Should You Message the Hiring Manager or HR? (And What to Say)

If you're deciding whether to message the hiring manager or HR about a job, message the hiring manager. HR and the internal talent team pass your CV along, but the hiring manager is the person with the problem, the urgency and the budget to fix it, so they're the one who will actually reply and invite you to interview.

Right now, every application you send is making it harder for you to get hired, because someone with less experience than you is already in the interview. They didn't hack the ATS or send the perfect application. They just messaged the hiring manager directly.

Over the last decade, I've helped 250 professionals land six-figure jobs, and in 11 years in executive search I've sat across the table in more than 10,000 interviews. The old way of getting hired, sending hundreds of applications and waiting to hear back, is dead. Every one of those applications just lands in a pile on a stranger's desk, and nobody's going to find you in there.

So here's exactly who to message, what to say so they actually reply, and how to follow up without sounding desperate.

Should I message the hiring manager or HR?

Message the hiring manager, because they own the problem the role is there to solve. HR passes the message on. The hiring manager feels the pain of the empty seat.

Think about the last time you were in a restaurant and had to send food back to the kitchen. You tell the waiter, the waiter takes it back, and you've got no idea what actually gets told to the chef. Maybe it gets fixed, maybe it doesn't, because the waiter doesn't own the problem. They're just the order taker.

The chef owns the problem. It's their kitchen, their food, their reputation on the plate.

Hiring works exactly the same way.

I saw this go drastically wrong for a guy I was working with last year. His name was John, and he'd applied to over 40 roles. He had a really great CV and really solid experience, but he hadn't heard anything back.

He said to me, "I just feel invisible, Dan."

So John decided to message the HR and internal talent teams at the companies he was applying to, as a kind of follow-up. He sent 25 messages and didn't get a single reply.

When I reviewed it, his CV wasn't the problem, and going direct wasn't the problem either. The problem was who he was talking to. None of those people had the urgency, the pain of the hiring gap, driving them to reply. And when I asked why he hadn't messaged the hiring manager, he said he didn't know who the hiring manager was or how to find them.

Who is the hiring manager I should contact?

Message the person one level above the role you actually want. They're accountable for the outcomes your role would affect, and they're the ones who will fight to hire someone who solves that hiring gap and makes their job easier.

Get this wrong and it doesn't matter how good your message is, because it just won't land. Here's what "one level above" looks like in practice:

• Manufacturing: the VP of manufacturing, the director of operations or the head of continuous improvement, because they look after output, quality and downtime.
• Tech and software: the director of product, the VP of engineering or the head of customer success. They own delivery and the customer, and they're often aware of gaps on their team before HR has even posted the job.
• Finance: the partner, the engagement director or the head of department, because they usually control the headcount.

How do I find out who the hiring manager is?

Use LinkedIn. Go to the company page, click the People tab, filter by department or job title, and look for "Director of", "Head of" or "VP of". That's your shortlist.

In an ideal world, the job advert would tell you, something like "this role reports into" a named person. But companies don't always share that information. You might get lucky, but it's more than likely you'll get the answer on LinkedIn.

Pick three, four or even five people who could be the one. It doesn't matter if it's four, five or six. The more the better, within reason.

Will going around HR make me look bad?

No. Hiring managers always want to hear from people who can solve their problems. As long as you don't look desperate, going direct makes you look like someone who takes initiative, and that's always the trait people are hiring for.

I know what some of you are thinking. "But Dan, won't going around HR like this make me look bad?" The reality is, it won't. If the hiring manager thinks you could be a good fit, they're going to loop HR in themselves. The difference is that you'll arrive with the hiring manager already on your side and already bought into who you are.

What should I say when I message a hiring manager?

Don't ask for a job. Show them you understand their problem and that you've solved it before, then ask an easy question about it. This is where most people drop the ball: they find the right person and then send a desperate message.

Say you work in operations and you spot that Sarah's company has just opened a second plant. Here's what most people send, and what to send instead:

There's nothing wrong with that message as such, but look at what it actually does. It's all about you. It asks a stranger for a favour and hands her your CV, which is the waiter's job. So what does Sarah do with it? She forwards it to HR, and you're back in the pile of applications, just through a different door.

The moment you ask for a job, you're a job seeker hoping somebody invites you for an interview. When the market's great and there are more jobs than people, that approach might work. But the market's changed.

Your message shouldn't ask for anything they have to think about. In my Dream 100 system, we call the structure Connect, Signal, Ask.

Connect, Signal, Ask is Daniel Langley's three-part structure for messaging a hiring manager: open with something specific about them, give one line of proof you've solved their kind of problem, and finish with an easy question about that problem.

