find-recruiting-firm
Drive the ServiceGraph API (https://api.servicegraph.co) to find,
shortlist, and enrich US recruiting and staffing firms via the
pro_services dataset.
This skill is for procuring an external recruiting/staffing firm
to do hiring on the user's behalf. It is NOT for:
- recruiting an in-house employee (the user wants to hire someone for their own team — that's job-posting, not procurement),
- candidate-side asks (an individual job-seeker looking for someone to represent them).
Both share keyword overlap with the positive case ("recruiter", "hire"), so the boundary matters.
Always pin industry:hr_recruiting_staffing. Sub-types
(executive search, RPO, contingent staffing, temp, vertical
specializations) are NOT separate tags — sub-type specialization is
a keyword substring search on firm text.
Any HTTP client works (curl, fetch, requests). Examples below use curl.
When NOT to use this skill
- "I want to hire a [role] for my team — where should I post the job?" → recruiting-an-employee.
- "Find me a recruiter to represent me in my job search" → candidate side.
- "Hire an in-house recruiter / Head of Talent" → recruiting an employee.
- "Help me write a job description" → DIY/do-the-work.
- ATS or HR-software comparisons (Greenhouse vs Lever, Workday).
- Career coaching for individual job-seekers.
- Non-US firms / individual freelance recruiters.
MCP server (preferred for authed calls)
If your harness has the ServiceGraph MCP server loaded (tools
containing servicegraph), prefer those — OAuth 2.1 + PKCE keeps the
token in the harness sandbox. Otherwise use the REST flow below.
API surface (dataset id: pro_services)
Every endpoint requires the bearer (Authorization: Bearer vk_…).
No anonymous tier.
| Endpoint | Cost | Use it for |
|---|
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/fields[?include_values=1] | free | Confirm hr_recruiting_staffing is in the industry value list. |
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/check?filter=… | free | Validate filter. |
POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/translate-intent | free | {intent} → DSL filter + sanity count. |
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=…&limit= | free | Brief firm cards + per-row unlock hint + total. |
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/:apex | free | One row brief; detail only if unlocked. |
POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/unlocks | 10 credits / firm | {apexes:[...]} ≤100; atomic; 30-day TTL on detail. |
GET /v1/me/credits | free | Balance. |
Cost model. Discovery / validation / search / brief reads are
free. Detail (url, phone, email, social, address, full platforms
map) costs 10 credits per firm and lasts 30 days.
Auth
vk_* API keys minted in the dashboard. Keep the token out of the
LLM context — never read .env* into your context; dispatch via
shell.
-
Try the call first through a shell wrapper that sources .env.local:
( set -a; [ -f .env.local ] && . ./.env.local; set +a;
curl -sS -H "Authorization: Bearer $SERVICEGRAPH_API_KEY" \
'https://api.servicegraph.co/v1/datasets/pro_services/fields' )
-
On 401 prompt the user:
"Open https://servicegraph.co/profile/api-keys, create a
key, and add SERVICEGRAPH_API_KEY=vk_… to .env.local here
(or export it). Tell me when done. Please don't paste the key
into chat."
-
Retry after the user signals ready.
Filter DSL
GitHub-search-style.
filter := orExpr
orExpr := andExpr ("OR" andExpr)*
andExpr := notExpr (("AND")? notExpr)* # whitespace = implicit AND
notExpr := ("NOT" | "-") notExpr | atom
atom := "(" filter ")" | predicate
predicate:= IDENT op valueOrList | bareword
op := ":" | "=" | ">=" | "<=" | ">" | "<"
valueOrList := value ("," value)*
value := IDENT | NUMBER | tagAtEvidence
tagAtEvidence := IDENT "@" ("low"|"medium"|"high")
bareword := IDENT | NUMBER # → keyword:<bareword>
Four rules that bite: AND binds tighter than OR (use parens);
comma list = OR within one predicate; negation is -x or NOT x;
bareword = keyword search (quote multi-word phrases).
