Short answer: To find the contact details of HR heads and hiring managers, first identify the right person using LinkedIn, the company's careers page, live job postings and team pages. Then find their work email (by confirming the company's email pattern and verifying the address) and a direct phone number using a contact finder tool. Reach out with something specific, such as a live role you can help fill, and follow applicable privacy laws such as India's DPDP Act, getting consent where required.
Who you are actually trying to reach
Recruiters, especially agency and staffing recruiters doing business development, often waste time contacting the wrong person. Before you look for contact details, decide whose problem you are solving.
HR heads and CHROs
The head of HR or Chief Human Resources Officer usually owns hiring strategy, vendor relationships and budgets. They are the right contact when you want to get empanelled as a recruitment partner, pitch a long-term arrangement, or discuss volume hiring.
Talent acquisition leads
In mid-sized and large companies, a talent acquisition (TA) head or manager typically runs day-to-day hiring and manages external agencies. They are often the most practical first contact for agency recruiters.
Hiring managers
The hiring manager is the person the new hire will report to, such as an engineering manager, sales head or plant manager. They feel the pain of an open position most directly. Some companies welcome agencies approaching hiring managers; others prefer everything to go through HR. Read the situation and respect the company's process.
Founders in smaller companies
At startups and small businesses there may be no HR team at all. The founder or a business head usually makes hiring decisions.
Step 1: Identify the right person at the company
Use LinkedIn search
Search the company on LinkedIn and filter employees by titles such as "HR Head", "CHRO", "Talent Acquisition", "HR Business Partner" or "Recruitment Manager". For hiring managers, search for the function plus seniority, for example "Engineering Manager" or "Head of Sales", at that company. Sales Navigator, if you have it, makes this filtering easier.
Read live job postings
Job postings are one of the best signals for recruiters. They tell you a company is hiring, for what roles, and sometimes name the recruiter or hiring manager. Check the company's careers page, LinkedIn Jobs and Indian job portals.
Check the company website and news
"Leadership", "Team" and "About" pages often list HR leaders. Press releases about expansion, new offices or funding can tell you which teams are about to grow and who leads them.
Look at HR communities and events
HR leaders are often active in professional HR communities, panels and conferences. Speaker lists and event pages are a good way to identify senior HR people and learn what they care about.
Step 2: Find their work email address
Work out the company's email pattern
Most companies use a consistent format, such as [email protected], [email protected] or [email protected]. You can often spot the pattern from addresses published in press releases, job postings or the company website.
Verify before you send
A guessed address based on a pattern is only a hypothesis. Run it through an email verification tool, or use a contact finder that verifies addresses before showing them. Be careful with catch-all domains, which accept all addresses and so cannot be fully confirmed.
Avoid generic inboxes where you can
Addresses such as hr@ or careers@ go to shared inboxes, which are usually flooded with candidate applications. They are rarely the right channel for a business development message.
Step 3: Find a direct phone number
For many Indian recruiters, a phone call still opens doors faster than email, particularly with busy HR heads and hiring managers. Company switchboards rarely put you through to the right person, so you will usually need a direct dial or mobile number.
Contact finder tools, many of which work as Chrome extensions on top of LinkedIn, can surface phone numbers for professionals. Coverage varies by tool and market, so test a few on a sample of your real targets before choosing one. Always check that the number reaches the right person, and update your records when it does not.
Step 4: Reach out with something relevant
Having the right contact details is only half the job. HR heads and hiring managers receive a lot of agency outreach, so make yours worth reading.
- Reference a specific open role or hiring trend at their company.
- Show relevant experience, such as similar roles you have filled or the talent pools you know well, without exaggerating.
- Make a small, clear ask, like a short call this week or permission to share a few relevant profiles.
- Respect their process. If they ask you to go through HR or a vendor portal, do so.
A simple outreach structure
- One line on why you are reaching out now, such as a live role you noticed.
- One or two lines on how you can help, specific to that role.
- One line with a low-friction next step.
Keep it short. A busy HR head should be able to read it in seconds.
Step 5: Track, follow up and keep data fresh
Log every contact in your CRM or ATS with the source of the data, the date you last verified it, and the outcome of each touch. Follow up politely a couple of times, then stop if there is no response. People move roles, so re-check contacts before a new campaign rather than relying on old exports.
HR head or hiring manager: who should you contact first?
There is no single right answer, but a practical rule of thumb:
- Contact HR or TA first when you want an ongoing partnership, empanelment or volume hiring.
- Contact the hiring manager when you have a strong, specific candidate for a critical, hard-to-fill role, and the company culture allows it.
- Copy or loop in HR once the conversation becomes serious, so you are not seen as going around them.
Privacy and etiquette
Use contact data responsibly. Follow applicable privacy laws such as India's DPDP Act, get consent where required, and honour any request to stop contacting someone. Professional, relevant outreach is also simply more effective.
Where PeakAI fits
Steps 2 and 3, getting a working email and a direct phone number for the right HR or hiring contact, are usually where recruiters lose the most time. PeakAI is a contact data and prospecting tool focused on Indian sales and recruiting teams, built to find verified emails and phone numbers, including direct dials, for B2B contacts such as HR heads and hiring managers. You still need good research and a relevant message, but you spend less time chasing switchboards and bounced emails. See thepeakai.com for current features and pricing.
FAQ
How do I find the HR head of a company in India?
Search the company on LinkedIn and filter by HR and talent acquisition titles, check the company's leadership page and recent news, then use a contact finder or email verification tool to get and confirm their contact details.
Is it okay to contact a hiring manager directly as an agency recruiter?
It depends on the company. Some are open to it, especially for hard-to-fill roles; others want everything routed through HR. If you are told to go through HR, respect that.
What is the best way to get an HR manager's phone number?
Use a contact finder tool that provides verified direct dials or mobile numbers, ideally one with good coverage of your target market. Test it on a sample of real contacts before relying on it.
Should I email hr@ or careers@ addresses for business development?
Generally not. These shared inboxes are typically used for candidate applications. A named contact's verified work email is far more likely to reach the right person.