Searching the job market: finding new client opportunities in your segment

Which companies in the region are looking for specialists who fit our area of expertise? You can answer this question without having a specific candidate in mind. For recruitment agencies, a focused market search can reveal where a conversation about a potential partnership would be worthwhile.

The starting point is often a set of familiar filters: known job titles, an industry, individual companies and the region where the team operates. That is a sensible place to begin. The important thing is not to mistake this initial selection for the entire relevant market.

The industry filter deserves particular attention. A company may operate outside your usual industry while still hiring for precisely the responsibilities for which you know, or can find, suitable candidates.

Start with a clear search question

A market search is easier to assess when its purpose is clear. “Find interesting roles” is too broad. A more specific question would be: “Which companies are hiring accounting professionals in the Munich area?”

That establishes two things: the professional specialism and the region. Whether the employer operates in trade, manufacturing or services remains open.

Another search question might deliberately be narrower: “Which vacancies are being advertised by the companies we already want to work with?” A company filter helps you focus on those employers. To discover companies you do not yet know, also review the search without that restriction.

Job market data in talentkiwi supports this work with a filtered list of open roles. The overview comes from researching and reviewing specific adverts, not from trend analysis or a market forecast.

Combine role, region and company filters deliberately

Start with roles your team can assess professionally and the area where you want to serve clients. Then check whether the responsibilities you find match the purpose of your search.

A job title provides guidance, but is not a complete description of the work. Different companies may use different titles for similar responsibilities. Conversely, the same title may describe different levels of responsibility. Read a few adverts before deciding whether the search is too broad or too narrow.

The filters serve different purposes:

• Role or job title: Which professional responsibilities are you looking for?
• Region: Where do you want to develop your market?
• Company: Do you want to review specific employers or discover new ones?
• Industry: Is experience in a particular industry genuinely necessary, or is that environment simply familiar?

Do not automatically make every familiar filter a requirement. If you only see results that meet all filters at once, relevant roles may disappear before you have a chance to assess them.

Why an employer's industry does not define the job

Consider a fictional example. Your team regularly places accounting professionals at services companies. You search vacancies in your region and restrict the employers to that industry.

This could exclude an accounting role at a trading company, even though the advertised responsibilities fall within your specialism. The employer operates in a different market, but the work it needs someone to do may still be relevant.

That does not mean industry knowledge is unimportant. Some roles require specific experience that cannot readily be transferred. But that difference should be assessed against the actual requirements, rather than inferred solely from the company's industry classification.

Three questions help:

1. What exactly will the person be responsible for?
2. Which skills are essential for that work?
3. Is experience in this precise industry required, or could comparable experience from a different environment be sufficient?

This separates your agency's professional specialism from the employer's industry. The distinction can reveal companies that would not appear in a familiar industry-based search.

Broaden the search step by step, not indiscriminately

If a search produces few interesting roles, change one restriction first. For example, keep the role and region but review the results without an industry filter. This lets you see which additional employers and responsibilities appear.

Then assess some of the newly included adverts. Are they professionally relevant? How do they differ from the roles you have already considered? Is there a good reason to narrow the industry again?

The same approach helps with job titles: check alternative names for the responsibilities you want, rather than immediately adding entirely different professions. The goal is not the longest list, but a selection of roles your team can work with meaningfully.

Briefly record why each restriction is necessary. That also makes it easier for colleagues to understand the search and continue it later.

Turn an interesting advert into a reason for a conversation

A vacancy initially shows an advertised hiring need. It does not tell you whether the company wants to work with a recruitment agency.

First review the original advert and the employer. Which position needs filling? Is the advert still available? Why does this need fit your team's specialism? Do you already have a contact or information from previous work together?

The purpose of a potential conversation is then specific: establish whether help with the hire and introductions to suitable candidates would be of interest. In a well-prepared conversation, the question might be:

“You are currently looking for someone to join your accounting team. We specialise in recruitment in this area. Would you consider working with a recruitment agency for this position?”

This example illustrates the substance of the conversation, not blanket permission to make a sales call. The conditions for using a particular contact channel need to be checked separately. A published advert alone should not be taken as consent to an approach or to receiving candidate documents.

You do not need to promise a particular candidate at this point. The first task is to understand the need and the company's interest in working together. If you already have a suitable candidate, a further conversation can establish whether an agreed introduction would make sense.

Market search and candidate search complement each other

A market search starts with a segment: particular responsibilities, a region or selected companies. Candidate-led matching, by contrast, starts with a specific person and their experience.

Both approaches can lead to new client opportunities, but they answer different questions. If you already have a suitable candidate in mind, the article on candidate marketing in permanent recruitment explains the next steps.

For a segment-based search, the most important rule remains: use familiar filters as a starting point, but check their effect. A company's industry should not decide whether you ever get to see a professionally relevant vacancy.