Tracking External Talent Signals: Where the Market is Going
What your competitors are hiring for today may be what you’ll need tomorrow. Tracking external talent signals helps you see what’s coming—and act first.
What Are External Talent Signals?
External talent signals are indicators from the labor market that suggest shifts in demand, supply, and strategy around human capital. They include data points such as:
- Competitor job postings
- Wage inflation in specific roles
- Emerging job titles or skills
- Layoffs or hiring freezes in key sectors
- Regional hiring patterns
- Demographic or generational shifts
These signals provide HR with market awareness—a way to look outward and anticipate change before it impacts operations.
Why Should HR Pay Attention?
Too often, workforce planning happens in a vacuum—based on internal goals, headcount targets, or budget cycles. But talent markets move fast.
By watching external signals, HR can:
- Spot emerging skills before they become bottlenecks
- Adjust EVP based on competitive shifts
- Time hiring and development investments more effectively
- Guide leadership on talent risks tied to macroeconomic or tech trends
Where Do These Signals Come From?
There are many potential sources—some free, some proprietary:
- Job boards (LinkedIn, Indeed, Glassdoor)
- Labor market analytics platforms (EMSIs, Lightcast, Burning Glass)
- Compensation aggregators (Payscale, Radford)
- Government sources (BLS, Eurostat, ONS)
- Competitor career pages and press releases
- Social media sentiment and trends
- Industry reports and forecasts
Combining multiple sources provides a richer, more accurate picture.
What to Watch For
The art of tracking external signals lies in asking the right questions:
- What roles are competitors hiring for—and in which regions?
- Are new technologies (e.g., GenAI, green tech) changing demand?
- Where are salary expectations rising fastest?
- Are new credentials or certificates becoming industry standards?
- Is remote work reshaping the geography of talent?
Patterns matter more than isolated data points.
Turning Signals Into Strategy
Collecting data isn’t the hard part—making sense of it is. Here’s how to translate signals into workforce actions:
- Capability planning: What future skills will we need?
- Talent acquisition: Where should we recruit from—and when?
- L&D investment: What should we build internally?
- Retention strategy: Are our offers still competitive?
- Workforce location: Should we expand in new labor markets?
The value lies not in reporting, but interpreting and reacting.
Risks and Challenges
External signals aren’t perfect. Watch out for:
- Lagging indicators: Job posts may reflect past, not future, demand
- Bias: Public data may skew toward large companies or certain sectors
- Noise: Not every spike in hiring or new title means a long-term trend
- Overreaction: Acting too quickly on unclear signals can waste resources
Best Practices for Monitoring
- Establish regular reviews (monthly or quarterly)
- Use cross-functional teams (HR + Strategy + Analytics)
- Combine data sources for triangulation
- Visualize trends over time, not snapshots
- Link findings to capability frameworks or workforce plans
Link to Broader Intelligence
External talent signals don’t exist in isolation. They connect to:
- Internal capability gaps – Are we falling behind?
- DEI strategy – Where can we expand outreach or diversity?
- M&A and market entry – Do we have the right footprint for growth?
- Leadership development – Are new types of leaders emerging?
Used well, these signals make HR not just a respondent, but a forecaster—and a partner to strategy.