How Startups Can Identify Buyer Intent Using Hiring Signals in Clay + HubSpot

Introduction

If you sell to growing companies, then it’s important to know that the fastest way to spot who’s ready to buy is to look at who’s hiring.

When a company posts new jobs in marketing, RevOps, or demand generation, that’s usually a sign they’re ramping up. And when teams start to grow, they also start looking for new tools and  new systems to support that growth.

The purpose of this piece is to break down how startups can use Clay and HubSpot to track those hiring signals, qualify the right companies automatically, and reach out before anyone else does. Most teams are already moving this way as nearly nine out of ten marketers now use AI every day to find and act on buyer intent signals like hiring activity. It’s quickly becoming a core part of how modern go-to-market teams work.

It’s a quick, practical system you can set up in less than a day.

TL;DR: How can startups identify buyer intent using hiring signals?

• Use Clay’s Find Jobs feature to detect companies hiring for ICP roles.
• Filter and enrich data automatically to qualify who’s worth pursuing.
• Push alerts into HubSpot for real-time follow-up.
• Personalize outreach based on hiring context using AI.
• Measure results to see which hiring signals convert best.

What are hiring signals, and why do they matter for startups?

Hiring signals are basically hints that a company is getting ready to buy something.

If you see a business hiring for roles like a Revenue Operations Manager, Demand Gen Lead, or Sales Enablement Specialist, it usually means they’re about to invest in tools and processes to help those teams do their jobs.

For startups, that’s a big deal. Most people only look for buying intent once a company raises money or fills out a demo form. But by that point, the window to start the conversation is already closing.

When you track hiring signals, you’re spotting interest before it becomes obvious. It’s your early warning system that a company is growing and probably looking for help. And this approach has shown to really pay off as companies that use AI and intent-based data like hiring signals see up to 32% higher conversion rates and 26% better ad performance because they’re focusing on prospects that are already in motion.

Clay’s Find Jobs feature makes this really easy. You can search by title, location, and company size to see which companies are hiring for the exact roles that match your ICP. Once you find them, you can send that list into HubSpot and start reaching out while the timing is still good.

The 5-second takeaway:

If you can spot the hires that come before a big growth push, you can reach out early and start building a relationship before your competitors even show up.

How do you find and filter companies hiring for your ICP roles?

When you’re building a list in Clay, the Find Jobs feature is one of the best places to start. It shows you which companies are hiring for roles that line up with your ideal customer profile, and that’s usually a good sign they’re gearing up for growth.

Start by plugging in keywords for the types of jobs that matter most to you. If you see openings for things like “Growth Manager” or “Demand Gen Lead,” that’s your cue a company is starting to invest in marketing and operations.

Then, layer in filters to make the list more focused. Pick a company size that matches your market, something like 100 to 500 employees if you target mid-sized B2B SaaS. Add in a location filter, too, so you’re not chasing leads in markets you can’t serve.

Once you’ve got a solid list, check out their tech stack. If a company already uses HubSpot or similar software, they’re probably in the right mindset for what you offer. Those are the ones worth keeping on your radar.

Want to see this step in action? In this clip, Sergio shows how to use Clay’s Find Jobs feature to uncover companies actively hiring for marketing and RevOps roles and filter them down to only the ones using HubSpot CRM.

The goal is to find the companies that are hiring, growing, and most likely to need your help soon.

The 5-second takeaway

Use Clay’s Find Jobs to spot growing companies that match your ICP, then refine by size, location, and tools they already use to find the best prospects fast.

How do you qualify and enrich hiring data automatically?

Once you’ve found companies that are hiring for the right roles, the next step is turning that list into something your sales team can actually use. Clay makes this easy by handling the cleanup, enrichment, and filtering automatically so you don’t waste time or credits. It’s essentially data enrichment for hiring, taking raw job-posting information and transforming it into sales-ready insight your team can act on.

In fact, during a live Clay-HubSpot sync, enrichment filled in missing LinkedIn profiles for 76% of eligible contacts (109 out of 143) from a filtered HubSpot list, showing just how fast and reliable the process is when qualifying new records.

Start by cleaning things up. Use formulas to standardize company names and domains so every record follows the same format. That way, when you start enriching, the data lines up perfectly across your table.

Next, set up a few simple logic rules to qualify each company. You can verify details like employee count, revenue range, and industry fit to make sure they match your ideal customer profile.

Once that’s done, enrich the records to fill in missing details such as web traffic, company size, or region. You can also include filters that identify which companies use complementary tools or CRMs that align with your product.

To keep things efficient, add “only run if blank” rules so enrichment only triggers when there’s missing data. That keeps your workflows clean and your credits focused where they’ll actually help.

