How Sourcing Will Be Different In 2023

Learn what experts say

The most successful talent leaders will tell you that candidate sourcing is essential to a modern talent acquisition strategy. Waiting for people to find your company and apply for open roles might generate a lot of applications, but is that the best talent for your business? Finding and engaging with people based on exactly what your hiring team needs to create value for your business is a different story.
 

It’s no surprise, then, that a recruiting study we recently published found 52% of recruitment professionals generate their best candidates through sourcing and 49% plan to increase their passive candidate outreach.
 
With the rate of churn and dissatisfaction in the workplace, passive sourcing will no doubt be the best way in the coming year to discover high-quality candidates who are looking for a new opportunity. We will also see AI, automation and other technologies continue to make the process less onerous.

I reached out to several talent acquisition professionals from different organizations and got their takes on how candidate sourcing will evolve in 2023 and beyond. Here is what they told me.

Candidate Nurturing Moves up the Priority List: Karen Worthy, VP, TA and Employee Experience for Booster

Candidate nurturing—which borrows from the world of lead nurturing in marketing—has proven to be one of the best ways for talent acquisition teams to engage with, attract and eventually hire passive talent. With hiring in a state of flux right now, nurturing is becoming a must-do sourcing practice and, moving into next year, we’ll see talent teams throw even more resources at it.  
 
While companies might be pumping the brakes on hiring, that doesn’t mean candidate nurturing stops. When the economy rebounds and all levels out in the hiring world, those who have successfully nurtured and kept candidates “warm” will be the ones scooping up the highest-quality passive talent.
 
We’ll see savvy recruiters take advantage of this slower hiring period to initiate relationships with passive candidates via social and other channels. More will also focus on fine-tuning their campaigns by A/B testing their sourcing messages and communications channels, getting their databases in good order, building communities on Slack and elsewhere, and researching new ways to customize outside of their current processes.  There will also be a stronger emphasis placed on employer branding, since that goes hand in hand with nurturing. Talent and marketing teams will spend more time collaborating to ensure they’re communicating a reliable and favorable brand and their social presence is supporting their sourcing efforts.
 

An Uptick in Slack for Sourcing: Michael J. Case, CEO of Neptune People

Slack is steadily becoming the newest channel for reaching out to passive candidates, and we’re going to continue to see that trend growing in 2023. There are good reasons for it. For one, practically everyone is using Slack within their companies and/or to communicate around professional and personal interests on open channels. It’s reported that there are approximately 3 million daily users, and new channels are popping up all the time.
 
Beyond sheer numbers, Slack has benefits that can give sourcers a competitive edge over those using more traditional strategies. It’s conversational and less formal than email or LinkedIn messaging, which is typically the tone you want to take when starting to engage with passive candidates. Slack is also much faster than other channels because you can DM (if given permission) and it doesn’t require writing a detailed email for a quick touch-base with a candidate.
 
Also, keep in mind that a lot of developers, designers and other technical talent do not spend as much time engaging with LinkedIn as they do in the Slack world. This makes it especially fertile recruiting ground for growing tech companies or others filling niche roles. Plus, it’s highly searchable—you can search subchannels, go back and search conversation histories and find people who have posted work relevant to the role you’re filling.
 
In 2023, expect:
●    An increasing number of tech sourcers joining and hanging out in channels such as Ruby developers, DevOps and Designer Talks.
●    More sourcing in Slack outside of tech, such as for marketing, sales and product management.   
●    More recruiters using Slack to promote employee referrals, whether that’s setting up a channel specifically for that purpose or integrating it into a channel where they post new job openings.
●    Beyond Slack, more sourcing taking place on Reddit, Fishbowl and similar channels.
 

Internal Sourcing and Luxury of Time to Fine Tune: Lauren Skuchas, Partner of Managed Services for Findem

A good deal of the changes that we’re going to see in sourcing in the coming year are going to be geared toward hiring in a way that roots out the cream-of-the-crop candidates and promotes retention—even if it means slowing down some of the processes.
 
With an increase in inbound applications, sourcers will use more technology tools to match profiles against current openings because it’ll be impossible to accomplish it all manually, yield quality results and stay apace with goals. Automation will be extended to new parts of the sourcing process–such as automating candidate nurture sequences–to keep candidates engaged with the brand and their minds open to future conversations. I also expect a bigger emphasis placed on internal “sourcing,” where employees are tracked and monitored for career growth and developed for retention as part of a larger internal talent management strategy.
 
Sourcing teams will also take time to tighten up their interview strategies because the market won’t demand the lightning speed urgency it has at other times. The slower market will give sourcers the luxury of time to invest in interview practices, training and coaching interview participants on technique.
 
On the DE&I front, sourcing will take into account unique life experiences and not just diversity statistics. The interview processes will better honor inclusivity and belonging initiatives.
 
That’s just a sample of what I’ve heard from talent leaders in my network. The people function continues to gain ground as a strategic function within the organization and recruiting brings tremendous potential and value to every organization. While sourcing may not be completely turned on its head in 2023, talent leaders can expect a little more whiplash as the world continues to turn in unexpected ways. Agility in your workforce and recruiting processes will be key.
 

Author Bio

Hari Kolam is Co-Founder and CEO of Findem. Visit www.findem.ai Connect Hari Kolam