How to Research a Hiring Manager Before You Apply or Interview

Why Hiring Manager Research Beats Company Research

Most job seekers do company research. They read the About page, scan the blog, maybe listen to a podcast episode with the CEO. That is the baseline every candidate hits.

The candidates who get hired do hiring manager research. They know who the manager is, what they have built, what they care about, what their team's roadmap looks like, and how the manager talks about their own work. That research changes everything about how you write your cover letter, how you answer the "why this role" question, and how you ask questions in the interview.

A hiring manager interviewing a candidate who has read their blog posts thinks "this person took the role seriously." A hiring manager interviewing a candidate who has not thinks "this person is shopping around." That gap closes deals.

This guide is the 30-minute research process to run before every application that matters and every interview.

Step 1: Find the Hiring Manager

The job posting almost never names the hiring manager. You have to find them. Here is how, in order of effort.

The fastest path: Search LinkedIn for "[Company Name] [Function]" and filter by current company. If the job is "Senior Product Manager, Growth," search for "Director of Product" or "VP Product" at the company. The hiring manager is usually one or two levels above the role.

The org chart path: Look at the team page on the company website if they have one. Many companies list their leadership and managers publicly. Cross-reference with LinkedIn.

The signal path: Look at who has been posting recently about hiring on LinkedIn. Managers often write a post saying "we are hiring a [role], DMs open." That post is gold. It tells you who the hiring manager is and what they value.

The referral path: If you have a connection at the company, ask them: "Do you know who the hiring manager is for the Growth PM role on the careers page?" Internal employees almost always know.

If you genuinely cannot find the hiring manager, default to the most senior person in that function at the company. They will not always be the manager, but they will know who is.

Step 2: Read Everything They Have Written Publicly

Once you have a name, spend 15 minutes consuming their public content. Look at, in this order:

Their LinkedIn About section and recent activity (last 30 days of posts and comments). Their company blog posts if they have written any. Their podcast appearances (search "[name] podcast" on Google). Their X or Substack if linked. Conference talks on YouTube. Any open source work or GitHub if technical. Their published interviews or quotes in industry press.

You are looking for three things:

What they care about: What themes recur in their writing? What problems do they describe as hard? What do they celebrate?

How they talk: Are they technical and precise? Are they story-driven? Do they use specific frameworks? Match their register in your application.

What their team is working on: Public posts often hint at what is coming next. "We just shipped X" tells you what they are proud of. "We are investing in Y" tells you what they need to hire for.

Step 3: Map the Team's Recent Hires and Departures

Open LinkedIn's "People" tab on the company page and filter by the function and location of the role. Look at:

Who has joined the team in the last 6 months. What were their backgrounds? Where did they come from? That is the profile the hiring manager is currently buying.

Who has left in the last 6 months. If multiple people have left, the manager may be backfilling and you can ask thoughtful questions about why. If few have left, the team is stable and that is a positive data point.

How the team has grown over the last 12 months. Use LinkedIn's "Insights" tab on the company page (visible with Premium). A rapidly growing team means the manager is operating under hiring pressure and a fast process. A flat team means they will be more selective.

Step 4: Identify Their Hiring Pain Point

Every open role exists because of a pain point. Your job is to figure out which one. The clues are everywhere if you read the posting carefully.

Look at the "responsibilities" section. The first three bullets are almost always the actual priorities. The rest is wishful thinking.

Look at the "preferred qualifications." If they list very specific technologies or experiences, it usually means they had a candidate fall through who had those things, or they have an internal project that needs them.

Look at how long the role has been posted. If it is more than 60 days old, the manager is struggling to fill it. That is leverage for you.

Look at the team's recent public commitments. If the manager has tweeted about a goal for next quarter, that goal is the pain point. Address it directly in your application.

Step 5: Write the Outreach or Cover Letter With What You Found

The whole point of this research is to use it. The application or LinkedIn message should reference one or two specific things you found, not in a flattering way but in a substantive way.

Weak version: "I admire your work and would love to join your team."

Strong version: "I read your post last month about the migration off the legacy billing system, and the way you described the trade-offs is exactly how I think about that kind of work. I built and led a similar migration at [Company] in 2024 and would love to talk about whether the next chapter at [Company] is one I could help with."

Specificity is the signal. It tells the hiring manager you are not spraying applications.

Step 6: Prepare Hiring-Manager-Specific Interview Questions

If your research lands you an interview, the same research becomes the foundation of your interview prep. Have ready:

One question that references something specific the manager has said publicly. ("In your podcast with X you said the hardest part of scaling a growth team is keeping experimentation discipline. What does that look like on your team right now?")

One question about the team change you noticed. ("I saw your team grew from 4 to 9 in the last 12 months. How are you thinking about the next layer of leadership as you scale?")

One question about the pain point you identified. ("The role description emphasized self-serve revenue. What does success look like in the first year for someone in this role?")

These questions move you out of the "candidate being evaluated" frame and into the "future colleague having a conversation" frame. That shift is what gets offers.

What Not to Do

Research is a tool, not a weapon. A few rules:

Do not bring up personal information you found that is not professionally posted. Knowing where someone went to college is fine. Knowing their spouse's name is not.

Do not quote their LinkedIn posts back at them verbatim. It feels stalker-y. Paraphrase the idea and bring your own take.

Do not use research to flatter. Use it to add substance. "You wrote about X and here is what I think about it" lands. "You wrote about X and it was so insightful" does not.

Combine Research With a Strong Outreach Message

Once you have the research, the next step is the message itself. We have a full guide to cold messaging a hiring manager on LinkedIn and one on running informational interviews that pairs perfectly with the research process above.

Research without action is wasted. The combination is what gets you in the room.

Audit Your LinkedIn Before They Audit You

The hiring manager is going to click on your LinkedIn the second they see your application. Make sure what they see matches the story you are telling. Avery will audit your profile in 24 hours and tell you exactly what is working and what is not. Run a free audit at heyavery.ai/pricing.