Predicting the Next Hiring Wave: How Funding Rounds Can Give You an Edge in IT Recruitment

The talent marketplace is so rapidly changing and disruptive that you literally have to hustle to win. 

And the smartest recruiters have taken it a step further and realised that quick thinking isn’t always enough. Today, you have to act early, long before a job posting appear on LinkedIn. Before a hiring manager even thinks about writing about recruiting. They’re literally trying to predict hires.

So how do they do it?
Simple: They watch the funding rounds.
That’s right. Every Series A, B, or C round is more than just a buzzword or a headline. It’s a flare in the sky that says, “We’re going to hire a lot.” And if you know how to read that signal, you can ride the hiring wave instead of riding it.

‍The Link Between Funding and Hiring: What Every Recruiter Should Understand‍

When a startup announces a new investment round, the PR narrative usually focuses on growth, market expansion, product innovation, or “changing the future”. But behind every flashy quote is something very real: a surge in hiring demand.
Why?
Because money means momentum. And momentum requires talent.

Think of each funding round as a different type of fuel - and each round requires different and new passengers. The same is true for a startup: a new round of funding means growth for the startup, which means new features, new employees, and new positions. It will be very useful for you to understand the stages of funding, even if you previously thought it was exclusively a question of the startups themselves. Let's take a closer look.

Series A: Building the First Real Team

By the time a company raises its Series A, it has likely validated its core idea, maybe even released an MVP (minimum viable product), and has a few early adopters. The business is still fragile, but promising.
So, what happens next? They hire.
Not just any hires - foundational hires. People who will build the product, shape the company culture, and wear multiple hats.

Typical roles include:

• Software engineers
• Product designers
• Internal recruiters
• Ops and finance
• Possibly the first marketing or customer success person

From a recruiting perspective:
This is when relationships matter most. These early hires are incredibly selective - they want meaning, equity, a good story, and strong leadership. If you're recruiting for Series A companies, your job isn’t to “sell a job.” It’s to tell a story.

Series B: The Growth Engine Starts

Series B means one thing: scale.
The company has found product-market fit. Customers are paying. Revenue is growing. Now it’s time to expand the team, refine the product, and go after bigger markets. Hiring shifts from “who can help us survive?” to “who can help us grow?”

What roles appear?

• Senior backend/frontend developers
• DevOps and QA engineers
• Data scientists
• Product managers
• Growth marketers
• People and talent teams

From a recruiting perspective:
This is where the real volume starts. Suddenly there are 20, 30, 50 open roles, and no internal team ready to fill them. Companies need recruiters who can move fast, fill pipelines, and deliver talent in weeks, not months.
And the stakes are higher. A bad hire now can cost millions later.

Series C and Beyond: Scaling at Speed

By the time a company hits Series C, it’s in expansion mode. This could mean expanding into new international markets, building corporate sales teams, or preparing for an IPO/acquisition.
Hiring becomes massive and relentless.

It’s not uncommon for post-Series C companies to open:

• 100+ roles in 6 months
• Multiple regional tech teams
• Specialised positions (AI, security, infrastructure)
• In-house recruiters and full hiring teams

From a recruiting perspective:
If you’re not tracking this company before the round hits TechCrunch, you’re already behind. And once they do raise, your job isn’t just sourcing - it’s strategy, speed, and scale. They don’t just want a recruiter. They want a recruiting partner.

Using Tools to Spot Funding Rounds Before They Hit LinkedIn

Now that we've covered rounds and what they mean, let's look at where you can find the information and verify the data yourself.
With the right tool, you can track funding rounds in real time and align your recruiting strategy with what's coming, not what's already happened.
Don't be intimidated by this process - modern tools have very clear, logical interfaces and are quite easy to use.

Tools to track funding news:

• Crunchbase: Excellent for monitoring early-stage companies and alerts
• PitchBook: More advanced (and expensive), but great for trend mapping
• CB Insights: Helpful for understanding market movement and valuation logic
• TechCrunch: Still one of the fastest sources for public funding announcements

What to watch for:

• Check the date of the round
• See how much was raised
• Look at past hiring trends (compare their LinkedIn headcount from 6 months ago to today)
• Research leadership: are they experienced founders or first-timers?
• Review the company’s “Careers” page, even if it’s empty - that’s often a sign they’re about to start hiring in stealth

If you're recruiting for tech roles, this is your goldmine. When you see a Series A startup go from 15 to 25 employees in 30 days - that's not a coincidence. It’s a hiring wave starting to form.

From Vendor to Strategic Partner

When you’re early and forward thinking, companies stop seeing you as a transactional resource. They start seeing you as a growth enabler.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

- You reach out to a founder and say, “Congrats on your Series B. I noticed you have 80 people on your team. Based on your new funding, I’m guessing you’ll hire another 30-50 people in the next quarter. Want to talk about how we can help?”
- You start building pipelines now, not when the work starts
- You help write job descriptions, advise on compensation ranges, and offer tools to speed up onboarding
- And yes, you’ll likely be one of the first people they call when they raise a Series C.

The Smart Assistant: GLOZO

Of course, doing all this research manually takes time. And let’s face it - time is what most recruiters don’t have.
That’s where tools like GLOZO come in.
Our AI-powered platform analyzes thousands of job posts, industry trends, and funding events to help recruiters spot demand before the rest of the market sees it. Whether you’re a solo recruiter, agency, or internal talent partner, GLOZO helps you:

• Create pools of candidates ready to work
• Use predictive hiring insights to forecast growth needs
• Match candidates to roles using our proprietary matching engine

Think of GLOZO as your behind-the-scenes analyst, while you focus on people, we handle the patterns.

When used right, you become unstoppable. And if you're ready to start predicting hiring waves like a pro - GLOZO is here to help!