Hiring Signal Tracking

Job postings reveal more about a company's strategy than almost any other public signal. RivalReport tracks your competitors' hiring activity to give you insight into their plans.

Why Hiring Signals Matter

Job postings can reveal:

• Strategic direction — A surge in AI/ML roles signals technology investment
• Growth stage — Rapid sales hiring often precedes aggressive expansion
• Organizational priorities — Leadership hires indicate strategic shifts
• Geographic expansion — New location-based roles signal market entry
• Financial health — Hiring patterns correlate with funding and revenue

What We Track

RivalReport monitors job postings across major platforms:

• LinkedIn Jobs
• Indeed
• Glassdoor
• Company career pages
• Industry-specific job boards

For each posting, we capture:

• Role title and level — From entry-level to C-suite
• Department — Engineering, Sales, Marketing, etc.
• Location — Office, remote, or hybrid
• Date posted — When the role was listed
• Job description — Full details and requirements

Reading Hiring Updates

In your weekly report, hiring signals appear as summaries:

Acme Corp is actively hiring:

• 3 new Engineering roles (2 Senior, 1 Staff)
• VP of Sales (new leadership position)
• 5 SDR positions across US offices

Signal: Appears to be scaling sales team significantly

Interpreting Hiring Patterns

Sales Team Expansion

A rapid increase in sales hiring often precedes:

• New product launches
• Market expansion initiatives
• Aggressive revenue targets (often post-funding)

Engineering Hiring

Heavy engineering investment might indicate:

• Major product development
• Technical debt reduction
• Platform rebuilds or new technology adoption

Marketing Growth

Marketing team expansion often signals:

• Brand repositioning
• New market entry
• Upcoming campaign pushes

Leadership Changes

Executive and VP-level hiring reveals:

• Strategic pivots
• Professionalization of specific functions
• Preparation for funding rounds or exits

Filtering Hiring Data

In your dashboard, you can filter hiring signals by:

• Department — Focus on roles relevant to your strategy
• Seniority — Track only leadership-level hires
• Location — Monitor geographic expansion
• Time period — See trends over custom date ranges

Setting Up Alerts

To get notified of significant hiring activity:

1. Go to Settings > Alerts
2. Enable Hiring signal alerts
3. Optionally, set filters (e.g., only VP+ roles, only Engineering)
4. Choose your notification method

Best Practices

• Look for patterns — Single hires are less meaningful than trends
• Consider timing — Hiring around funding announcements is normal
• Watch for departures — Sometimes what matters is who's leaving (check LinkedIn)
• Compare to your own — Use competitor hiring as a benchmark for your team