New York, NY., Jan 4, 2023 – The Sciolytix Sales Hiring Index (SSHI) fell from 95.5 in December 2022 to 73.2 in January 2023. The SSHI measures relative demand for full-time sales talent in the US over the last 30 days through new sales job postings on Zip Recruiter, Indeed, LinkedIn and Glassdoor.
The decrease of 22.3 points is the largest drop in the SSHI since it began in July 2022. It suggests demand for salespeople softened over the past 30 days. The broad-based SSHI fell 27.7 points to 64.1, while the B2B-SSHI fell 10.0 points to 96.9.
| Source | Aug 2022 | Sep 2022 | Oct 2022 | Nov 2022 | Dec 2023 | Jan 2023 |
| ZipRecruiter – US Sales | 548,204 | 546,371 | 553,122 | 585,417 | 530,591 | 343,778 |
| Indeed – US Sales | 146,230 | 124,948 | 119,677 | 118,840 | 106,963 | 101,336 |
| Total | 694,434 | 671,319 | 672,799 | 704,257 | 637,554 | 445,114 |
| SSHI – Broad | 100.0 | 96.7 | 96.9 | 101.4 | 91.8 | 64.1 |
| Month-over-Month Change | -3.3 | 0.2 | 4.5 | -9.6 | -27.7 | |
| LinkedIn – US Sales | 69,363 | 76,111 | 64,659 | 46,113 | 60,877 | 55,476 |
| GlassDoor – US Sales | 46,141 | 45,729 | 67,088 | 46,517 | 62,566 | 56,435 |
| Total | 115,504 | 121,840 | 131,747 | 92,630 | 123,443 | 111,911 |
| SSHI – B2B | 100 | 105.5 | 114.1 | 80.2 | 106.9 | 96.9 |
| Month-over-Month Change | 5.5 | 8.6 | -33.9 | 26.7 | -10.0 | |
| Overall | 97.9 | 101.4 | 99.0 | 95.5 | 73.2 | |
| Month-over-Month Change | 3.5 | -2.4 | -3.6 | -22.3 |
The data highlights the seasonal nature of sales hiring as organizations staff-up in the fall and then throttle sales hiring back during the holiday season and early New Year. This is especially pronounced in the retail industry.
6 Month Hiring Trends
Over the past six months, the broad-based sales hiring index increased 1.4 points from August through November and then fell in December before sharply dropping in January. B2B sales hiring index increased by 6.9 points from August to December, then fell 10.0 points in January.
In a recent article, Mega-Companies Messed Up America’s Job Market. They’re Doing it Again, the Wall Street Journal reports that headlines about big layoffs don’t mean the job market is melting. Still, they point out excessive hiring by America’s big companies during the pandemic.
According to WSJ, part of what has made America’s job market so tight is that big, publicly traded companies hired like crazy after the pandemic struck. Now that many are slamming into reverse, it seems like a wave of unemployment is underway.
According to Dario Priolo (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dpriolo/), Sciolytix Chief Marketing Officer and creator of the SSHI, “It’s easy to get caught up in the hype and overreact, but business and sales leaders must carefully consider their market and needs before hiring or firing salespeople.”
To learn more, visit www.sciolytix.com.
