How recruiters find companies that are hiring right now

Recruiters can find companies that are hiring by watching four public signals: live job posts, funding announcements, new leaders and headcount or office changes. Rank each by how directly it points to a vacancy you can fill, write within days, and name the role. Sellinger's intent signals cover hiring, funding, job listings, new joiners and new offices.

This is part of the series on recruitment agency business development. A recruiter has one real edge over other suppliers: knowing, this week, that a company has a gap. This post is about getting that knowledge cheaply and reliably, and not wasting it on companies that only look like they are hiring.

Which signals show that a company is hiring?

Not all signals are equal. Rank them by how directly they point to a vacancy you could fill.

The lag column is our reading of how these events usually work, not a measured figure. Treat it as a way to decide what to write about, not when to expect a reply.

Where do you find each signal?

You do not need a big stack. Pick a source for each row and check it on a fixed day.

1. Job posts. The company careers page, LinkedIn Jobs and the job boards in your sector. A company's own careers page is the cleanest source, because it is the employer's own statement.
2. Funding. The founder's and company's LinkedIn posts, press releases and trade news. The related post on companies that just raised funding lists sources.
3. New leaders. LinkedIn posts that start "I am happy to share that I have joined" and company announcements.
4. Headcount. The company's LinkedIn page, where the employee count and recent joiners are visible, and your own tracking of the same companies over time.

If you build the list by hand, keep a sheet with the company, the signal, the date you saw it, the role and the name of the hiring manager. A signal without a date goes stale invisibly.

How can Sellinger intent signals help?

Sellinger watches LinkedIn for buying signals and turns the people behind them into leads for your campaigns. The product ships 26 templates in 8 categories. Those most useful to a recruiter sit under company activity: funding announcements by round type, hiring for a position, live job listings, new joiners and new offices. They are included in every plan.

What that means in practice:

• You describe the type of company or role you want to see, and the signal lists matching activity as it happens, each tied to a real person.
• People who trigger a signal become leads in your pipeline, and your agent can start outreach with a message that refers to the signal.
• A signal can also be qualified with an AI prompt, so you can say "only roles in software engineering" and drop the rest.

A signal is a hint and can be wrong. A job post may be an old ad, a placeholder or a role already with another agency. Keep the first message short and about their work. We publish no result for any single signal type, because we do not have enough sends per type to measure honestly. For the general rubric on which triggers deserve action, read intent signals worth acting on.

How do you qualify a signal before you write?

Spend two minutes per company on five checks. If a company fails two, skip it.

1. Is the role in your niche? An engineer role at a retailer is not your restaurant manager niche.
2. Is it recent? Open the post and check the date. A post older than about six weeks may be filled.
3. Is there a named person? If you can find the hiring manager, the message can be personal. If not, the head of the function is the next best.
4. Is there a hiring team already? A company with a large internal talent team may use agencies only for rare roles. Mention that you cover the hard ones.
5. Is the company the right size and stage for your fee? A two person startup may not pay a placement fee.

How do you turn the signal into a message?

Lead with the signal, then one fact about the market, then a small offer. Here are two made up examples.

Example 1 (made up), job post: "Hi Priya, I saw the senior backend role on your careers page, open since early October. Candidates with Go and payments experience in Manchester tend to hold two or three offers at once, so I would not wait long. I can send two shortlisted profiles by next Friday if useful. Is the role still open?"

Example 2 (made up), funding: "Hi Daniel, congratulations on the seed round. Teams that raise often build the first sales team within a quarter. I place first sales hires for software start ups in the UK. Are you planning to hire an AE this year?"

More examples, with follow ups, are in BD outreach messages for recruiters on LinkedIn.

How do you keep the list fresh?

Review the list on a fixed day each week. Drop every company where the role is closed. Re-contact a company only when a new signal appears, such as a new job post in the same team. Record the date of your last message, so the next one refers to what changed. If you use the enrichment lookup, run it once the company passes the qualification checks, so you do not spend $0.01 on companies you will drop.

What should not be a signal?

• A company that hires constantly. A permanent "we are hiring" banner is not news.
• A job aggregator's copy of an old post. Always check the employer's page.
• A profile view. It tells you someone looked, not that a vacancy exists.
• Layoff news. Be careful. A company that cut staff may not hire for months, and an opener about it can read badly.

What to do this week

Pick the niche sentence from the hub. List 30 companies with a live post in it. Qualify each with the five checks. Write to the 15 that pass, name the role and ask one question. Then read the replies before you scale anything. If you want an agent to run the watching and the first messages, see Sellinger intent signals and the recruiter use case.