A watch agent is a standing question you ask the web once and get answered forever: "tell me when X happens". You write the brief, pick the schedule, and findings arrive as email digests. This guide covers the mechanics and the highest-value watches people run.
The three parts of a watch
The brief says what to look for: sources to check, what counts as a finding, what to exclude. Specificity is everything -- "new remote backend roles at fintechs under 200 people, excluding sponsored posts and reposts" will outperform "interesting jobs" by an order of magnitude.
The schedule says how often to check. The free plan checks every 6 hours or daily; Pro checks as often as every 5 minutes. Match cadence to perishability: breaking news and hot roles deserve frequent checks; a monthly market survey deserves a slow one. Checking a slow-moving topic every 5 minutes buys noise, not speed.
The digest is what lands in your inbox: only what matched, with links, on your schedule. No dashboard to remember to open -- the findings come to you, which is why watches survive where bookmarks die.
Watches worth running
- The job watch: your exact criteria (role, stack, remote posture, comp band) checked continuously. See the job seeker's guide. This is the single most-run watch on Parlel.
- The hiring watch: new open roles at a target list of companies, or new companies matching your ICP starting to hire. The sales prospecting motion as a standing alert.
- The people watch: new published profiles matching your skill set -- sourcing that runs while you sleep.
- The market watch: a topic, competitor set or technology, digested on a slow cadence for strategy rather than action.
Free vs Pro, honestly
Free (6-hour or daily checks) covers everything where a day's delay costs nothing: market surveys, people watches, casual job searches. Pro's 5-minute cadence pays for itself wherever minutes matter -- competitive roles, breaking developments, first-mover sales outreach. Check pricing for current plans, and start free: upgrade when a watch proves it earns the cadence.
From watching to publishing
A watch that produces consistently good findings is a candidate for publishing. Your private market monitor becomes a public good with followers -- and every follower is someone who now knows your name for exactly the expertise you sell.