The Company Discovery Method: Finding Amazing Companies that Actually Hire for Your Type of Job

 

“Don’t apply to brand names. Look for hidden gems.”

That’s great advice — in theory. But how do you actually go about finding these “hidden gems”?

Most job applicants go through the same short list of companies they already know.

Perhaps they are well-known technology companies, or well-known players in your industry, or companies you’ve heard about through recruiters or friends.

But that’s when things go wrong:
Familiarity does not equal opportunity.

In fact, it’s often the lesser-known companies — fast-growing startups, niche firms, high-impact non-profits, or quietly innovative enterprises — that offer the best roles, the most responsibility, and the fastest career growth.

But again: how do you find them?

Here’s the step-by-step process I teach my U.S. clients, particularly those looking for mid-to-senior product, engineering, design, or program management positions.

I call it:

The Company Discovery Method

This is not a trick. This is not based on AI-generated lists or scraping job boards. This is a formal process for reverse-engineering your job search, where you first determine actual people doing this job and then go back to discover where they work.

Here’s how it works:

Step-by-Step: Using the Company Discovery Method

Step 1: Launch LinkedIn and locate the search bar

Do not type anything. Just click on the search bar and hit the enter or return key.

This should open up the broad search interface on LinkedIn, where you can find filters.

Step 2: Target People with Filters

Select the “People” tab.

For the next step, you will use filters for:

• Location (e.g., “Greater Seattle Area,” “San Francisco Bay Area,” “Remote (United States)”)
• Industry (this filter is optional, but can be useful if you’d like to stay within a category)
• Current Title Keywords (e.g., “Product Manager,” “Software Engineer,” “UX Designer,” “Technical Program Manager”)

 

These filters narrow your search to people with your future role and located somewhere that you prefer to live.

Step 3: Use Advanced Filters for Accuracy

Select “All Filters.” This allows you to narrow even more:

• You can enter multiple variations of your desired title
• You can filter by years of experience or current companies (in case you don’t want the usual choices to pop up)

 

The goal is to get an actual list of real people doing the work you want to do in the industry you want & working in the locations you want.

Step 4: Scroll Profiles with No Bias

This is where the fun begins.

Click into people who are interesting to you — not just because of their job title (current), but more because of the industries they are in or the breadth of their job, or the work projects they’ve mentioned.

Important: Don’t just look at well-known names. Some of the most interesting companies are obscure, small to mid-sized, or otherwise operate under the radar.

Step 5: Start a Discovery List

While scrolling, you will want to write down company names — current and former employers where someone was hired in your desired role.

You will quickly get a list of 50–100+ companies in your local area (or remote) that consistently hire individuals for roles like yours.

You can do this on a spreadsheet or somewhere like Notion or Airtable.

No need to dig in deeply yet — the priority here is quantity and visibility. You’re not qualifying them! You’re just collecting them.

Step 6: Deep Dive Into the Companies

Now that you have your list of companies, take some time to investigate them.

• Do they have any job opportunities within your space?
• What do their career pages say regarding culture, benefits, values, etc.?
• Are they growing? Funded? Stable?
• Are there alumni from companies you respect who are employed there?
• Is the work they do interesting or exciting to you?

 

Use Crunchbase, Glassdoor, the company website, their LinkedIn company page, etc., to find out more. Many of those companies will be brands you had no awareness of before — and yet they could be a perfect fit for your experience and career goals.

Why This Approach Will Be Successful in 2025 (And After)

In today’s job market, automated screening systems and AI tools have opened the gates for thousands of applicants to flood top job ads, thanks to one-click applications and résumé-writing robots.

While automation has created a somewhat similar platform for submission, hiring managers are inundated by applications in high-visibility roles.

If you want to be noticed, you need to go where others do not — i.e., you need to audition for work instead of being passive consumers of cold, job board postings.

The benefits of this strategy are threefold:

1. You uncover companies and roles that most of the collective mass is unaware of.
   Many of these companies do not have a name-brand presence and grow like wildfire, hiring quietly.
2. You also discover companies that already employ this role
   This means you don’t have to persuade them to create a role — they have indicated that they prioritize the role.
3. You also create a network by going through people first.
   Starting at profiles gives you the opportunity for warm outreach, referrals, or even future informational interviews.

 

Real Example: From Unknown to Employed

A Technical Program Manager I worked with in the Bay Area felt boxed in that she could only apply to high-profile tech companies. From this very same approach, she found a cybersecurity company she had never heard of — and one that hired five TPMs in the last year!

She applied, contacted one of those TPMs with a nice note, and got a referral and a job within weeks.

All because of a simple profile search.

In Conclusion, Not All Great Companies Have Great PR

Some of the best places to work do not show up on “Top 100” lists. They don’t host trade conferences or are covered in business magazines.

But they are creating products that are unique and interesting, they are rapidly growing, they are paying employees well, and they respect their employees.

You just don’t know about them yet. This method identifies them for you.

Want to Take It Further?

You could create a company list based on where your connections work. This adds level; now you have inside connections or someone who can become a champion on your behalf.

Along with your Discovery List, you will be setting yourself up for a job seek with strategy, purpose, and a massive advantage over other candidates who are still concentrating on job boards.

Question for You

Have you ever created a list of companies your network works for?

What were some of the surprising companies you identified when you applied this method?

Please comment below — your experience might help someone else land their next job.

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This post was previously published on medium.com.

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Photo credit: Alex Ovs on Unsplash

 

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