find-recruiting-firm

Overview

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:hrrecruitingstaffing. 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.

Prerequisites

• ServiceGraph access, either:
• the ServiceGraph MCP server (https://mcp.servicegraph.co) loaded in

your harness — this plugin's .mcp.json wires it up; OAuth 2.1 + PKCE

keeps credentials in the harness sandbox — or

• a ServiceGraph API key (vk_…, minted at

) available as

SERVICEGRAPHAPIKEY in the environment or .env.local for the REST

path (setup steps under Auth below).

• An HTTP client for the REST path — the examples use curl.

Instructions

The loop is free-first: discovery, validation, search, and brief reads cost

nothing; only unlock after the user confirms the spend.

1. Pick the call path — the ServiceGraph MCP tools if loaded, otherwise the

REST flow (MCP server and Auth sections below).

1. GET /v1/datasets/proservices/fields?includevalues=1 — confirm the

fields and values you plan to filter on exist.

1. Build the filter (Filter DSL below) and validate it with

GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/check — or draft it from plain English via

POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/translate-intent.

1. GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search — present the free brief cards and

let the user pick.

1. Quote the unlock cost (10 credits per row, 30-day TTL) and get an explicit

go-ahead.

1. POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/unlocks with the chosen apexes; report the

revealed detail.

1. GET /v1/me/credits to report the remaining balance when asked.

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/proservices/fields[?includevalues=1]	free	Confirm hrrecruitingstaffing 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.

1. 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' )

1. On 401 prompt the user:

> "Open https://servicegraph.co/profile/api-keys, create a

> key, and add SERVICEGRAPHAPIKEY=vk_… to .env.local here

> (or export it). Tell me when done. Please don't paste the key

> into chat."

1. 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).

Output

All responses are JSON.

• Search returns free brief firm cards — apex, name, location, and

rating signals — plus a per-row unlock hint and the match total. Briefs

never include url, phoneprimary, emailprimary, legal_name,

address_full, or the full platforms map.

• Unlock (POST …/unlocks) returns each unlocked firm's detail block —

contact fields, address, socials, the platforms map — plus per-item

billing; detail stays readable for 30 days.

• Errors arrive as a JSON envelope

{"error": {"code": "…", "message": "…"}} — see Errors below.

Examples

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:

1. GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/:apex per domain — free brief

(404 = not in catalog, no charge).

1. User picks N to fully enrich. POST /unlocks = 10×N credits,

atomic, detail returned.

1. Re-runs within 30-day TTL are free.

Gotchas

• Always pin industry:hrrecruitingstaffing. 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, phoneprimary, emailprimary, legalname, addressfull, full platforms — those require an unlock.
• notfound / notindataset 404 = not in proservices. 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	filterparseerror	position included; fix and re-validate with /check.
400	kindinfilter	Strip any kind: from filter.
400	fieldnotin_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	notfound / notin_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

Resources

• Upstream source:
• ServiceGraph API: — keys at

• Hub skill: servicegraph (this plugin) — the dataset-agnostic entry point

when the user names ServiceGraph explicitly.