Find Hiring Managers at Companies You Want to Join

You apply through company career pages. Your resume disappears into applicant tracking systems. No one responds. You have no idea who actually makes hiring decisions for the roles you want.

Applications without connections compete with hundreds of other applications. Applications with a name attached get noticed.

Why this matters now:

Knowing who makes hiring decisions lets you network strategically instead of hoping HR forwards your resume. When you can reference a conversation with the actual hiring manager in your application, you bypass the initial filter that eliminates most candidates.

You're not circumventing the process. You're using the same approach internal candidates and referrals use automatically.

How to identify companies worth researching:

Start with five companies where you'd genuinely want to work. Use these criteria:

• They hire for your role regularly (check their careers page for evidence)
• They're in your geographic area or hire remotely for your function
• Their size matches your experience level (don't target Fortune 500 if you've only worked at 20-person companies)
• Their industry aligns with your background or transferable skills

Write down five specific company names. "Tech startups" or "marketing agencies" is too vague. You need actual organizations.

How to find hiring managers on LinkedIn:

Go to LinkedIn. Search: "[Company name] [Department name] manager" or "[Company name] [Department name] director"

Examples:

• "Salesforce marketing manager"
• "Adobe product management director"
• "Delta operations manager"

Look for people with titles like:

• Director of [Your Function]
• [Your Function] Manager
• Head of [Department]
• VP of [Department]

These people typically make or heavily influence hiring decisions for their teams. HR coordinates the process, but department leaders decide who gets hired.

How to verify you found the right person:

Check their LinkedIn profile. Look for:

• Do they mention managing a team or department?
• Have they posted about hiring or growing their team?
• Does their experience align with leading the function you want to work in?
• Are they connected to other people at the company with similar roles?

If someone's title says "Marketing Manager" but their description focuses on individual contributor work, they probably don't make hiring decisions. Keep searching for the actual team leader.

What to do with this information:

You now have names of decision-makers at five target companies. You're not cold-emailing them today asking for jobs. You're building your target list for strategic networking.

Next steps with this information:

• Check if you have any shared connections who could introduce you
• Follow them on LinkedIn to see what they post about
• Look for professional groups or events where they participate
• Save their names for when positions open at their companies

When a role opens at one of these companies, you'll know who leads that function. This makes your networking approach specific rather than random.

How to organize what you find:

Create a simple spreadsheet with these columns:

• Company name
• Hiring manager name
• Their title
• LinkedIn profile URL
• Shared connections (if any)
• Notes about their background or interests

This becomes your target company research file. Update it when you discover new information or when people change roles.

What to do today:

Choose five companies where you'd want to work. Search LinkedIn for the manager or director of your target department at each company. Write down their names and titles. Save their LinkedIn profiles.

You're not reaching out yet. You're identifying who makes decisions so when opportunities arise or when you're ready to network, you know exactly who to connect with.