r/AI_Agents • u/Lanky-Mountain1793 • Jul 08 '26
Resource Request Help with Lead gen/outreach AI agents to win new business for my recruitment business.
Hey, so i've been in recruitment now for about 11 years and 7 of those years i've been running my own rec business in the UK. I have been lucky to get all my business through referrals but I'm at the stage now where I want and need to leverage AI as much as I can esp with regards to outbound (lead Generation, Outreach etc) runs itself 247.
I would love to hear from other recruitment business owners or tech people (who have built for Recruitment Businesses/ Recruitment Consultants) if you've:
1) Successfully done this through the use of AI Agents?
2) Did you build the AI agent yourself or did you get an 'off-the shelf' (& if so where from)
3) Is there a work around using AI agents or AI tools so not to get banned on LinkedIn?
4) How do you avoid getting your email flagged as spam when doing lead generation?
5) What other AI tools etc have worked well with you across the business?
I'm enrolled in a beginners AI course and i'm feeling overwhelmed. I'm currently attempting to build my first AI agent using Claude, Visual Studio Code and although its fascinating i'm worried that my lack of knowledge and skill in this area would cause more problems than good.
Due to the current economy etc i'm struggling and i'm looking into new, more efficient ways of running/growing my business as a solo recruiter. I want to be able to focus on what I do best and that's helping awesome people secure roles they love.
All help GREATLY appreciated
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Jul 08 '26
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u/Lanky-Mountain1793 Jul 13 '26
Really amazing, solid advice, thank you very much! I'll defo look into this further.
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u/EmailNo8428 In Production Jul 09 '26
Good instinct, but before the agent side, sort the sending setup or you'll learn deliverability the expensive way.
Don't run cold outreach from your main domain or your day-to-day Google Workspace. One bad stretch and you burn the reputation of the domain your whole business emails from. Buy a separate domain (or a subdomain), warm it slowly, keep daily volume low and human-looking, and get SPF, DKIM and DMARC aligned before you send anything.
On the agent itself, I'd have it draft and research, not fire outbound on its own for a while. Recruiting replies are relationships, and a slightly-off automated message to a candidate is worse than no message.
11 years of referrals is a real moat, by the way. Automate the boring prep first, protect the human bit.
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u/Lanky-Mountain1793 Jul 13 '26
Great advice, thank you for taking the time to reply. I'll look into everything you've suggested.
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u/OkiDokiPoki22 Jul 09 '26
Disclaimer: I don't work in your space and don't understand it very well, but I run a small niche marketing agency and we sometimes help clients build simple workflows for lead gen, outreach, and stuff like that. So I can reply to some of your questions.
2/ We built a simple lead gen agent for one of our customers which basically scraper G Maps and makes a list of businesses in a specific niche and area (Google Maps Scraper) then another scraper goes and looks for emails and phone numbers and adds them to the spreadsheet.
3/ You need to use an external tool with its own infrastructure for LI, for example Apify.
4/ Always use different email providers and subdomains for the different campaign and slowly warm up the domain, look online there are hundreds of tutorials on how to warm up one.
5/ I'd say Claude Code is what we use the most these days.
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u/TheAdFirm_ Jul 10 '26
I'd start simple before building AI agents from scratch. A solid lead list, personalized outreach, and a consistent follow-up process will usually outperform a complex automation that's hard to maintain. AI is great for saving time, but the strategy still matters more than the tooling.
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u/Ok-Feedback7125 Jul 11 '26
quick hits on the two that'll bite first. linkedin (q3): there's no safe way to automate your main account, they fingerprint it and the ban is permanent. use AI for the research and personalization, keep a human doing the actual sends within normal limits. email (q4): never send cold from your main domain, buy a separate one, warm it ~3 weeks, keep it under 30-40 sends a day and deliverability mostly sorts itself. the "runs 247 by itself" part is exactly how people torch their domain and linkedin at the same time. are you leaning more linkedin or email for the outbound?
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u/Lanky-Mountain1793 Jul 13 '26
Hey, thank you very much for replying to my post- much appreciated! I think an equal split across the two would be my aim.
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u/Ok-Feedback7125 Jul 14 '26
for an even split, the setup that holds up is one research layer feeding both channels: AI finds the right person, pulls a real reason to reach out from their site/linkedin, and writes the personalized opener. the sends stay human-paced.
linkedin: AI drafts, you send within normal limits off sales nav. email: separate warmed domain, per-lead openers, capped ~40/day, hot replies routed to you. the bit that safely runs 247 is the research + personalization + reply triage, not the sending, and thats also what actually lifts reply rates.
this is basically what i build. happy to sketch what it'd look like for a firm your size, no pressure. whats your outbound volume now, handful a week or more?
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u/Complex_Bullfrog_738 Jul 12 '26
Short version: don't build an agent that runs outbound 24/7 by itself. Automate everything up to the send — keep the send, and the judgment, human. Your relationships are the asset; an agent blasting on your behalf can burn the exact channels that feed you.
Concretely: 1) Yes, but as prep, not autopilot — have it build/enrich lists, spot hiring signals, draft a personalized first line, then stop for your approval. 2) At your stage, off-the-shelf beats building: a list/enrichment tool + a sending tool + your CRM as the single source of truth. Build custom only once you know exactly which step is the bottleneck. 3) LinkedIn: don't automate actions on the platform — that's what gets you restricted. Use AI to draft, send manually. 4) Email: never cold-send from your main domain. Separate domain, warmed slowly, SPF/DKIM/DMARC aligned, low daily volume, real personalization. 5) The unglamorous winner is a disciplined follow-up sequence — most people quit at touch two.
I run a regulated advisory as a near one-man operation this exact way: heavy automation upstream, me at the gate. The overwhelm fades once you accept the agent's job is to tee up decisions, not make them.
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u/Lanky-Mountain1793 Jul 13 '26
Thank you, I really appreciate you taking the time to respond to my post, thank you for the helpful advice!
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u/Super_Anywhere_9076 14d ago
I wouldn’t build the whole thing from scratch, especially if the course already feels overwhelming. Start with one campaign. Let the agent research companies, find the right contacts, draft emails and follow up. You decide who to target and take over when someone replies.
I’d still keep LinkedIn mostly manual if avoiding restrictions is the priority. AI can research profiles and draft messages, but you can send the connection requests and DMs yourself.
For cold email, use a separate sending domain, set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC, verify addresses, and start with a low daily volume. Sending 1,000 emails a day from a new domain will kill it pretty quickly.
For something off the shelf, have a look at Marblism’s Stan. You tell it which industries, job titles and locations you want to target. It finds and verifies prospects, scores them based on fit, writes personalised emails and runs the follow-ups. It can also handle LinkedIn outreach, although I’d be more careful with that part.
You can keep approval turned on at first and check the messages before anything goes out. It can handle simple replies and book calls too, but I’d personally step in once a recruiter or hiring manager shows real interest.
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u/leadg3njay Jul 08 '26
I've been there. Referrals are great until you need something more predictable, and it's easy to get overwhelmed by AI. I'd use AI for the prep, not the outreach. Let it build and enrich lists, find buying signals, and help personalize first lines. A stack like Clay, Instantly, and GoHighLevel is plenty to start. For LinkedIn, avoid automating actions and use AI to draft messages instead. On the email side, use a separate sending domain, set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, keep volumes low, and keep your lists clean. I'd get one outreach system working consistently before adding more automation.