1. Connect Open with them, not you. Something specific that shows you've done your homework, like a post they wrote, a new site opening, a product launch or a team that's growing.
2. Signal One line of proof that you've solved this kind of problem before, saying what you did and what changed because of you. That's my One Line, One Proof rule, the same one I use for CVs.
3. Ask Finish with an easy question about their problem. Not the dreaded "Can we have a call?" or "Would love to be considered", but a question they actually want to answer.

Now notice what that does. The first line is about Sarah. The middle line proves you've done the thing before. The last line is a question about her potential problem. She doesn't have to decide anything, she just has to answer it.

Keep it short, three or four lines maximum. If they have to scroll, it's probably too long.

Want the full system, including how to build your target list? Get the free Dream 100 framework here.

The message isn't asking for an interview or even a job. It's just making them think, "Hang on, this person might be the answer to the problem I've got right now."

So stop asking for a job and ask about their problem. You're not begging for a job. You're the person potentially taking a problem off their plate.

How do I follow up if the hiring manager doesn't reply?

Wait five to seven working days, then follow up once with something useful, like an article, an insight or a quick example of how you've solved something similar. If it's still relevant, send one more a few weeks later. Three touches maximum.

1. Day 0 Send your Connect, Signal, Ask message.
2. Five to seven working days later Follow up once with something useful, like an article, an insight or a quick example of how you've solved something similar.
3. A few weeks later If it's still relevant, send one more.
4. Then stop Three touches maximum.

You might get lucky and get a reply to your very first message. But most people who get hired this way don't get an immediate reply. They get it from what they do next.

What most people do is forget about it. They get full of motivation, send a whole bunch of messages, then don't track who replies or bother to follow up, because they don't want to look pushy. They think silence means rejection. It doesn't.

But the worst follow-up is three words: "Just checking in." All that says is, "Remember me? You still haven't replied." You're reminding them your message wasn't worthy of a reply the moment they saw it.

I once worked with a senior project manager who sent a really strong first message to a VP, then waited a week. Nothing came back, and he nearly gave up. Instead of the dreaded "just checking in", he sent the VP an article about digital adoption trends with one line:

"Thought this might resonate, given your focus on operational efficiency."

The VP replied the next day with something conversational, which led to a few back-and-forth messages, and within two weeks he was having an interview with the team.

Here's why that works. Hiring managers are busy. They don't ignore you because they don't think you're good enough. They forget, and they get caught up in other things. Your follow-up shouldn't be a reminder that you exist. It should be a reminder of the value you could bring.

Something like this works really well:

"Hi Sarah, I came across this piece on getting new sites to full output faster, and it made me think of your spring go-live. Hope it's useful."

That's it. No guilt, no pressure, just adding value. Don't chase them. Give them a reason to come back to you.

How do I stay on a hiring manager's radar?

Build micro-familiarity: a few light, useful touches over time, so when a role opens up your name already feels familiar and is connected to the value you bring.

Picture a leadership meeting where somebody says, "Do we know anybody who could help with this?" Trust me, I've been in that room. That sentence gets said all the time, either before the company signs off on the job opening or after they've seen 50 applications from people who couldn't do the job. If you've set the context and shown up like a peer-to-peer professional, your name is the first one they think of.

I remember a senior engineer who reached out to a VP about a new automation project. The VP didn't reply, but he didn't stop there. Every couple of weeks, he'd comment on the company's posts, share an article, leave a short comment of his own, and every now and then send the VP a message.

Three months later, that same VP messaged him: "Hey, we're opening a role. Would you be open to a conversation?" The role wasn't advertised anywhere yet. He was in the conversation before HR had even posted it.

Here's how you do it:

• Follow the company page and the people you've identified and messaged.
• When they post, leave a comment that adds something, with your own thoughts, your own insight and a bit of personality. Not "great post" or "well said".
• Keep it human. Once a week, or when something feels genuinely relevant. Be familiar, not forceful.
• After two or three weeks of that, go back to your message. You're not a stranger anymore. You're somebody they recognise, with a bit more context.

What mistakes stop hiring managers replying?

• Messaging HR instead of the hiring manager.The waiter has no urgency. Find the person one level above your role.
• Attaching your CV and asking to be considered.She'll forward it to HR and you're back in the pile. Lead with Connect, Signal, Ask instead.
• Writing a message they have to scroll.Three or four lines maximum.
• Following up with "just checking in".Follow up with something useful after five to seven working days, three touches maximum.
• Giving up after one message.Most replies come from the follow-up and from staying on their radar, not the first message.

The bottom line

When you talk to the right person, the person with the hiring problem, you skip the application line and you don't have to wait for a job to be advertised. You're choosing your employer, not looking for a job, and that's a powerful distinction.

Message the chef, not the waiter, and ask about their problem rather than asking for a job.

What's your next step?

If you want to see how your CV holds up before your next interview, try the free Six Figure CV tool. Upload your CV and get an instant score with specific fixes.

And if you want to work on this with me directly, here's where to start.