Before anything was read
What the posting asks for, and what the job needs
The posting was read first, on its own, before a single resume was opened. BIM resumes are among the hardest in construction to screen, because everyone lists the same six software packages and almost nobody says what they did with them. Modeling to design intent and modeling to fabrication are different jobs, and the resume rarely tells you which one you are getting.
This is a judgment, not a fact. It is here so you can disagree with it, and so you know what the ranking was built on.
Load-bearing
- LOD 400, fabrication-levelThe posting says "Revit proficiency". What this job needs is someone who models spools that get built, not design intent someone else details later.
- Has run coordination, not just clash detectionAnyone can run a Navisworks report. This job needs someone who sits in the room and negotiates with the electrical and sprinkler contractors.
- Fabrication software, CADmep or SysQueNamed once, buried. It is the clearest single signal of whether someone has done trade-side BIM.
- Understands what installsNot a certification. Shows up in whether the resume mentions hanger layout, access clearance, or rework.
Probably carried forward
- "BIM Manager title required"Costs more of this pool than anything else. In trade contracting the same job is called coordinator, detailer, VDC engineer or drafter depending on who wrote the org chart.
- "Healthcare experience essential"Med gas and above-ceiling congestion are the real challenge. Lab, semiconductor and central plant work teach the same density.
- Autodesk Certified ProfessionalListed as required. Almost no strong trade-side coordinator holds it, and several weak candidates do.
- Bachelor's degreeFour of the six shortlisted came through drafting programs or the trade instead.
How this was read
Three reads, then a person decides.
Every resume is read three times, from three different angles. The readers work independently. None of them sees the others' verdicts, so agreement means something and disagreement means something else.
Where all three land in the same place, the ranking is easy and you can move fast. Where they split, you get told, and you get both arguments. Those are the ones a single score would have quietly hidden.
The strict read
Scores against what the posting actually asks for. Absence of evidence counts as absence. Unforgiving on purpose.
The transferable read
Looks for evidence the person could do the work even when the sector, the vocabulary or the job title does not match.
The hiring manager
One interview slot this week. Would you spend it here, and what would you be hoping to find out?
Then the review
We read every resume ourselves alongside the three verdicts, and we write the ranking. Where the readers agree we are checking their work. Where they split we are choosing between two arguments, and we tell you which one we went with and why.
That decision is a recommendation, not a filter. Every applicant appears somewhere in this document, including the ones we ranked last.
The pile
Where fifty-four applications landed
Included so you can see the shape of the response, and so the ones we cut are accounted for rather than disappearing.
ShortlistedRanked below, reasoning on each
6
Read closely, not shortlistedReason recorded, overrule if you disagree
11
Design intent only, no fabricationArchitecture and consultancy modelers, strong but wrong side
18
Drafting level, too earlyReal skills, no coordination responsibility yet
13
Not closeOther disciplines, or no construction modeling at all
6
Ranked shortlist
01
A. PrishtinaAgreed
BIM Coordinator, mechanical trade partner · 10 yrs · Denver CO
LOD 400 spooling
CADmep, Revit, Navisworks
Runs coordination meetings
Healthcare, two projects
Four years in the field first
No degree
Reader scoresSpread 1
0510
Strict8
Meets every load-bearing requirement without interpretation. Fabrication-level modeling in CADmep, two healthcare projects, and explicitly names running weekly coordination with the electrical and fire protection trades.
No degree and no Autodesk certification, both listed as required. Held the point back rather than deducting, because the work record answers the same question better.
Transferable9
Four years installing pipe before moving into the office, and it shows in the way the resume is written. Mentions hanger coordination and above-ceiling access clearance, which almost no BIM resume does.
Describes a rework event on a mechanical room and the modeling change that stopped it recurring. That is someone who understands the consequence of a bad model rather than the software that produced it.
Hiring manager9
Yes, first slot. The field background is the differentiator. A coordinator who has hung pipe argues differently in a clash meeting, and wins more of those arguments.
Would use the interview on how they handle a general contractor compressing the coordination schedule, and on whether they want to stay coordinating or are aiming at a manager title.
Our call
Top of the list and it was not close. The degree and certification lines are the only things standing between this resume and a clean sweep, and both are requirements worth confirming with your client before they cost them the best fit in the response.
