Exactly. I ran a fairly "high-functioning" C++ image processing pipeline team, where every engineer had decades of experience. They were a diverse and individualized bunch of folks. We worked together well, as a team.

Unique talent was what I was specifically looking for. Since my company paid "competitive" (i.e. "low") wages, I had to look for "diamonds in the rough." We did interview some highly qualified people, but they tended to defer, when offered.

I feel that I was quite successful, and kept highly talented engineers for many years, but it made the search challenging.

"Cookie cutter testing" wasn't even an option. I'd have been crazy to ignore every advantage each unique applicant had to offer.