Find Jobs and Reach Hiring Managers Directly

Overview

Every job seeker learns the same thing eventually: the portal is where applications go to die. A posted role gets 200–500 applicants, an ATS filters most of them on keywords before a human reads a word, and the candidates who actually get interviews are usually the ones who reached someone directly. Everybody knows this. Almost nobody does it — because finding the right hiring manager, getting their email, and writing something worth reading takes 40 minutes per role, and you'd need to do it fifteen times a week.

That's a Hound. This one watches every job board for roles that genuinely match you, finds the hiring manager and the leaders above them, and opens a real conversation — so you show up as a person with a reason, not application #387.

Applying through the portal is still worth doing. This is what you do in addition — and it's the part that actually gets you in the room.

How to set it up

Four things to brief your Hound. This is the exact configuration behind this play.

A · Describe the opportunity

This is the brief every source is filtered against. Describe the job you actually want in plain language, add keywords to sharpen it, then set the structured criteria. Be honest here — a tight brief is what keeps this from becoming spray-and-pray.

Tell Forest what you're looking for:

"I'm looking for senior product management roles at Series B–D B2B software companies, remote or in the Bay Area, where I'd own a core product area rather than a feature. I have 8 years of experience, mostly in developer tools and API products, and I've shipped 0→1 twice. I want roles where that background is genuinely relevant — not generic PM postings. Skip agencies and recruiting firms posting on behalf of clients, roles requiring 15+ years, staff-level IC roles, and companies I've already applied to."

Keywords to watch for: senior product manager · principal PM · developer tools · API products · 0 to 1 · platform product · Series B · remote · [your target titles] · [your skills] · [your locations]

Fields to extract: company · role_title · seniority · location · remote_policy · posted_date · salary_range · team · job_url · company_stage

Match criteria:

• ✓ Title and seniority match your target level

• ✓ Required experience aligns with yours (don't chase 15-year reqs)

• ✓ Location or remote policy works for you

• ✓ Posted within the last 14 days (older roles are often already filled or stale)

• ✗ Exclude staffing agencies and recruiters posting on behalf of unnamed clients

• ✗ Exclude companies you've already applied to or been rejected by

B · Choose the sources to monitor

Job postings are public. Forest reads them all against your brief, so you stop refreshing five tabs a day.

Public job boards (free — connected by default) 🟢🟡

• Indeed — indeed.com — Broadest coverage, especially outside tech.

• LinkedIn Jobs — linkedin.com/jobs — Best for named hiring managers and warm-path context.

• Company career pages 🟡 — Forest reads the careers pages of companies matching your brief directly. Roles often post here days before they syndicate to the boards — this is your early edge.

• Niche boards for your field 🔵 — bring your own link. Add the boards that actually matter in your industry; these have less competition than the big aggregators.

  • Tech: Wellfound (wellfound.com), Y Combinator's Work at a Startup (workatastartup.com), Hacker News "Who is Hiring", We Work Remotely, Remote OK

  • Design: Dribbble Jobs, Behance

  • Nonprofit: Idealist (idealist.org)

  • Academic: HigherEdJobs, Chronicle Vitae

  • How to find yours: search "[your field] job board" — every field has 2–3 that insiders actually read.

Firmographic context (built in) 🔌

• Crustdata (via Forest) — company stage, headcount, growth, and funding, so your brief can target the kind of company you want, not just the title. Also catches companies that just raised — they're about to hire and haven't posted yet.

News & Press 🟡 default source, always on — reads the open web against your brief for funding rounds, expansions, and leadership hires at companies you'd want to work for. A company that just raised is hiring before the jobs post. Reaching them then means no competition at all.

C · Define the ICP to reach

Here's the whole point: you're not reaching a recruiter, and you're definitely not reaching the portal. You want the person who feels the pain of the empty seat — and the person above them who approved the headcount.

1. Hiring Manager for the role — Primary — the person the role reports to. They want this filled more than anyone. — PRIMARY

2. Their leader (VP/Director/CxO) — A note from a strong candidate that lands here often gets forwarded down with a "take a look at this one" — which is the single most valuable thing that can happen to your application.

3. Recruiter / Talent Partner — FALLBACK — useful, but they're a filter, not an advocate. Only when the first two aren't findable.

4. (Optional: a future peer on the team — good for a genuine "what's it actually like" conversation that isn't a pitch.)

A word on volume. This play works because it's specific. Ten thoughtful, well-matched messages beat a hundred generic ones, and generic ones actively hurt your reputation in a small industry. Keep the brief tight and let the Hound bring you fewer, better opportunities.

D · Email & LinkedIn sequence

The play the Hound runs for each match. Fields from the posting drop in as variables. Lead with what you'd do for them, not what you want.

Email · Day 0 Hi {{first_name}} — I saw {{company}} is hiring a {{role_title}}, and I applied, but I wanted to reach out directly since I suspect the portal is a bit crowded. Quick context on why I think it's a real fit: {{your_relevant_proof}}. I've followed {{company}}'s work on {{company_hook}} and would love 15 minutes to hear what you're actually trying to solve with this hire — happy to share how I'd approach it either way.

↓ Wait 3 days · no reply

LinkedIn · connection request · Day 3 Hi {{first_name}} — I applied for the {{role_title}} role at {{company}} and would love to connect regardless of how it goes. Big admirer of what your team is building.

↓ Wait 4 days · no reply

Email · Day 7 · follow-up Following up once on the {{role_title}} role — I know inboxes are brutal. If it's not the right fit, no hard feelings at all, and I'd genuinely welcome a pointer toward someone else worth talking to. If it is worth a conversation, I'm easy to reach.

(Two touches per channel, then it stops. This play caps deliberately — persistence past this point costs you more than it gains.)

⏸ Any reply on either channel pauses the whole sequence — the conversation is yours. Forest never messages the same company twice across roles, and honors any "not interested" immediately.

Why this works

The hiring manager is the only person in the process who is actively hoping a great candidate appears. The recruiter is screening you out; the ATS is filtering you on keywords; the portal is a queue. The hiring manager has a hole in their team and a deadline.

You are not being pushy by writing to them. You're doing the thing every hiring manager privately wishes more candidates would do — showing up as a specific person with a specific reason, instead of a PDF in a pile of four hundred.

The reason nobody does it is that it takes 40 minutes a role and you'd need to do it fifteen times a week. That's the only reason. So let the Hound do it.