LinkedIn Recruiter Outreach

Find and connect with technical recruiters at target companies who are hiring in the user's region.

Prerequisites

• LinkedIn MCP — get_company_profile, search_people, connect_with_person

Workflow

1. Get Company URN IDs

LinkedIn's people search requires numeric URN IDs for the current_company filter:

get_company_profile("airbnb") → references.about → find company_urn → value: "309694"

Plain-text company names are silently ignored by the filter — always use URNs.

2. Search for Recruiters

search_people(
  current_company="{URN_ID}",
  keywords="recruiter engineer {country/region}"
)

Variations to try if results are sparse:

• "technical recruiter {country}"
• "talent acquisition engineer {country}"
• "sourcer engineer {region}"
• "tech recruiter Latin America" (for LatAm roles)

3. Prioritize Results

Rank by these criteria (in order):

1. Same country/city as user (they recruit locally)
2. 2nd-degree connection (can connect directly with note)
3. Mutual connections (warm path, higher accept rate)
4. Title explicitly mentions engineering/technical (not generic HR)
5. Profile snippet mentions the target region (e.g., "hiring in Brazil")

Deprioritize:

• Recruiting Coordinators (limited decision-making power)
• Leadership/Executive recruiters (wrong level for IC roles)
• 3rd+ degree with no mutuals (low accept rate)

4. Draft Connection Notes

Constraints:

• Max ~300 characters (LinkedIn truncates on mobile)
• Must be specific (company + role type + your signal)
• No fluff ("I'd be honored to connect with you")
• Don't ask "are there openings?" — assume there are (you saw the listings)

Template:

Hi {Name} — I'm {User}, {Role} at {Company} ({City}), working on {specialty} with {stack}. I saw {Target} is {growth signal} and I'm interested in the {role type} roles. Would love to connect and chat if you're hiring for that area.

Adapt per company:

• DoorDash: "growing the SP engineering hub"
• Airbnb: "building out the engineering hub in Brazil"
• Uber: "hiring engineers in Brazil"
• Brex: "hiring engineers in Brazil"

Level calibration:

• If user doesn't identify as Senior, omit "Senior" from role type
• Use general terms: "Backend Engineer roles", "engineering opportunities"

5. Send Connection Requests

connect_with_person(linkedin_username="{username}", note="{tailored_note}")

Rate limiting:

• Max 10-15 connection requests per session
• Space them out if sending many (LinkedIn may restrict)
• If status returns "already pending", note it and move on

6. Persist to Mercury

After each connection request is sent, record it in the Mercury database via the CLI (this powers the dashboard):

mercury recruiter add \
  --name "{Name}" --company "{Company}" --username "{linkedin_username}" \
  --title "{Title}" --location "{City}" --degree "{2nd|3rd}" \
  --status pending --note "{mutuals / context}"

When a recruiter accepts or replies, update their status:

mercury recruiter update --id {id} --status accepted   # or: replied | interviewing | closed

Log the outreach wave as an activity entry:

mercury activity log --skill recruiter-outreach --summary "Sent {N} requests to {companies}"

If the mercury CLI isn't installed, fall back to appending a row to the Recruiter Outreach Tracker table in the user's journal markdown.

7. Present Results Table

8. Follow-up Guidance

Provide the user with:

If accepted but no reply (wait 3 business days):

Thanks for connecting, {Name}! I'm {User} — {Role} at {Company} ({City}), {stack}. Interested in engineering roles at {Target}. Happy to chat if there's a fit.

If no response after 1 week: Move on. Don't double-message recruiters.

Gotchas

1. URN IDs are required — current_company="airbnb" returns unfiltered results (silently ignored)
2. Some company pages are broken (e.g., Brex returns "Page not available") — fall back to keyword search without company filter: search_people(keywords="Brex recruiter engineer Brazil")
3. Recruiter titles vary: Sourcer, Technical Recruiter, Talent Acquisition, Recruiting Coordinator — all valid but prioritize Sourcers and Technical Recruiters for IC roles
4. "Message" button vs "Connect": 3rd+ degree shows "Message" (uses InMail credits) or "Follow". "Connect" with note is preferred for 2nd-degree.
5. Diversity of time zones: US-based recruiters covering LatAm are common at big tech — don't skip them just because they're not local
6. Mutual connections matter: mention them in the note if relevant ("We share mutual connections in the Amazon SP office")