Since enrichment in Clay is usage-based, you can scale responsibly. Checking for new hire signals costs about 0.2 credits per check, which makes it practical to qualify hundreds or even thousands of companies.

When everything’s qualified, pull in the decision-makers (i.e. CMOs, VPs,Marketing Directors) so you’re targeting contacts who have real buying power.

By the time the data hits your CRM, it’s cleaned, enriched, and ready for your sales team to take action. You’ll spend less time sorting and more time working leads that are actually worth pursuing.

The 5-second takeaway

Use Clay to clean, qualify, and enrich hiring data automatically so your CRM is always loaded with ready-to-sell records.

How do you turn hiring activity into real-time buyer alerts?

Once your list is cleaned up and enriched, the next step is making sure your team actually sees those opportunities when they happen. That’s where automation comes in. 

Instead of manually checking which companies are hiring or updating spreadsheets, you can set Clay to send alerts as soon as new intent signals appear.

If, for example, a company posts a new opening for a Revenue Operations Manager, that’s a clear sign they’re about to invest in systems or tools to support that role. With alerts in place, your team gets notified right away.

You can trigger a Slack message that tags the right person to follow up, create a task in your CRM for quick outreach, or automatically assign the account to a rep with a short prompt or context note. The goal is to shorten the time between seeing a signal and taking action.

When this happens automatically, your team stays focused on what matters most, talking to companies that are already showing signs of growth and intent. It’s an easy way to stay ahead without adding extra manual work or missing opportunities that could slip through the cracks.

Here’s how those signals actually come to life inside HubSpot. In this clip, Diana from RevPartners breaks down how Allbound orchestration works using enrichment, scoring, and tiering to route high-intent accounts to the right rep automatically.

The 5-second takeaway

Set up alerts that flag new hiring intent so your team connects first, while companies are still deciding what tools to buy.

How do you personalize outreach using hiring context?

When you see a company hiring, that’s your cue to reach out with something that actually feels relevant. You don’t need to overthink it. Just show them you noticed what’s going on and connect it back to the problem you solve.

If they just posted a Demand Gen Lead role, they’re clearly trying to scale pipeline. Or if they’re bringing on a RevOps Manager, they’re probably working on cleaning up their processes. That’s where you come in.

You could say something like:

• “Saw you’re hiring a Demand Gen Lead, looks like things are ramping up.”
• “Noticed the new RevOps role, sounds like you’re tightening up your systems.”

From there, you can use Clay to test which version of your message works best. Just split your list in half, send one version to each group, and see which one gets more replies once it’s running through HubSpot. Do that a few times, and you’ll start to see patterns telling you what tone works, what hooks people, and what gets ignored.

It helps to remember that most purchasing decisions by new hires happen within their first 90 days, so your timing matters. Reaching out during that window, when they’re building their tech stack or setting priorities, can make the difference between getting a reply or not.

The 5-second Takeaway

Keep it human, keep it simple, and use hiring context as your conversation starter.

How do you measure which hiring signals convert?

Once your hiring-signal workflows are live, the next step is figuring out which ones are actually turning into results. 

That’s where HubSpot comes in. It connects every activity, from the first hiring signal to the closed deal, so you can see what’s working in real time.

Start by looking at how much pipeline is coming from leads that started with a hiring trigger. Then, compare performance by role type. You might notice that companies hiring for RevOps or Marketing Ops roles respond faster or convert at higher rates than others. That kind of insight helps you prioritize where to spend time and credits.

Next, look at timing. Track how long it takes between detecting a hiring signal and getting a reply or meeting. If your team’s jumping on signals quickly, you’ll see shorter response times and higher conversion rates.

Finally, tie everything back to revenue. In HubSpot, create dashboards that link closed-won deals to the hiring signals that kicked them off. This shows you which types of roles or signals consistently lead to paying customers.

When you review these reports over time, you can get a better sense of which roles signal real buying intent and which don’t. 

In this clip, Diana from RevPartners breaks down how to track whether your marketing and signal-based campaigns actually turn into closed-won deals.

The 5-second takeaway

Measure how each hiring signal performs, from first touch to closed deal, so you know which ones actually drive revenue.

Ready to turn hiring signals into a scalable growth system?

Hiring signals tell you who’s about to grow, and with the right setup they can become your most reliable source of new pipeline. 

When Clay and HubSpot work together, they automatically surface those signals, qualify the best accounts, and alert your team the moment a company starts hiring for key roles.

It’s a simple, repeatable system that keeps your CRM clean and your reps focused on companies that are already showing intent.

If you want to see how it works, RevPartners, an official Clay Studio Partner and Elite HubSpot Solutions Partner, can build the workflow for you for FREE.

Your next best lead might already be hiring. Let’s help you reach them first.