Recruitment business development: how agencies win new clients and hiring managers

Candidate outreach and client outreach look alike, since both are messages on LinkedIn, but the reader is in a completely different position. A candidate hears about a job and decides whether it beats the one they have. A hiring manager hears from someone who wants a fee, and is usually hearing from several others the same week.

That changes what a good message does. It can't lead with an opportunity, because you're not offering one yet. It has to show that you understand their hiring problem, their market and the role better than the last recruiter who wrote. The sharper your specialism, the easier that is.

Start from the companies where you can actually fill roles: your sectors, the seniority you place and the regions you cover. Then narrow to the ones with a hiring problem right now.

Then decide who to message. Talent acquisition teams manage suppliers, but the hiring manager feels the empty seat. In smaller companies there may be no talent team, and the founder or department head is both. In larger ones, a good conversation with a hiring manager often leads you to the talent team, rather than the other way round.

Most of what you need is already on LinkedIn and on company websites. The work is in looking systematically rather than when you remember to.

• Sales Navigator: search by function, seniority and region inside the companies in your sectors, and save the hiring managers whose teams match your niche.
• Posts and comments: hiring managers announcing a search, or commenting on posts about how hard it is to find people in their field.
• Groups and communities: industry groups on LinkedIn and Facebook, and the subreddits and Discord servers where the people you place, and their team leads, talk about work.
• Your own data: lapsed clients, hiring managers who moved to a new company, and former candidates who now run teams. Export them as a CSV and start there, since they already know you.

That last group is often the warmest. Someone you placed a few years ago who now hires knows exactly how you work, and a message from you is a reunion, not a cold approach.

Lead with their hiring problem, not your agency. Show you know the role and the market, and ask a question they can answer in one line.

A word on speculative candidate marketing, the classic 'I have a great candidate for you' message. It can work when the candidate is real, has agreed to be presented and genuinely fits the company. Used as a door-opener with a candidate who doesn't exist or hasn't agreed, it damages trust on both sides. Keep it honest. For more on writing messages people answer, see why LinkedIn messages get ignored.

Hiring managers answer business development messages with a small set of replies. Have a calm, specific answer ready for each.

Many hiring managers don't reply to the first message. That rarely means no. It usually means not now, or not convinced yet. Each follow-up should add something the first one didn't:

• A short market note: what candidates in this field are asking for right now, from your own conversations.
• A useful question: are they open to remote candidates, or to relocating someone?
• News that changes the picture: the role was reposted, or a competitor is hiring the same profile.
• A clean exit: if it's not relevant, say you'll leave it there.

Space them out, stop after a few, and stop at once if they ask. Hiring managers talk to each other, and a recruiter who knows when to stop gets remembered for the right reason. More in LinkedIn follow-ups.

The first call is a briefing, not a pitch. Ask about the role, the team, why the search hasn't worked so far and what the hiring process looks like. Then summarise it back in writing the same day, with your terms and a clear next step.

Before the call, reread the whole conversation, so you don't ask what they've already told you. After it, send the follow-up while the call is fresh. And if they miss the call, rebook it straight away rather than waiting for them to come back to you.