Want to know what your competitors are up to? Don’t guess—look at who they’re hiring, and how fast. If you’re in HR, recruiting, or just trying to get a leg up on the market, tracking hiring trends can give you real competitive intel. This guide shows you how to cut through the noise and actually use workforce data from Coresignal to get answers that matter.
Why Bother With Competitor Hiring Data?
Before you start pulling data, let’s be honest: most “competitive intelligence” is fluff. But hiring data is different. It’s hard to fake and tells you:
- Which teams your competitors are investing in
- What skills they think matter right now
- Whether they’re ramping up or slowing down
If you see a rival suddenly hiring a bunch of engineers in AI, that’s a clue—maybe more useful than their press releases.
Step 1: Get the Right Workforce Data
Coresignal collects workforce data from public online profiles (think: LinkedIn, public resumes, etc). You get info like:
- Employee headcount by company, over time
- Job titles and functions
- Location data
- Skills and seniority
What works:
Coresignal’s data is broad—lots of companies and a decent historical trail. If you want to see trends month over month, or spot jumps in hiring, this is what you need.
What doesn’t:
Don’t expect 100% coverage. Some companies are private or just under the radar. And not everyone updates their online profiles right away—so there’s lag. For smaller firms, the signal can get noisy.
Pro tip:
Don’t just grab a single month’s data. Get at least 12-24 months to see real trends, not just seasonal blips.
Step 2: Pick (and Prioritize) Your Competitors
Don’t try to boil the ocean. Pick 3-10 competitors that actually matter to your business.
- Start with your direct rivals—companies selling similar products to similar customers.
- Add in “aspirational” competitors: the folks you want to be, or who are a couple of years ahead of you.
- Ignore the rest. If you chase every company, you’ll drown in spreadsheets.
Pro tip:
Don’t just look at big names. Watch fast-growing upstarts—they change hiring patterns faster than the giants.
Step 3: Define the Questions You Want to Answer
Don’t just download data because it’s there. Decide what you’re actually trying to find out. Here are a few useful questions:
- Is Competitor X growing their engineering team faster than last year?
- Who’s hiring in new markets (by location)?
- What roles or skillsets are getting the most attention?
- Did anyone just go through a hiring freeze or big layoff?
Write these questions down. They’ll keep you focused when the data gets messy.
Step 4: Pull and Clean the Data
Get your workforce data from Coresignal. Depending on your setup, that might mean:
- Downloading CSVs
- Querying an API
- Getting a data dump for your favorite BI tool
What to look for:
- Company names (standardized—watch out for “Inc.” vs “LLC”)
- Time stamps (monthly snapshots are best)
- Job titles (clean these up—a “Software Engineer” and “SWE” should be grouped)
- Locations (city, country, region)
- Seniority levels (entry, mid, senior, exec)
Clean it up:
- Standardize job titles and company names
- Fill in missing values where you can (but don’t make stuff up)
- Drop obvious outliers—if a company “triples” in size in one month, double-check
Pro tip:
Don’t get hung up on perfect data. Trends matter more than precision. If one profile is out of date, it won’t skew a 500-person trend.
Step 5: Analyze for Trends That Actually Matter
Here’s where you move past “look, a chart!” and actually get insights.
A. Headcount Growth
- Plot total employees by company over time
- Look for inflection points—periods of rapid growth or sudden dips
- Compare your company’s growth side-by-side with competitors
Watch for:
Normal seasonal hiring (summer interns, holiday retail spikes) can throw things off. Focus on year-over-year, not just month-over-month.
B. Department and Role Breakdown
- Split headcount by function (engineering, sales, marketing, etc.)
- See which teams are growing fastest
- Spot new departments (e.g., a new “AI Research” team popping up)
What’s useful:
If a competitor suddenly doubles their product team, they might be gearing up for a big launch.
What to ignore:
Tiny changes in small teams. If they go from 2 to 3 people in “Legal,” it’s not a trend.
C. Skills and Technology Focus
- Analyze job titles and listed skills
- Look for trending keywords (e.g., “machine learning,” “cloud,” “blockchain”)
- Track when new tech stacks appear in their hiring
Pro tip:
Don’t obsess over buzzwords. Focus on skills that are new or growing, not just the latest hype.
D. Location Shifts
- Map where new hires are based
- Watch for moves into new markets or remote hiring patterns
This can clue you in to expansion plans or cost-cutting moves (like shifting engineering to lower-cost regions).
E. Seniority and Leadership Hires
- Watch for spikes in senior or leadership roles
- New exec hires often mean strategic changes
If three “VP of Sales” roles pop up, something’s up.
Step 6: Visualize and Share (But Don’t Overdo It)
Make your findings easy to digest. You don’t need a dashboard with 100 filters—just clear charts that answer your original questions.
- Line charts for headcount growth
- Bar graphs for department growth
- Heat maps for location changes
Keep it simple:
If the chart needs a paragraph to explain, it’s too complicated.
Step 7: Sense-Check and Add Context
Not every spike means a new strategy. Before you run to the CEO, double-check:
- Are there news stories (funding, layoffs, product launches) that explain the trend?
- Any recent acquisitions or divestitures?
- Did a bunch of employees update their profiles all at once (after annual reviews, for example)?
Don’t:
Take every data blip at face value. Cross-reference with public news, earnings calls, or even Glassdoor reviews.
Step 8: Turn Insights Into Action
You’ve got the trends—now what? Here’s where to actually use the info:
- Inform your hiring plans—are you lagging in key areas?
- Alert product or sales teams—if competitors are moving into a new market, get ahead
- Spot partnership or acquisition targets
Pro tip:
Don’t just share data for data’s sake. Tie it to decisions: “We’re seeing a big push into cloud security at Competitor X—should we revisit our roadmap?”
What to Ignore (Seriously)
- Small monthly changes—they’re just noise
- Fluffy LinkedIn titles (“Ninja,” “Rockstar”)—group them with real roles
- Obvious PR-driven hiring (e.g., 100 “Brand Ambassadors” for a one-off event)
Focus on sustained, real shifts over months and quarters.
Summary: Keep It Simple, Iterate Often
You don’t need fancy AI or dashboards to spot real hiring trends. Start simple, focus on what matters, and don’t chase every blip. The best insights come from tracking a few competitors, over time, with clear questions in mind. Check your assumptions, ignore the hype, and iterate as you go. The more you do this, the smarter your questions—and your competitive edge—will get.