> **The idea, in one sentence.** For a recruiter, commenting isn't small talk — it's **warm sourcing**. By commenting where your ideal candidates spend their days, you become visible **before** you reach out: your employer brand works for you, and your InMail no longer comes out of nowhere. This guide gives the method, concrete examples and is backed by our first-party LinkHub data. Third-party figures are estimates from cited, dated studies. No invented numbers.

## Key takeaways

- **Your "client" is candidates** (not prospects who buy). Your comment ICP = the **creators and communities your ideal candidate follows**, not necessarily HR accounts. *(see [the ICP of a comment](/en/blog/icp-commentaire-linkedin))*
- **Commenting makes you visible to passive candidates** — the ones who never open a job post but read their feed. That's where warm sourcing happens.
- **A comment is seen ~179 times on average** (n=657,722), whether you have 200 or 20,000 followers: its reach depends on the **host's** audience — the professional community you comment under.
- **The right host changes everything**: commenting on a top-10% creator in your target field earns **~3.4x more** impressions than the median. *(see [who to comment on](/en/blog/sur-qui-commenter-linkedin))*
- **Timing too**: commenting in the **first 30 minutes** earns **~3.8x more** than after 24h (n=261,137). *(see [when to comment](/en/blog/quand-commenter-sur-linkedin))*
- **The real goal: warm the relationship before the approach.** A candidate who has already seen you comment usefully replies better than a stranger. Comments feed your **employer brand** and prime the DM.

## 1. Why commenting is a sourcing lever (not a waste of time)

Most great candidates are **passive**: they don't apply, don't browse job posts, but they read their feed every day. You'll never reach them with a listing. You can, however, **show up in front of them** by commenting on the posts they already read.

That's exactly what a comment does: it **borrows the host's audience**. When you comment usefully on an influential senior developer's post, every developer who follows them — your ideal candidates — sees your name, your title, and the idea you're putting forward. You exist for them **before** you reach out.

On the numbers: a comment is seen **~179 times on average** across our base of 657,722 comments. That's not empty reach: it's reach **in front of the right professional community**, provided you pick the host well (step 2). And it matters: employer brand remains a major attraction factor — candidates trust what an employee says **3x more** than the brand's corporate messaging ([LinkedIn, Future of Recruiting 2025](https://business.linkedin.com/content/dam/me/business/en-us/talent-solutions/resources/pdfs/future-of-recruiting-2025-stff.pdf)). Your commenting activity is that employee voice, made real.

If you want to reach candidates **without posting job ads or HR content**, the general logic is detailed in [grow on LinkedIn without posting](/en/blog/grossir-linkedin-sans-poster).

## 2. Defining your recruiter ICP: who to comment under?

This is lever #1. For a recruiter, the classic mistake is commenting among HR peers, under talent acquisition posts. But **your candidates aren't there** — they're in their **professional** community.

Your comment ICP is the **creators your ideal candidate follows**:

- **Tech**: dev creators, tech leads, accounts that talk architecture and engineering careers.
- **Sales**: sales/social selling creators, accounts sharing closing methods.
- **Design / product**: recognized UX creators and product managers in your niche.
- **And your named prospects**: the specific candidates you target — commenting under *their* posts starts the relationship directly.

At equal effort, **who** you comment under swings your visibility by a factor of 1 to 40+. Across 4,861 creators, the median earns **36 impressions/comment**, a top 10% **124 (~3.4x)**, a top 1% **357 (~10x)**. The same comment, placed under the right professional host: seen **3 to 10x more** (see [who to comment on](/en/blog/sur-qui-commenter-linkedin)). And reach concentrates on these big creators — their share of visibility rose from 15% to 31% between 2022 and 2025 ([van der Blom, 2025](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/richardvanderblom_chapter-1-algorithm-insights-report-2025-activity-7322514599126130688-Q895)).

To avoid guessing, LinkHub's **[AI profile recommendation](/en/features/ia-recommandation-profils)** infers your sourcing ICP and finds, across **100,000+ profiles**, the highest-ROI hosts for your target field. The full conceptual method is in [the ICP of a comment](/en/blog/icp-commentaire-linkedin).

## 3. Comment early and well (the mechanics that pay)

Two reflexes make the difference: being **early** and writing **well**.

**Early.** A comment posted in the **first 30 minutes** generates **391 impressions on average**, versus **104 after 24h** — about **3.8x** (n=261,137; see [when to comment](/en/blog/quand-commenter-sur-linkedin)). A post gets most of its reach in its first hour: commenting then exposes you to the audience peak. Since you can't watch the feed nonstop, group your target hosts into **[personalized feeds](/en/features/feeds-personnalises)** to see their posts the moment they go live.