02
V. Osei-BonsuReaders split
Senior Detailer, mechanical trade partner · 13 yrs · Colorado Springs CO
LOD 400 spooling
CADmep, SysQue
Central plant and lab work
13 yrs trade side
Never titled coordinator
No healthcare
Reader scoresSpread 4
0510
Strict4
Job title is detailer or senior detailer throughout thirteen years. Never coordinator, never manager, and the posting asks for the manager title specifically.
No healthcare projects, no degree, no certification. Against the posting as written this does not reach a shortlist.
Transferable8
The title is misleading and the detail proves it. Thirteen years of fabrication-level modeling in both CADmep and SysQue, and the resume describes leading clash resolution sessions with three other trades on a central plant.
Central plant and laboratory work is the closest thing in this pile to hospital above-ceiling congestion. The density problem is identical even though the word "healthcare" never appears.
Hiring manager9
This is the most experienced trade-side modeler who applied and the title is hiding it. Detailer at one contractor is coordinator at the next, and everyone in this business knows it.
Would interview immediately. The only real question is whether they want the coordination and meeting side of the role or prefer to stay on the board.
Our call · readers split
This is the candidate the posting loses, and the widest disagreement in the pile. The strict read is not wrong. Judged on titles, this resume fails, and anything scoring on title or keyword overlap drops it out of the top twenty of fifty-four.
Placed second because BIM job titles in trade contracting are set by whoever wrote the org chart, not by the scope of the work. Worth telling your client that their manager-title requirement is filtering on vocabulary rather than capability.
03
M. ChandrasekaranAgreed
BIM Coordinator, mechanical and plumbing · 8 yrs · Aurora CO
LOD 400
Revit, Navisworks, CADmep
Autodesk certified
Runs coordination
BSc, mechanical engineering
Commercial only, no healthcare
Reader scoresSpread 1
0510
Strict7
Hits nearly everything on the posting including the certification and the degree, which most of this shortlist does not. The gap is sector, all commercial office and hotel, no healthcare.
Eight years is at the lower end of what this project needs but the progression is clean and the responsibility is real.
Transferable8
Hotel work is more relevant than it sounds. Repeated room types with tight ceiling voids and a heavy plumbing stack is a comparable coordination problem to patient rooms.
The engineering degree shows in how they write about systems rather than about software. Understands why the duct is where it is, not just how to move it.
Hiring manager7
Solid yes without excitement. Would do the job well and would not be a problem.
Would want to test how they handle med gas and infection control barriers, which is the part of hospital work nothing else prepares you for.
Our call
Reliable third and the most conventionally qualified person on the list. All three readers within a point, which usually means the resume is telling you the truth. The healthcare gap is a learning curve rather than a barrier.
04
L. BergmannReaders split
Steel Detailer and BIM lead, structural fabricator · 15 yrs · Longmont CO
Tekla, LOD 400
Runs coordination
Shop drawing release
15 yrs fabrication side
Structural, not MEP
No CADmep or SysQue
Reader scoresSpread 3
0510
Strict4
Fifteen years of structural steel detailing in Tekla. No Revit at production level, no CADmep, no SysQue, no mechanical systems anywhere in the document.
This is a different trade using different software. On stated criteria it is a clear reject.
Transferable6
The transferable part is the discipline, not the software. Steel detailing releases to a shop where an error costs a fabricated member, so this is someone trained to be right the first time, which is exactly the habit fabrication-level MEP modeling needs.
Has coordinated steel against MEP from the other side of the table for fifteen years, so knows the argument well. The software gap is real but Revit and CADmep are learnable in months by someone who already thinks in fabrication.
Hiring manager7
More interesting than the score suggests. Fifteen years of getting shop drawings right is a rarer quality than knowing which button in CADmep does what.
Would interview if the client can absorb a ramp-up. Would not, if they need someone producing spools in week two.
Our call · readers split
Kept on the list rather than cut, because the underlying skill here is fabrication discipline and this candidate has more of it than anyone else who applied. The gap is software and trade, both of which are learnable.
Fourth, not higher, because this project starts coordination immediately and there is no runway for a software transition. Include if your client is thinking about their next two years, drop if they need output next month.
05
R. OkonjoReaders split
VDC Manager, general contractor · 9 yrs · Denver CO
VDC Manager title
Navisworks, BIM 360
Healthcare, three projects
Autodesk certified
GC side, not trade side
No fabrication modeling
Reader scoresSpread 4
0510
Strict8
Manager title, healthcare projects, certification, degree, and every software package the posting names. On the words this is one of the strongest resumes received.
