The Cognitive
The Niche Role Crack
Filters find people who describe themselves the way your job ad does. For niche roles, the best people never do.
people your filters never showed you
The 9 angles
Each angle finds people the others miss. Every angle is worked for 4 niche roles: Pricing Actuary (Chicago), Clinical Research Associate (oncology, Boston), Avionics Test Engineer (Wichita) and Transfer Pricing Tax Manager (New York).
Want these run for you? One search in The Cognitive tries the wordings, places and employers for you. 100 people free.
Start free trialThe thinking prompt
Filters skip the thinking. This prompt makes Claude map the role first, then plan 80+ searches, then rank only on evidence.
I'm hiring a [role] in [place]. The musts are: [must 1], [must 2], [must 3]. Don't search yet. Think first. Step 1. Map the role: - What this person does in a normal week, in 5 lines. - Who could do it today: titles, industries, the companies that do this work. - What they call themselves on their profile, and what they'd never call themselves. - Words only someone who did the job would write: regulations, standards, systems, file types. - Credentials that prove it, and the ones that look similar but mean a different job. - The people who work next to this role every day. - What a wrong match looks like: same title but a different job, acronyms that mean something else. Step 2. Write the search plan as a table with 4 columns: angle | search wording | why it finds someone the others miss | words to exclude Use these 9 angles, at least 8 wordings each, 80 or more rows in all: 1. titles nobody puts in the ad 2. industries next door 3. alumni of the companies that do this work 4. the credential in their name or headline 5. words only someone who did the job uses 6. did it 2 jobs ago and moved up 7. the smaller and bigger company version of the title 8. the people around the role 9. the opposite search: what to exclude everywhere Step 3. When results come back: - Count each person once, even if several searches found them. Note which angle found them first. - Drop anyone who matches an exclude. - Rank on evidence only: under each person, quote the line from their profile that proves each must. No line, not Strong. - Never invent a person, a company or a profile line.
Run all 84 in one go
Connect The Cognitive to Claude. Claude writes the plan, then runs it as a few searches, and each one already tries many title wordings, nearby towns and employers behind it.
- Create a free account: 7 days, 100 credits, no card.
- Claude → Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector, paste
https://app.thecognitive.io/mcpand sign in. - Paste the thinking prompt, then: "Run the plan. Search deeper on the angles that find new people. Skip anyone already shown."
The plan is Claude's thinking: free. You pay 1 credit per person shown, never per wording, and nothing when a search finds nobody. Searching deeper charges only for the new people. Reopening a search you already ran is free. A list of about 30 people costs about 30 credits.
Plan ready: 9 angles, 84 wordings. Wrong matches to exclude everywhere: life, health and pension actuaries; retail pricing; revenue management.
Searched titles + industries next door10 shown · 10 credits
Pricing Analyst (actuarial), Ratemaking, Rate Filing Analyst · carriers, reinsurers, rating bureaus
Searched deeper alumni, credentials, past titles21 new · 21 credits
Skipped everyone already shown
31 people. Where they came from:
Top 3, with the line that proves the musts:
Mock example · people and companies are made up
Judge a hidden candidate in 20 seconds
Hidden people don't write their profiles for recruiters. Read for proof, not keywords.
| Check | Pass | Strong |
|---|---|---|
| The evidence line | Lists the skill in a skills section | One sentence that shows they did the must: "Monitored 6 Phase I oncology sites, RECIST 1.1 reads." |
| Words from the job | Copies the job ad: "detail-oriented, GCP, regulatory" | Names the standard, system or file they worked in: DO-160G, SERFF, local file, Medidata Rave |
| Title vs work | "Director" at a 10-person company with no team under them | A modest title with a big-company job inside it |
| Credential | "Candidate", "pursuing", or look-alike letters that mean a different job (FSA for a P&C role, A&P for an engineering role) | The exact credential, or exams named with a date |
| Last move | Moved out of the work more than 6 years ago | Did it 2 to 5 years ago, now one level up or one step sideways |
| Seen before | Already in your seen list or your ATS | New to you. Add them to the seen list the moment you read them. |
The first message to someone nobody calls
Hidden people get few messages, so they read them. They also never applied, so they need one reason it's them.
Write a first message to each Strong person. Rules: - 3 sentences, under 60 words. - Sentence 1: the exact work from their profile that made you write, in their words. Not "your background" or "your experience". - Sentence 2: the role, the city and the pay range. If they did this work 2 jobs ago, say the role builds on it. - Sentence 3: ask for 10 minutes this week. - Never say "hidden gem", "passive" or "I came across your profile". - If the only proof is a skills list, don't write a message. Tell me why instead. Show each message under the person's name. Don't send anything.
Bring your hardest niche role. Leave with the list.
- Start the free trial7 days, 100 people included
- Book 30 minutesBring the role nobody can fill
- We run the 9 angles with you, liveThe plan, the search, the first messages
Your niche role, searched from 9 angles by tomorrow.
Start free, connect Claude, paste the thinking prompt. 100 credits covers about 100 people found.
Want it run on your own role? Book 30 minutes and we'll do it live together. sparsh@thecognitive.io · Sparsh, founder