The 5 Secret LinkedIn Filters Top Recruiters Don't Want You to Know

Everyone filters by job title and location. That's why everyone finds the same people, sends messages to the same overloaded inboxes, and gets the same mediocre response rates.

But the best candidates? They're just a few filters deeper.

The recruiters who consistently find fresh talent and get higher reply rates aren't using secret databases or expensive tools. They're just thinking one level beyond the obvious searches that everyone else is running.

Filter 1: Past Company (Not Current)

The insight: The best people often just left the best companies.

Instead of competing with dozens of other recruiters messaging someone's current coworkers, focus on people who recently moved on from top-tier companies. These candidates are pre-vetted by their previous employer's hiring standards and often more open to conversations since they've already made one career move recently.

How to use it:

• Set "Past company = Stripe, Meta, Google, etc."
• Leave "Current company" blank to find recent leavers
• Check their activity to gauge openness to new opportunities

These profiles are pre-vetted, fresh, and usually more responsive than people who've been in the same role for years.

Filter 2: Stealth Job Seekers

The insight: Not everyone uses the "Open to Work" badge, but many still signal their interest in other ways.

The smartest candidates don't broadcast their job search with LinkedIn's official badge—they're more subtle about it. But if you know where to look, they're sending clear signals in their headlines and about sections.

How to use it:

• Search for phrases like "open to work" OR "actively seeking"
• Look in the Headline and About sections, not just the official badge
• Combine with role-specific keywords to narrow your focus

These candidates have low competition from other recruiters but high intent to make a move. The result? Much easier replies and more productive conversations.

Filter 3: Groups = Intent-Based Gold Mines

The insight: Groups show up in advanced search—and they're pure gold for finding engaged candidates.

When someone joins a professional group, they're essentially raising their hand and saying "I care about this topic enough to opt into conversations about it." This is incredibly valuable context that most recruiters completely ignore.

How to use it:

• Filter by relevant groups like "Remote SDRs," "Tech Sourcers United," or "Women in DevOps"
• Message with context about the group they're in
• Reference shared interests or challenges specific to that community

These folks opted into a niche community. When you message with that context, your reply rates go up significantly because you're not just another random recruiter—you're someone who understands their professional interests.

Filter 4: Prioritize Active Profiles

The insight: Dead inbox = no reply. Focus on people who are actually using LinkedIn.

This seems obvious, but you'd be surprised how many recruiters waste time messaging people who haven't logged into LinkedIn in months. Active users are simply more reachable, more likely to see your message, and more likely to respond.

How to identify active profiles:

• Look for posts or comments in the last 30 days
• Check for likes on hiring or industry content
• See if they follow companies in your space or related industries

This simple filter can dramatically improve your response rates without changing anything about your messaging. You're just ensuring your messages reach people who are actually there to receive them.

Filter 5: Title + Keyword Combo

The insight: Titles lie. You'll miss great candidates if you search by title alone.

The best engineers might have "Software Developer" in their title while doing advanced machine learning work. The most experienced sales leaders might be listed as "Account Executive" at a startup where everyone wears multiple hats.

How to use it:

• Start with broader titles like "Engineer," "Developer," or "Manager"
• Add specific keywords like "Golang," "Kubernetes," "Distributed systems"
• Slice by years of experience if you need to narrow further

This approach finds serious candidates who are hiding under generic titles or working at companies with non-standard role naming conventions. You'll discover talent that other recruiters miss because they're stuck searching only by exact title matches.

The Problem With Better Searches

Here's the catch: once you've built these sharper candidate lists, you still have to do something with them.

Most recruiters hit this wall hard. They spend time crafting the perfect search, find a great list of candidates, and then face the reality of manually connecting and messaging each person one by one. Then tracking replies, setting follow-up reminders, and managing the entire process across multiple searches and roles.

This is where most sourcing pipelines stall. You don't need more effort at this stage—you need more leverage.

The Solution: Automation That Actually Works

Tiger turns any LinkedIn People search into clean, safe outreach that works while you focus on the conversations that matter.

The process is simple:

• Paste your search URL into Tiger
• Set your message template
• Tiger scrolls, types, and sends messages like a real person would

No browser plugins to install. No profile scraping that gets you flagged. No robotic behavior that screams "automation tool." Just smart, recruiter-focused automation that respects LinkedIn's systems while scaling your outreach.

While other tools try to blast through LinkedIn's limits as fast as possible, Tiger mimics human behavior—taking breaks, varying timing, and following the same patterns a real recruiter would use. This keeps your account safe while dramatically expanding what you can accomplish in a day.

Ready to Transform Your Sourcing?

These five filters will help you find better candidates faster. But the real breakthrough happens when you combine smarter searches with reliable automation.