Transferable5
Nine years entirely on the general contractor side, which is a different job wearing the same words. Running the clash detection process and chairing the meeting is not the same as producing the model that has to be right.
No evidence of ever modeling to fabrication level. The resume describes managing a coordination process rather than delivering content into it.
Hiring manager4
Hesitant. Excellent hire for a general contractor, wrong shape for a trade partner. The people this candidate has spent nine years chasing for models are the people they would now have to be.
Would interview only to test whether they have ever produced spools themselves. If not, this is a hire that goes wrong quietly around month four.
Our call · readers split
An inversion of the usual pattern. The strict read is the enthusiastic one because the posting's language points straight here, and the judgment reads are cautious because the side of the table is wrong.
Fifth rather than first because trade-side BIM is a production job and this is a process job. Genuinely strong if your client ever wants a VDC lead, and a poor fit for what this posting actually describes.
06
T. WycliffeReaders split
BIM Manager, multi-discipline consultancy · 11 yrs · Boulder CO
Every package listed
Autodesk certified
BIM Manager title
Healthcare listed
No LOD stated anywhere
No project detail
Reader scoresSpread 5
0510
Strict9
Fourteen software packages listed, every term in the posting present, manager title, certification, degree. Highest surface match of all fifty-four by a clear margin.
Transferable4
Eleven years described across four roles without a single LOD reference, project value, trade named, or clash count. For a BIM resume that is a striking set of omissions.
"Managed BIM delivery across multi-disciplinary projects to client standards" appears in three of the four roles with different employers and no project named.
Hiring manager3
We have read this resume many times. Every package named, nothing owned. Fourteen software packages in eleven years usually means shallow exposure to all of them.
Might be excellent. The document gives us nothing to test that against, and for a production role that is a real problem.
Our call · readers split
Included deliberately, at the bottom, and it is the widest split in the response. This is the mirror image of second place. Highest keyword match in fifty-four applications, weakest evidence behind it, and anything scoring on overlap ranks this first by a distance.
Kept on the shortlist rather than cut because consultancy work is often bound by client confidentiality. One question settles it: show us a spool drawing you produced and tell us what got built from it. If your client has no slot spare, this is the one to drop.
Read closely, not shortlisted
The near misses, and why
Eleven applications came close. These five came closest, and the reason each missed is recorded so you can overrule it.
S. Eriksen
Revit Technician, architecture practice · 12 yrs
Twelve years of genuinely excellent Revit work, all of it design intent for an architect. Never modeled anything that got fabricated, and never sat in a trade coordination meeting. Strong candidate for the wrong side of the project.
D. Ferreira Lima
BIM Team Lead, offshore delivery center · 9 yrs
Managed twenty-two modelers producing content for US projects, which is real scale. Missed because the coordination itself was always run by someone in the US, so there is no evidence of holding a position against another trade in a live meeting.
N. Achterberg
Scan-to-BIM specialist · 7 yrs
Deep and genuinely uncommon skill set in point cloud capture and existing conditions modeling. Too narrow for this role, which is new-build coordination. Worth keeping on file, because the renovation phase of this same hospital will need exactly this.
C. Villaseñor
BIM Coordinator, electrical trade partner · 6 yrs
Right side of the table, right kind of work, wrong trade. Conduit racking and cable tray coordination is genuinely adjacent to mechanical, and six years is a little early. Closest of the near misses and worth a conversation if the top three do not convert.
P. Groenewald
Senior BIM Coordinator, mechanical · 14 yrs
Right profile, wrong constraint. States a hard requirement for fully remote work. Coordination on a project this congested happens in a room with the other trades. Flagged rather than cut in case your client will consider a hybrid arrangement, because otherwise this belongs in the top three.
About this document. This is a sample. The format, the reading method and the reasoning style are exactly what you would receive.
On a live role, every resume you send is read in full, and we write the shortlist ourselves. Nothing is filtered out before a person sees it and nothing is rejected by a machine. The ranking is a recommendation rather than a decision. Where the readers disagree you get told, and you get both arguments, because those are the ones where your judgment is worth more than ours.
SuperceptronEvery resume read. The reasoning attached. Your call.