**Well.** A useful comment adds a precise observation, a piece of experience, or a question that extends the discussion. Aim for **15-40 words** — a 10+ word comment weighs far more than a like in the algorithm. For a recruiter, the winning tone is **human and sincere**, never "we're hiring, DM me." The detailed mechanics are in [writing a good comment](/en/blog/ecrire-bon-commentaire-linkedin) and the [comment examples](/en/blog/exemples-commentaires-linkedin).

## 4. A concrete recruiter comment example

Say you recruit back-end developers, and an influential tech lead publishes a post about technical debt in startups. A bad comment would be "Great post! We're hiring devs, DM me." — read as spam, and adds nothing.

A good comment instead:

> "The bit about debt we knowingly take on to ship fast really hits. On our team we settled it: we log every 'deliberate debt' in a dedicated file, and force ourselves to repay it before each new cycle. It changed how the devs relate to legacy — less frustration, more ownership. How do you handle the trade-off against deadlines?"

Why it works: it's **useful**, it shows your team culture (employer brand made real), it asks a real question, and it sells nothing. The developers reading that thread see a recruiter **who speaks their language**. Several will click your profile. Some will already know you when you reach out — and a warmed candidate replies better than a stranger.

With LinkHub, spotting the right post the moment it drops and writing a **[personalized AI comment](/en/features/ia-commentaires-personnalises)** (always reviewed by you) takes **~29s measured** (median, n=44,523) — so 5-10 targeted comments a day fit into a few minutes.

## 5. From comment to candidate: moving to DMs

The comment is only the first handshake. The goal is the **conversation**.

- **Commenting** makes you visible to passive candidates and their professional community.
- **Replying in the thread** builds a first, natural public connection.
- **Moving to DMs** turns that connection into a **warm** approach: "I saw our exchange under [X]'s post, and your point on [Y]. We're looking for exactly that profile — keen to talk?" Far more effective than a cold InMail.
- **Building a talent pool**: by commenting consistently in the same community, you build a network of talent who know you and refer you.

This relationship logic is what turns borrowed visibility into applications. Keep your target communities at hand in [personalized feeds](/en/features/feeds-personnalises) to nurture the connection day after day.

## FAQ

**Does commenting really help sourcing, or is it just image?**
Both. Commenting makes you visible to passive candidates (who never browse listings) and warms the relationship before your approach. A candidate who has already seen you comment usefully replies far better than to a cold InMail.

**Who should a recruiter comment under?**
Not among HR peers. Under the **professional** creators your ideal candidates follow (dev, sales, design…) and under your named candidates' posts. A top-10% creator in the niche earns ~3.4x the median. See [who to comment on](/en/blog/sur-qui-commenter-linkedin) and the [AI profile recommendation](/en/features/ia-recommandation-profils).

**Should you say "we're hiring" in the comment?**
No. A comment that pitches a role reads as spam. Add value (experience, a question, a viewpoint); your profile and the DM do the rest.

**How many comments per day for a recruiter?**
Aim for 5-10 targeted comments/day. With LinkHub (~29s per comment), that fits in a few minutes. The routine structure is detailed in [comment routine](/en/blog/routine-commentaires-linkedin).

**Does commenting help employer brand?**
Yes. Candidates trust an employee's voice 3x more than corporate messaging ([LinkedIn, 2025](https://business.linkedin.com/content/dam/me/business/en-us/talent-solutions/resources/pdfs/future-of-recruiting-2025-stff.pdf)). Your comments are that voice made real, seen by the right professional community.

## Sources & methodology

- **LinkHub first-party data** — 179 average impressions/comment (n=657,722); creators commented on (4,861: p50=36, p90=124, p99=357, max=1,522); timing (n=261,137); measured writing time (n=44,523); base of 100,000+ profiles. See [who to comment on](/en/blog/sur-qui-commenter-linkedin), [when to comment](/en/blog/quand-commenter-sur-linkedin).
- [LinkedIn — Future of Recruiting 2025](https://business.linkedin.com/content/dam/me/business/en-us/talent-solutions/resources/pdfs/future-of-recruiting-2025-stff.pdf) · [van der Blom — Algorithm InSights Report 2025](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/richardvanderblom_chapter-1-algorithm-insights-report-2025-activity-7322514599126130688-Q895)
- Find all our studies on the [LinkHub blog](/en/blog).