Sourcing is broken.

Example role: Embedded Software Engineer, medical devices, Minneapolis. Many people who write device code are not called that. Search the work, then the titles.

Steps

1. Ask the hiring manager for the titles of 5 people who do this job today, on their team or at past employers. Write them down. That is your title list.
2. Write the work words: the language (C, C++), the chips (ARM Cortex-M), the operating system (FreeRTOS, Zephyr, bare metal), and the regulated words (IEC 62304, ISO 13485, design history file, 510(k)).
3. Run the work words with the title field empty, location Minneapolis-St. Paul.
4. Run each title from your list on its own, with two or three work words.
5. Read the experience bullets, not the headline. Keep people who wrote code that runs on the device.

Signals

• Words like "board bring-up", "bootloader", "BLE stack", "low-power", "unit tests on target".
• A device in the bullets: pump, pacemaker programmer, neurostimulator, monitor.
• Design-history and risk work next to code work.

Example role: Quality Engineer, aerospace, Wichita. Many plant people live in a smaller town and list that town, or only the state. A city search can miss them.

Steps

1. Get the real limit from the hiring manager: days on site and the longest drive they accept. "On site 5 days, up to 60 minutes" is a brief. "Wichita" is not.
2. List every town inside that drive on a map. For Wichita at about an hour: Derby, Andover, Haysville, Mulvane, Augusta, El Dorado, Newton, Wellington, Hutchinson, McPherson. Check each drive time yourself.
3. Search the whole state with the work words. Then sort the results by town.
4. Search each town name on its own. Small-town profiles are easy to miss in a metro search.
5. Second ring: people elsewhere who studied at Wichita State or K-State and work in aerospace quality now. Family ties bring people back.

Signals

• First article inspection (AS9102), MRB, NCRs, 8D or corrective action, GD&T, CMM reports.
• Supplier quality visits or customer audits on the bullets.
• Education in Kansas plus a current job two states away.

Example role: Bookkeeper or Staff Accountant, dental groups, Charlotte. The green badge is optional, and many people show it to recruiters only. The best people are closing the books, not updating profiles. Look for a moment, not a badge.

Steps

1. Search the current title plus the employer type: dental group, dental partners, orthodontics, dental service organization. Add the next-door fields with the same close: veterinary groups, physician practices, multi-site franchises.
2. Rank by moment. Look for: 2 to 4 years in the same seat with no title change; a practice bought by a larger group in the last year (the books often move to a central office); a manager who left; a new accounting system.
3. Check the work: multi-location month-end close, intercompany entries, AP for supply vendors, payroll across practices, insurance payment reconciliation.
4. Lead your message with one concrete thing they lack now: the pay range, hybrid days, or a fixed close calendar.

One question that sorts the field

If they post and someone senior reviews, they can do staff accountant work. If they only enter bills and deposits, they fit bookkeeper.

Example role: Physical Therapist, outpatient orthopedics, Sacramento. Clinicians treat patients all day and rarely touch their profiles. "Physical Therapist at a clinic, 2018-present" with no activity since is normal. Do not skip it. Confirm it.

Steps

1. Check the license. California's Department of Consumer Affairs license search (search.dca.ca.gov) shows status and expiry for physical therapists. Active means they can practise. Lapsed or expired: stop here.
2. Check the clinic. Search the clinic name with "our team". If they are on the page, they work there now.
3. Search their name with "DPT" and the city. Look for newer bios, course teaching, or patient reviews that name them.
4. Read what lasts: board specialist letters (OCS, SCS), manual therapy fellowship (FAAOMPT), dry needling. These outlive a job title.

Before you message an old profile

• License active, checked today
• Current clinic confirmed on its team page or a recent bio
• One fact about their work from the last two years
• A direct email or phone, not the clinic front desk

Example role: Commercial Insurance Underwriter, Des Moines. Your best warm leads already know your company: they applied, interviewed, maybe lost by one vote. This works in any ATS, by hand.

Steps

1. Search by stage, not by job. Pull everyone who reached phone screen or later on any underwriting, claims or insurance role in the last 3 years. Most ATSs let you search candidates across all jobs and narrow by stage or status.
2. Keyword-search the resumes: commercial lines, middle market, general liability, commercial property, workers' compensation, binding authority, loss runs, CPCU, AU.
3. Sort by why they left your process (table below). If the reason field is blank, read the interview notes.
4. Check their profile today: new title, new designation, new lines of business.
5. Write as someone who knows them: name the role they interviewed for and the year.

The people from sections 01 to 05 rarely hear from recruiters. Signs: a few hundred connections or fewer, no photo, a headline that is just the job title, a plant, clinic or back-office job. Your message will be read. Make it worth reading.

Rules for a first message

1. Line one: the role and where it is.
2. One fact about their work that you checked.
3. The thing that decides a move: pay range, schedule, site, caseload.
4. One small ask: a 10-minute call, with two days to pick from.
5. Under 90 words. Your name and a direct number.

Names, pay and numbers above are placeholders. Use your own.

When to follow up

• Business day 4 or 5: one follow-up in the same thread with one new fact: the manager's name, the start date, the shift. Never "just bumping this".
• Day 10 to 12: switch channel. Email if you started on LinkedIn, or a call if you have the number.
• After that: stop. Note the date. Try again when the role or their situation changes.
• "Not now": ask "When should I check back?" and put that date in your calendar.