How to find and engage with hiring managers you (might) want to work for (now or in the future)
Learn how to find and engage a hiring manager at a target company (before you even send a connection request). Become familiar to increase your odds of a successful connection request by 2-3x.
Networking has always been an important part of finding a job.
With online communities, social media, and various content platforms — there’s a larger (digital) networking surface area than ever.
You simply can’t ignore these new channels and platforms as a way to connect with hiring managers (and potential future teammates!).
The Subtle Art of Networking (in the digital age) is a new multi-week series at The Career Whispers. In this series, I’ll explore clever and effective ways to network into your next tech gig.
In today’s issue, I’ll teach you how to find a hiring manager and engage with them to inject your name into their subconscious (and increase your odds of a successful connection request).
Why do this? The hiring manager is the holy grail of a job search. Not only do they hold the keys to your offer, they’ll also be a big part of your day-to-day job.
The earlier you can meet with the hiring manager, the more efficient and targeted your job search will be.
In a job search, it always feels easier to spray and pray — cold applying to roles.
And it’s not a complete waste of time. It turns out, the average candidate gets invited to 1 interview for every 6 job applications.
Even with a 1 in 6 chance of an interview, most candidates are leaving a lot on the table when cold-applying for roles.
Yeah, you might get an interview. You might even get the job.
But you’ll be walking into the role having spent less than 1 hour with the person at the center of your success (or failure) in the role: the hiring manager.
One targeted conversation with a hiring manager is better than 50 cold applications.
Networking with a hiring manager has multiple outsized benefits. By engaging with them in their digital haunts, you’ll both GET and GIVE a lot of signal, including:
how they communicate
what they talk about online (what they value)
how their ideas resonate with you
The hitch: hiring managers are busy people.
You’re going to have to become familiar to them before they accept a connection request and have a 1:1 conversation with you.
Today, I will teach you how to do that.
If you engage well with the hiring manager before sending a connection request, you’ll:
inject your name into their subconscious (be familiar)
learn more about them (and how they communicate)
know what to say when you do reach out (what they care about)
Let’s dive in.
LinkedIn: Your Virtual Rolodex
Since most hiring managers are on LinkedIn, it's a great way to find them and connect them.
Table Stakes (do this first)
To make the most of LinkedIn, start by optimizing your profile. Include:
a professional headshot
a tight headline (that says what you are and what you’re looking for)
a well-written summary (that explains who you are, what you know, and what you’re interested in)
a detailed list of your skills and experiences, education, and certifications
Now, find hiring managers.
The easiest way to identify the hiring manager is through your network, if you have a first or second degree connection at the company. Ask them to tell you who the HM is, and that will save you a lot of time.
Otherwise, I’ll teach you a couple of ways to search for the hiring manager.
Option 1: Check the job posting on LinkedIn.
If you have a target role in mind, and if the company is small, the job poster might actually be the hiring manager. LinkedIn does a good job of showing this in their Jobs postings.
If the person listed looks like the hiring manager, good for you! Skip to How to Engage.
Most of you, though, will have to do a bit more legwork. This brings us to Option 2: Advanced Search.
Larger companies (>100 employees) typically have recruiters posting the roles.
This means you won’t be able to see the hiring manager directly on the LinkedIn job post. However, most active hiring managers will make a post to announce they are hiring, like this:
LinkedIn stores the post and makes it searchable via Advanced Search.
Here’s how to find hiring managers (or key teammates) who have written a post about the roles they are hiring:
In the LinkedIn search box type: hiring <role title>
Filter by Posts
Click All Filters
Scroll Down. Find the filter named Author Companies. Enter your target companies.
🎉 Voila! Hiring managers (and key stakeholders) for the role you want, at your target companies.
Play with role names or un-filter “Author Companies” to see every company hiring for a given role.
How to Engage (and Become Familiar)
Some of you will want to immediately send a connection request once you find your hiring manager. If so, go to the next post in this series: How to Connect & What to Say, but know that the odds aren’t great that they will accept.
To increase your odds of an accepted connection request, consider taking a more strategic approach. Take an extra week or two to engage with them (assuming they are posting on LinkedIn or other platforms where you can follow them).
If they are familiar with your name and ideas when they see the connection request come through, they are much more likely to accept the connection request and dive into a conversation with you.
Here’s how to lay the foundation for a successful connection request ↓
Read their profile
Find something that interests you.
their accomplishments
their past companies or products
something niche that you share (a hobby, a group, a thought leader of interest)
tip: If you want them to connect with your goals, connect with theirs first.
Read and engage with their posts
Many hiring managers hang in digital haunts and even publish their ideas publicly.
Some easy and common digital hangouts to check: LinkedIn (posts, groups), Substack (newsletters), Twitter, personal websites, Medium (posts), Podcasts, YouTube (videos)
Why this works:
People who publish content spend a lot of time on it.
They do it to share their ideas and help other people.
It's intended to help you. (and it will give you ideas on what to say when you reach out)
1/ Follow their LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube. Subscribe to their Substack, YouTube, Medium, etc — whatever you can find.
2/ Engage with their content — ♡ like and comment 💬
Why comment?
Comments inject your name into their subconscious. This is important.
You want your name to become recognizable to them before you send the connection request.
Tip: it takes about 3-7 comments over 1-2 weeks for your name to become familiar.
Being familiar increases your odds 2-3x that they will accept the connection request on LinkedIn (and be willing to engage with you in conversation).
It’s strategic, and it’s a win-win.
Give it a try and let me know how it goes.
🎉 Ta-da!
The best part about engaging with them this way is that you learn more about:
how they think
what they value
how they communicate
— intel you otherwise wouldn’t be able to get until you were on the job.
🎉 That’s a wrap!
The Subtle Art of Networking (in the digital age) is a new multi-week series at The Career Whispers. In this series, I’ll explore clever and effective ways to network into your next tech gig. All posts in the series:
TCW #005: Networking with Hiring Managers, Part 1: Find Them (and Engage)
TCW #006: Networking with Hiring Managers, Part 2: How to Connect (+ What to Say)
TCW #007: The Not-so-Subtle Art of Job Searching in the Open
TCW #008: Online Communities: The Secret Sauce of a Modern Job Search
TCW #009: The Subtle Art of the Professional Blurb
Check out my website for resume help, coaching options, and upcoming cohort-based workshops, and follow me on Substack, YouTube, and LinkedIn to stay in touch 💛
Hi Erika,
I'm new to your content and wondered if the advice you are giving about hiring managers is the same guidance you would give for in house recruiters. How is it best to engage witn in-house recruiters? Have you don't a post on this topic?