Physicists like Richard Woolley or Alexander McAuley could quickly master the principles of optical design, but acquiring the necessary skills to actually make high-quality optics was a different matter. The OMP had to recruit widely and creatively to find the necessary staff.

J.J. McNeil at the Munitions Standards Laboratory had valuable overseas experience, and the unparalleled skills and knowledge of Czech-refugee Francis Lord were eagerly grasped. Syd Elwin was an amateur astronomer who ground his own lenses, while, in Tasmania, the talented inventor Eric Waterworth was quickly set to work manufacturing prisms.

Woolley raided the internment camps, finding several internees with optical experience. Women with no scientific or technical experience were trained, becoming skilled optical workers. New training courses were also established at technical colleges. Seemingly from nowhere, a skilled workforce was established.