You already paid for these people once
Every record in that database cost something: an advert, a sourcing licence, a consultant's afternoon. Then the consultant left, the desk changed focus, and the search box stopped returning anyone useful. So the team goes back to paid sourcing for people who are, quite often, already in there under a job title from years ago.
The rule this play follows is plain: check what you already own before you spend credits finding it again. It takes one dormant segment, works out who in it still matters to what you recruit today, and ends with a message ready to go to those people. It does not try to repair the whole database. It tries to get conversations out of one part of it.
What you get back
A table for the segment, one row per person: the title and employer your record holds, where they work today, a keep, maybe or drop call with the reason, and whether the address you hold still delivers. For the keeps, a drafted message each and a paused campaign with those drafts loaded. Everyone who was dropped is listed with the reason, so you can see the filter was fair. Suggested record updates, such as a current employer, wait for your approval.
Variations worth knowing
Start from a live role. If one vacancy is the reason you are looking, finding the candidates already in your ATS scores the database against that job, not against the desk in general.
Wait for a reason to write. If you would rather reconnect when something has happened in a person's career, getting back in touch after a promotion or a move is triggered by the change itself. This play needs no trigger: the segment is the reason.
LinkedIn only. Where no personal address can be found, the person stays on the list with their LinkedIn URL and can be staged for a LinkedIn-led cadence.
People you placed. Someone you placed years ago may be the one hiring today. List them separately: that is a client conversation, on a work address, and a different message.
Where this goes wrong
The address on file is a work address. Old records often hold the email of the employer someone had at the time. It is probably dead, and if it is alive it is the wrong channel for a candidate. Those addresses are set aside, not used.
Reading an unchanged profile as a confirmed one. Some people never update their profile. Unchanged means the profile has not moved, which is not the same as the person not having moved.
A job pitch to someone you have ignored for years. The first message reopens the relationship. Save the vacancy for the reply.
Running the whole database. Lookups are charged per person, and much of an old database is outside your market today. Pick the segment you would search this month, prove the output, then take the next.
