# How Outscope works

> New to Outscope? How it turns public job postings into a ranked list of companies, what the words mean, and where to start. Plain language, no call.

Canonical: https://outscope.co/docs
Last updated: 2026-11-09

Outscope finds the companies that need what you sell right now. It reads public job postings every day, scores them against your buying signals, and shows the evidence in the company's own words, with the person to email. New here? Start with [getting started](https://outscope.co/docs/getting-started), or read on for what it all means.

## What it does

When a company is about to change something, it often hires for it first, and the job posting says what the new person will do. "Build our outbound motion from scratch" is a team that will need outbound tools this quarter. Outscope reads those postings so you don't have to.

| Step | What happens |
| --- | --- |
| **Read your site** | It works out what you sell and who buys it, and suggests the signals a posting would show when a company needs you. |
| **Read the postings** | Every day it reads new postings on Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, Workable and Workday job boards against your signals. |
| **Keep the line** | A match counts only if the model quotes the posting word for word. That line is what you see, marked, with a link to the posting. |
| **Rank the companies** | Companies are scored from 0 to 10: the strongest posting, how many roles match, how recent they are, and whether the company looks like your buyer. |
| **Find who to email** | For a company you pick, it finds one person in the roles you choose, with a verified work email, and writes a first line from their posting. |
| **Hand it over** | Export a CSV for any sending tool, or send the people to Ballast as a draft campaign. Outscope never emails anyone itself. |

## Words you'll see

| Word | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| **Workspace** | Your account: the plan, the credits, the team and the campaigns. "Company" always means a company on your list. |
| **Campaign** | One search: what you sell, the signals, the keywords and filters, and the companies it found. |
| **Signal** | Something a posting can show that makes a company likely to need you, like "hiring its first sales rep". Each has a weight. |
| **Keywords** | Words a matching posting would use. They decide which postings get read at all. |
| **The line** | The sentence from a posting that matched a signal, quoted word for word. |
| **Score** | 0 to 10 for a company, worked out in code from its matching postings and its fit. |
| **Credit** | One verified email address. A search that finds nobody uses none. |

## Where to read next

| To do this | Read |
| --- | --- |
| Go from your website to a first list | [Getting started](https://outscope.co/docs/getting-started) |
| Write signals that find the right companies | [Signals and keywords](https://outscope.co/docs/signals) |
| Understand why a company ranks where it does | [How companies are scored](https://outscope.co/docs/scoring) |
| Find your way around a campaign | [Working a campaign](https://outscope.co/docs/campaigns) |
| Get a person and a first line | [Who to email](https://outscope.co/docs/who-to-email) |
| Take the list to your sending tool | [Exports and Ballast](https://outscope.co/docs/exports) |
| Choose a plan, buy credits | [Plans and credits](https://outscope.co/docs/plans-and-credits) |
| Add teammates or client workspaces | [Workspaces and teammates](https://outscope.co/docs/workspaces) |

## When it is not for you

- **Your buyers don't post jobs.** Small local firms and companies under about ten people rarely publish roles, so there's little to read.
- **You sell to enterprises through a sales team.** You probably want something bigger, with people attached.
- **You want a guarantee of replies.** A good signal gets you a better reason to write. The rest is your offer.
- **You need phone numbers.** Email only for now.

## Next

[Start from your website](https://outscope.co/signup): the first preview is free and needs no card. For prices, see [pricing](https://outscope.co/pricing). Stuck? [Write to us](https://outscope.co/contact): a reply reaches a person.


## All docs

- [How Outscope works](https://outscope.co/docs)
- [Getting started](https://outscope.co/docs/getting-started)
- [Signals and keywords](https://outscope.co/docs/signals)
- [How companies are scored](https://outscope.co/docs/scoring)
- [Working a campaign](https://outscope.co/docs/campaigns)
- [Who to email and first lines](https://outscope.co/docs/who-to-email)
- [Exports and Send to Ballast](https://outscope.co/docs/exports)
- [Plans, credits and billing](https://outscope.co/docs/plans-and-credits)
- [Workspaces and teammates](https://outscope.co/docs/workspaces)
- [Where the data comes from](https://outscope.co/docs/data-and-privacy)