this happened about 8 months ago and I've been doing it ever since, so figured it was worth writing down.
I was trying to reach a backend engineer. sent him three LinkedIn InMails over 6 weeks. nothing. I could see he was active on GitHub -- contributing to an open source library we actually used internally -- but completely dark on LinkedIn.
one day I was going through an issue thread on that same repo and he'd commented on a problem we'd run into ourselves. I didn't plan anything. I just replied. asked a genuine question about how he'd approached it, then mentioned I was building out a team working on similar infrastructure problems and if he was ever curious about the space I'd be happy to talk.
he replied in 45 minutes. three InMails, no response. one GitHub comment, a conversation.
I've been doing this selectively ever since. that word matters. I don't spray comments across people's activity looking for a hook. I only reach out when I have something real to say about the actual thread. if I'm just trying to get a name on a call, I don't comment.
8 months in the response rate on this approach is genuinely better than anything else I'm running. I won't put numbers on it because every desk is different, but the signal quality is higher. you're reaching someone when they're already paying attention, not interrupting their afternoon to ask if they've considered leaving a job they never told you they wanted to leave.
the change I made to my process: I spend 30 minutes a week in GitHub issue threads relevant to the tech stack I'm recruiting for. no sourcing mindset. just reading. if something comes up that I can genuinely contribute to or ask about, I do. about 1 in 4 of those conversations turns into someone who wants to talk.
the lesson wasn't "GitHub is a better sourcing channel." it was "context does the work that cold outreach can't." show up where they actually care about something and you're not an interruption anymore.
anyone else doing anything like this?