Use Cases

Lightcast Canada Profiles APIs help you retrieve, analyze, and rank workforce profile data across a range of dimensions, including job titles, skills, and career history. They allow you to access both individual profile details and aggregated workforce insights, so you can make better talent and hiring decisions specific to Canada.

Explore the use cases below to understand how the Canada Profiles API can be applied in real-world scenarios.

Rank Profile by Dimensions

Ranking profiles by workforce presence helps organizations make better decisions about hiring, learning programs, and role requirements in the Canadian market. Without reliable data, these decisions are often based on assumptions rather than actual Canadian market trends.

The Profiles Ranking API lets you group and rank Canadian profiles based on how frequently each profile appears across Canadian talent profiles. It returns a ranked list along with profile counts and the number of unique companies where each certification appears, giving you a clear picture of real-world certification demand.

See the Profile Ranking API reference for full request parameters and response details.

When to Use

You want to identify the most common profiles in the Canadian workforce
You need to decide which profiles to require or recommend for a role in Canada
You are aligning learning or hiring programs with Canadian labor market data

Endpoint

https://api.lightcast.io/ca-profiles/rankings/{rankingFacet}

Sample Request

curl --request POST \
     --url https://api.lightcast.io/ca-profiles/rankings/cd \
     --header 'accept: application/json' \
     --header 'authorization: Bearer XXXX ' \
     --header 'content-type: application/json' \
     --data '
{
  "filter": {
    "last_updated": {
      "start": "2018",
      "end": "2024"
    },
    "skills_name": {
      "include": [
        "Training And Development"
      ]
    }
  },
  "rank": {
    "by": "profiles",
    "limit": 5,
    "extra_metrics": [
      "unique_schools"
    ],
    "min_profiles": 1
  }
}
'

Sample Response

{
  "data": {
    "ranking": {
      "buckets": [
        {
          "name": "Unclassified",
          "profiles": 12780,
          "unique_schools": 2593
        },
        {
          "name": "Teachers",
          "profiles": 3240,
          "unique_schools": 805
        },
        {
          "name": "Human Resources Managers",
          "profiles": 3198,
          "unique_schools": 1036
        },
        {
          "name": "Owners",
          "profiles": 2964,
          "unique_schools": 911
        },
        {
          "name": "Presidents",
          "profiles": 2865,
          "unique_schools": 1299
        }
      ],
      "facet": "title_name",
      "limit": 5,
      "rank_by": "profiles"
    },
    "totals": {
      "profiles": 253574,
      "unique_schools": 11222
    }
  }
}

Profile Activity Over Time

Understanding how Canadian workforce data is distributed over time helps organizations assess the freshness and relevance of talent profiles in their analysis. Without this visibility, it is difficult to know whether insights are being driven by current Canadian market trends or outdated data.

The Profile Recency API lets you group and rank Canadian profiles by the year they were last active, based on how frequently profiles appear across each time period. It returns a year-by-year breakdown of profile counts, giving you a clear picture of how current and representative your Canadian talent data is.

See the Canada Profiles Recency API reference for full request parameters and response details.

When to Use

You want to understand how Canadian talent profile data is distributed across years
You need to assess the freshness of profiles before running analysis on the Canadian market
You want to identify whether your insights are driven by recent or older Canadian data
You are filtering or weighting Canadian profiles based on recency for more accurate results

Endpoint

https://api.lightcast.io/ca-profiles/recency

Sample Request

curl --request POST \
     --url https://api.lightcast.io/ca-profiles/recency \
     --header 'accept: application/json' \
     --header 'authorization: Bearer XXXXX' \
     --header 'content-type: application/json' \
     --data '
{
  "filter": {
    "last_updated": {
      "start": "2020"
    },
    "skills_name": {
      "include": [
        "C++ (Programming Language)"
      ]
    }
  },
  "metrics": [
    "profiles",
    "unique_schools"
  ]
}
'

Sample Response

{
  "data": {
    "recency": {
      "profiles": [
        2855,
        3390,
        2937,
        20650,
        21280,
        243016
      ],
      "unique_schools": [
        1344,
        1494,
        1293,
        3297,
        4053,
        9193
      ],
      "year": [
        "2020",
        "2021",
        "2022",
        "2023",
        "2024",
        "2025"
      ]
    },
    "totals": {
      "profiles": 294128,
      "unique_schools": 9831
    }
  }
}

Match Profile by ID

Workforce decisions are most effective when they are grounded in detailed, structured data about individual Canadian professionals. Without access to comprehensive profile information, it is difficult to understand a person's skills, experience, education, and career trajectory in a consistent and analyzable format.

The Canada Profiles API lets you retrieve a complete Canadian talent profile by profile ID, returning structured data across all key dimensions of a professional's background. It returns standardized fields including skills, employment history, education, job titles, location, industry classifications, and more, giving you a full picture of an individual's presence.

