day one rarely ends well for either side.
It is also worth remembering that quantum is not one market. Different technologies and stages of development call for different expertise, so experience that suits one organisation may be far less relevant to another.
Problems tend to arise when businesses treat every adjacent background as interchangeable, or bring someone in from outside quantum but still assess them against a profile written for an experienced quantum specialist.
Define what genuinely requires quantum experience
Before opening a search to adjacent sectors, it helps to break the role down honestly.
Which parts of this role could someone from outside quantum do well within six months?
Useful questions include:
- Which responsibilities are fundamentally engineering, software or operational problems?
- Which require specialist quantum knowledge from the outset?
- Is there someone in the team who can provide the quantum context while the new hire develops?
- What does success look like at three, six and twelve months?
- Are we prepared to invest in onboarding, or do we need immediate impact?
If most of the role sits in the first category, adjacent candidates may be among the strongest options available. If it sits firmly in the second, widening the search may simply create more interviews without producing a better hire.
This also shapes how the role is advertised. A job description packed with quantum terminology can discourage exactly the industrial candidates a business wants to reach. Explaining the engineering challenge in plain terms, and being clear about what will be learned in post, makes the opportunity far more accessible.
Assess for transferable capability, not familiar vocabulary
Interviewing adjacent candidates requires a slightly different approach.
If the process leans heavily on quantum-specific questions, strong engineers from other sectors may appear weaker than they are. The better test is often whether they have solved comparable problems before, and how they approached them.
When assessing adjacent candidates, look for:
- Evidence of solving demanding problems in their own field
- Experience taking complex systems from prototype to something reliable and repeatable
- Genuine curiosity about quantum, and a willingness to learn from specialists
- The ability to explain their own work clearly to people outside their discipline
- A realistic understanding of what moving into an early-stage, research-driven market involves
That last point matters. Moving from a mature industry into quantum can mean more ambiguity, shifting priorities and less established process. Candidates who understand this from the start tend to settle in faster.
Once the hire is made, onboarding should be planned rather than assumed. Pairing the new hire with a quantum specialist, giving them structured exposure to the wider business, and setting clear early milestones can significantly shorten the time it takes for them to contribute fully.
How IntaQuantum can help
Adjacent hiring works best when it is a deliberate decision, not a fallback after a long and unsuccessful search.
At IntaQuantum, we work with quantum organisations to define which capabilities a role genuinely requires before the search begins. That means challenging assumptions where needed, identifying where adjacent experience can add real value, and being clear about where it cannot.
Because we focus exclusively on quantum, we understand how a business's technology and stage of growth shape the people it needs. And because our network extends across both the quantum community and the sectors that surround it, we can introduce candidates on either side of that line, across global quantum hubs.
If you're weighing up whether to look beyond the quantum talent pool for your next hire, speak to IntaQuantum about defining the role and shaping the right approach.
When quantum hiring is unclear, we define the way forward.