State of Sourcing 2023

A survey of sourcing and talent acquisition professionals, run in early 2023, offers a snapshot of who is doing this work, what they earn, and what tools they actually rely on day to day. The respondent pool skewed corporate, with a meaningful share of sourcing managers and TA leaders in the mix, which shapes how the compensation and workload numbers should be read.

Pay data breaks down total annual compensation, showing a wide spread tied closely to years of experience and seniority: those without twenty-plus years in the field or a leadership title tend to sit well below the top pay bracket. Tenure in current roles clusters around three to five years, suggesting more movement in the field than some might expect.

On the workload side, the top stressors are lack of time to get the job done and aging requisitions, followed by a cluster of issues that point to management problems rather than individual performance: minimal training, too many meetings, unclear leadership. Finding a next role also ranked high as a source of anxiety, though the survey did not distinguish between looking internally or externally.

Asked what they would buy with an unlimited sourcing and recruiting budget, respondents most often named sourcing platforms such as HireEZ, SeekOut, and Intelligence tools, followed closely by CRM systems and additional LinkedIn Recruiter seats. Other answers included sourcing training, AI tools, diversity sourcing tools, market intelligence platforms, and additional headcount.

Tool usage data covers:

• Job boards searched most often, with LinkedIn and Indeed far ahead of Monster, CareerBuilder, and Glassdoor
• Daily use of custom search engines and X-ray search, both cited as underused but high-value skills for sourcers without big tool budgets
• Hours spent per day on automated sourcing tools, with most respondents reporting under an hour
• Volume of open requisitions and hires per year, with a heavy cluster at the lower end and a smaller spike among those managing extremely high req loads

The overall picture is a field where satisfaction is moderate to high, headcount plans are mixed, and the biggest gaps sit not in candidate-finding skill but in time, training, and management support.