See the Canada Profiles API reference for full request parameters and response details.

When to Use

You want to retrieve detailed profile data for a specific Canadian professional
You need to analyze a professional's skills, titles, and career history in a structured format within the Canadian market
You are building candidate or employee profiles using real Canadian labor market data

Endpoint

https://api.lightcast.io/ca-profiles/profiles/{profile_id}

Sample Request

curl --request GET \
     --url https://api.lightcast.io/ca-profiles/profiles/profile_id \
     --header 'accept: application/json' \
     --header 'authorization: Bearer XXXXX'

Sample Response

{
  "data": {
    "acquired_timestamp": "2020-01-01",
    "cd": null,
    "cd_name": null,
    "city": "QWJjZGVmZ2hpams=",
    "city_name": "Toronto, ON",
    "cma": null,
    "cma_name": null,
    "company": "123456789",
    "company_name": "Acme Corporation",
    "laa_admin_area_1": "CA35",
    "laa_admin_area_1_name": "Ontario",
    "laa_admin_area_2": "CA3543017",
    "laa_admin_area_2_name": "Innisfil",
    "laa_country": "CA",
    "laa_country_name": "Canada",
    "laa_metro": "CA35568",
    "laa_metro_name": "Barrie",
    "lot_career_area": "33",
    "lot_career_area_name": "Science and Research",
    "lot_occupation": "331312",
    "lot_occupation_group": "3313",
    "lot_occupation_group_name": "General Research",
    "lot_occupation_name": "Researcher / Research Associate",
    "lot_specialized_occupation": "33131215",
    "lot_specialized_occupation_name": "Research Associate (General)",
    "country": null,
    "csd": null,
    "csd_name": null,
    "educations": [
      {
        "level_name": null,
        "field_raw": null,
        "grad_year": null,
        "level_raw": null,
        "school_id": "53bff579e4b04710d09fbd9c",
        "school_name": "University of Toronto",
        "school_raw": "university of toronto"
      },
      {
        "level_name": null,
        "field_raw": "computer science",
        "grad_year": null,
        "level_raw": "bachelor",
        "school_id": "53bff579e4b04710d09fdac8",
        "school_name": "Ryerson University",
        "school_raw": "ryerson university"
      }
    ],
    "id": "1111111111111",
    "last_updated": "2024-01-01",
    "naics6": "541511",
    "naics6_name": "Custom Computer Programming Services",
    "noc5": "21232",
    "noc5_name": "Software developers and programmers",
    "personal_info": {
      "emails": [
        "[email protected]"
      ],
      "employment_history": [
        {
          "company_name_raw": "acme corporation",
          "description": null,
          "job_end_ym": null,
          "job_start_ym": "2020-01",
          "title_raw": "Senior Software Developer"
        },
        {
          "company_name_raw": "tech solutions inc",
          "description": "Developed and maintained web applications using modern frameworks.",
          "job_end_ym": "2020-01",
          "job_start_ym": "2018-01",
          "title_raw": "Software Developer"
        }
      ],
      "job_description": "",
      "name": "John Doe",
      "first_name": "John",
      "last_name": "Doe",
      "names": [
        "John Doe"
      ],
      "phones": [
        "+1 416-555-1234"
      ],
      "profile_urls": [],
      "title_raw": "Senior Software Developer"
    },
    "province": null,
    "province_name": null,
    "skills": [
      "KS440MC61Q7HPDQR5YHT",
      "KS127Z65Y2BBKJZ3W2HL",
      "KS1200365FTR9X0M96T9",
      "KS127ZG6DBSF76WF7VYX",
      "KS121YX5XHV5QPYV2TXL",
      "KS1200H6XYN1CR0G5NZ0",
      "KS1261G6FLXL70JW7G42",
      "KS441626TDSV2J6GBB86",
      "KS1254Q675CFWDY8PR54",
      "KS120BV6SR75RBKQH0G3",
      "KS126HY6YLTB9R7XJC4Z",
      "KS125ZB6BWF5RY40BH1B",
      "KS122556LMQ829GZCCRV",
      "KS1282N6NQMZ95M1HJ7L",
      "KS123NJ76GJLK91JS75M",
      "KS1267F6MSPN366LX7ST"
    ],
    "skills_name": [
      "JavaScript",
      "Python",
      "React",
      "Node.js",
      "SQL",
      "Git",
      "Docker",
      "AWS",
      "RESTful APIs",
      "Agile Methodology",
      "Test-Driven Development",
      "Code Review",
      "Microservices",
      "CI/CD",
      "MongoDB",
      "TypeScript"
    ],
    "title": "ETCCFF59C12964DA3C",
    "title_name": "Software Developers",
    "title_raw": "Senior Software Developer"
  }
}

Additional Resources

View full API reference