Catch companies hiring for the job you replace

What it does

A job post is a company saying its problem out loud. If they’re hiring for the work your product does, they’ve already decided the problem is worth paying to fix. And if the same role is posted again within six months, the last hire didn’t work out. Either way, you’re writing to someone with a budget and a deadline.

What you need

• The roles your product supports, replaces or makes easier
• A job search you can save: LinkedIn Jobs, or a database with job-post filters like Apollo or Clay
• Your buyer page, so you know who to write to (see write your buyer on one page)

How it works

1. 1

   List the roles that mean pain

   The role your product supports, the one it replaces, and the one that gets hired when the problem gets bad. Write the titles people actually use, plus the words that show up in those posts: a competitor’s name, or the manual process you replace, like “spreadsheets” or “manual scheduling”.

2. 2

   Save the search

   Job search: swap in your own titles and words

   ("dispatcher" OR "scheduler" OR "dispatch coordinator") AND ("spreadsheet" OR "Excel" OR "manual")

   Most job boards and databases take OR and quotes. Filter to your aim: location, company size and industry. Save it, and turn on alerts if the tool has them.

3. 3

   Check each post

   Does the company fit your aim? Does the post describe the work you help with, or name a competitor or the process you replace? Is it the first time they’ve posted it, or a repost? A repost within six months means a hire left or never landed, and the pain is worse than the first time.

4. 4

   Find the person hiring

   Write to the person the role reports to, or the founder at a small company. Not the recruiter: they fill roles, they don’t buy.

5. 5

   Write within a week

   Email: open with the post, ask one question

   Subject: your [ROLE] post
   
   [FIRST NAME] - saw you're hiring a [ROLE].
   
   Is that to keep up with [THE WORK, IN THEIR WORDS], or something else?
   
   [YOUR NAME]

   Don’t pitch. If they answer, you’re in a conversation about the problem, which is where you wanted to be.

What good looks like

A saved search that turns up a handful of fits a week, and each one hears from you within a week of the post going up.

Mistakes to skip

• Writing to the recruiter.
• Telling them their hire is a mistake. Ask about the work instead, and let them make the connection.
• Waiting. Once the role is filled, the new hire owns the problem and the window closes.