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July 6, 2026Dane Korsi

Reverse Prospecting: Start With the Candidate, Not the Job

Most recruiters work in one direction. Running it backwards finds the accounts that need exactly who you have.

Most recruiters work in one direction. Find a company that is hiring, then go dig for a candidate who fits the role. It is the obvious way to do it, and it is only half the market. ## Run it backwards Start with one of your strongest candidates instead. A specific person, with a specific skill set and a real track record. Then go find the companies that need exactly that person right now. This flips the whole search. You are no longer scanning open reqs and hoping you have someone who matches. You are taking a known, high-value asset you already have and pointing it at the accounts most likely to want it. The best candidates rarely sit on the market long, so the sooner you can match them to real demand, the more placements you make. ## The demand is findable The usual objection is that you cannot know which companies need a given person unless they have posted a job for it. That is not true anymore. There is enough public information to identify accounts with a specific, current need before they ever post a role. What a company is hiring for, how its needs are shifting, what it is building, what just changed at the leadership level. Read those signals against a specific candidate's strengths and the shortlist of companies that should want that person becomes clear. ## The bottom line Job-first prospecting will always be there, and it works. But it caps you at the roles other people already decided to post. Candidate-first prospecting lets you create demand around the people you are best positioned to place, and it is the half of the market most recruiters never work.

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