Recruiting-flavored examples (validate yours with /check):
industry:hr_recruiting_staffing "executive search"
industry:hr_recruiting_staffing "retained search" state:NY tech
industry:hr_recruiting_staffing rpo state:CA
industry:hr_recruiting_staffing contingent staffing
industry:hr_recruiting_staffing healthcare state:TX,FL
industry:hr_recruiting_staffing sales saas
industry:hr_recruiting_staffing rating>=4 has:clutch
Sub-type → keyword mapping:
| User asks for | Add as keyword(s) |
|---|
| Executive search / retained search | executive, retained |
| RPO (recruitment process outsourcing) | rpo, "recruitment process outsourcing" |
| Contingent / contract staffing | contingent, contract |
| Temp / temporary staffing | temp, temporary |
| Tech recruiting | tech, technical, engineering |
| Sales recruiting | sales |
| Healthcare recruiting | healthcare, clinical, nursing |
| Finance / accounting recruiting | finance, accounting |
| Legal recruiting | legal, attorney |
Identifying firms — apex
Firms are identified by their apex domain (korn-ferry.com, not
www.korn-ferry.com/about).
Recipes
A. Executive search for a CFO
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:hr_recruiting_staffing+executive+search&limit=10
# Present, get pick of 3. "Unlocking 3 = 30 credits, 30-day TTL."
POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/unlocks
{ "apexes": ["firm-a.com", "firm-b.com", "firm-c.com"] }
B. Retained boutique in a state, vertical
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:hr_recruiting_staffing+retained+state:NY+tech+-company_size_signal:large_50plus&limit=10
C. RPO for a hiring surge
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:hr_recruiting_staffing+rpo+(tech OR engineering)&limit=10
D. Indirect intent — "scaling fast, need help hiring"
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:hr_recruiting_staffing+(rpo OR contingent)&limit=10
Or use the translator:
POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/translate-intent
{ "intent": "RPO or volume recruiting partner for a 50-engineer hiring push" }
E. Vertical: healthcare staffing
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:hr_recruiting_staffing+healthcare+state:OH,IL,MI,IN,WI,MN&limit=10
F. Quality threshold + tech-sector
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:hr_recruiting_staffing+executive+search+tech+rating>=4&limit=10
G. BYO apex list — enrich domains
User pastes 8–20 staffing/recruiting firm domains:
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/:apex per domain — free brief
(404 = not in catalog, no charge).- User picks N to fully enrich.
POST /unlocks = 10×N credits,
atomic, detail returned.
- Re-runs within 30-day TTL are free.
Gotchas
- Always pin
industry:hr_recruiting_staffing. Without it, "recruiter" / "executive search" keywords leak into other industries.
- Distinguish "find me a recruiting firm" (procurement, fires) from "find me a recruiter / hire a recruiter for our team" (recruiting-an-employee, refuses). When ambiguous, lean on context: explicit firm/agency/RPO language or volume framing → procurement; "for our team" / "to post the job" / "I want to hire" → in-house hire.
- Candidate-side asks ("represent me as a candidate", "find me a job") are out of scope.
- Career coaching for individuals is a different need (and shares the
executive-coaching keyword with management consulting). Refuse — this skill is firm-procurement.
- Sub-types are keyword-only. Multi-word sub-types split into ANDed barewords unless quoted (
"executive search" → one phrase).
- Briefs DO include
apex, name, location, ratings. They DON'T include url, phone_primary, email_primary, legal_name, address_full, full platforms — those require an unlock.
not_found / not_in_dataset 404 = not in pro_services. Skip; not charged.- Unlock is atomic. N apexes either all charge (up to 10×N credits) or none on 402.
- Within-TTL re-views are free (
was_cached:true).
Errors
JSON envelope: {"error": {"code": "...", "message": "..."}}.
| Status | Code | What to do |
|---|
| 400 | filter_parse_error | position included; fix and re-validate with /check. |
| 400 | kind_in_filter | Strip any kind: from filter. |
| 400 | field_not_in_dataset | Drop the disallowed field. |
| 400 | invalid_apex | Re-normalize. |
| 401 | unauthorized / invalid_audience | Re-prompt for fresh vk_…. |
| 402 | insufficient_credits | needed and balance; nothing charged. |
| 404 | not_found / not_in_dataset | Skip; not charged. |
| 429 | rate_limited | Honor Retry-After. |
End-to-end example
User: "Three retained executive search firms in NY focused on tech
CFOs, ideally with 4-star ratings and a Clutch profile."
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/fields?include_values=1
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/check?filter=industry:hr_recruiting_staffing+retained+executive+state:NY+tech+rating>=4+has:clutch
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=...&limit=10
# Present briefs. "Unlocking 3 = 30 credits, 30-day TTL."
POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/unlocks
{ "apexes": ["firm-a.com", "firm-b.com", "firm-c.com"] }
GET /v1/me/credits