Hiring managers get more recruiter emails than almost anyone. Most of them look the same: a template, a vague line about “top talent”, and a CV nobody asked for.
The recruiters who still get replies are the ones who pick their targets carefully and say something useful. An ICP makes that the default rather than the exception.
Who you actually want
Not every company that’s hiring is a good client. The best ones for a small or specialist agency tend to look like this:
- 20 to 250 staff, in your niche
- Hiring your kind of role more than once or twice a year
- Big enough to pay a fee, small enough to have no in-house recruitment team
Under about 50 staff, the founder or managing director usually makes the call. Above that, it’s the head of the team that’s hiring, with HR alongside.
The signals that matter
A live job ad on its own isn’t much of a signal. Everyone can see it, and so can every other agency. What tells you a company might genuinely want help is the pattern around the ad.
- The same role has been open for 30 days or more
- Several roles in your niche are live at once
- A role has been taken down and re-posted
- They’ve announced funding, a new contract or a new site
- Headcount has grown quickly over the last six months
A role that’s been open for five weeks is a very different conversation from one posted yesterday.
Who to leave out
This list saves more time than the target list.
- Companies with their own recruitment team
- Large corporates locked into a preferred supplier list
- Any ad that says “no agencies”
- Other agencies advertising for a client
What to say
Name the role, say something they don’t already know, ask one question.
Subject: The QA Engineer role at Polgrain Systems
Hi Sarah,
Noticed the QA Engineer role has been up for about five weeks. We placed three QA engineers in Bristol this year and most took 4 to 6 weeks to fill, mainly because people with automation experience are getting two or three offers at once.
Would it help if I sent over what those roles ended up paying?
Tom, Clearwater Tech Recruitment
If this isn’t for you, just say and I won’t email again.
No CV attached. No “I came across your profile”. Something useful, offered freely.
The rules, briefly
You can email limited companies, LLPs and public bodies without asking first, as long as you identify yourself and make it easy to opt out. Sole traders and ordinary partnerships need to have opted in. A named hiring manager is still personal data under UK GDPR, so keep only what you need and link to your privacy notice.
This isn’t legal advice, and the ICO is updating its guidance after the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, so check the latest before you send.
Get the template
Download the recruitment agency ICP. It covers company size, decision makers, hiring signals, where to look, who to leave out and the rules, with spaces for your niche, terms and proof points.
Fill it in, paste it into Claude, Copilot or ChatGPT, and try:
- “Give me job board and Apollo searches to find companies hiring [role] in [region] right now.”
- “Rank these five companies against the ICP and tell me who to contact first.”
- “Write a first email to this hiring manager about the role they’re advertising.”
To build one for a different niche, use the ICP generator.
When you’re ready to send, Waving sends plain text emails from your own domain, with no tracking pixels. You approve every one, and follow ups stop the moment someone replies.
Not your trade?
Build your own ICP in a few minutes. Free, no sign up, nothing leaves your browser.
Open the ICP generator