Professional profile data

Professional profile data describes people's careers: current and past roles, employers, skills, education and certifications. Recruiters and talent intelligence teams use it to find candidates and map talent pools, investors and strategists to track team movements, and researchers to study labor markets.

Typical fields:

• Name and current job title
• Current employer and start date
• Employment history with titles and dates
• Skills and certifications
• Education: institution, degree, years
• Location at city and country level
• Profile last updated date

Sources and collection

Profiles are assembled from public professional sources, company websites, conference speaker lists, publications, contributed data and open CV databases. Providers merge fragments into one profile per person, which risks mixing up people with similar names. Data gathered by bypassing logins, using fake accounts or ignoring technical protections should be avoided.

Delivery and pricing

Delivered as bulk files, API lookups and search platforms. Pricing is commonly per profile or per credit, with annual licences for bulk access. Aggregated workforce analytics, which show counts and trends rather than individuals, are often sold separately and carry lower privacy risk.

Privacy

Profiles are personal data. Under the GDPR and similar laws, buyers need a lawful basis, must keep data accurate and minimal, and must respect objections. Using profiles in automated hiring decisions raises further legal requirements. This is not legal advice.

Before you buy

• Ask how profiles were collected and whether site terms were respected.
• Check current-employer accuracy for people you know.
• Confirm how often profiles are refreshed.
• Consider aggregated workforce data if you do not need individuals.
• Review deletion and opt-out handling.