{"id":3392,"date":"2013-01-15T14:40:12","date_gmt":"2013-01-15T14:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theweekinimaging.com\/?p=3392"},"modified":"2013-03-04T18:30:17","modified_gmt":"2013-03-04T18:30:17","slug":"help-wanted-experience-necessary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/feature-articles\/2013\/01\/help-wanted-experience-necessary\/","title":{"rendered":"Help Wanted: Experience Extremely Necessary"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Paul Schwartz<\/p><\/div>\n

If you\u2019re looking to get a good picture of what\u2019s happening on the personnel side of the office technology business one of the best people to speak with is Paul Schwartz, president of Copier Careers, a personnel agency for the office technology industry and a company that\u2019s well known throughout the business for its annual salary surveys.<\/p>\n

Dramatic changes continue to take place on the service end of the business.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe definition of a technician has evolved and it\u2019s rare these days when we get a call for a traditional break-fix technician,\u201d notes Schwartz \u201cThey have to have the break-fix skill set and the networking, if not certification practical skill set. This affects all aspects, sales, management, everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copier Careers has been doing more managed-oriented searches during the past couple of years than they\u2019ve done in the previous decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s because of this titanic shift in the model of the dealership,\u201d reports Schwartz. \u201cIf you stop and think about the arc of a dealership and the arc of management in service and sales, it\u2019s not unusual for the service or sales manager to have been around for 20 years. All of a sudden their role has significantly changed. And because it\u2019s changed they have to make a decision if they want to relearn what they do or if it\u2019s time for them to move on. Sometimes ownership has to deal with that issue. The question for them is, \u2018is the issue my field service or my service manager?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

From 2008-2010 Schwartz reveals there was hiring going on, but not a lot of development of new people because dealerships were afraid to grow internally. \u201cAnd maybe they didn\u2019t necessarily want to send the guy to the next class,\u201d says Schwartz.<\/p>\n

That seems to have affected the skills that are becoming more important to the office technology dealer community as they evolve more into services.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is definitely a shortage of talented people out there and the people with the skill sets, especially with the managed network skill sets specific to the document imaging industry as opposed to generic network skill sets,\u201d states Schwartz. \u201cThat\u2019s a hard thing to find and there\u2019s a premium on their heads right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the sales side, Copier Careers frequently talks to many two-, three-, and five-year sales reps, convincing them to move to their clients. That\u2019s a challenge. \u201cOur clients must have the right environment to recruit these people to them,\u201d says Schwartz. \u201cOur clients have to offer a full array of solutions to attract both the technician and the sales reps because sales reps have become very savvy. They understand that if the dealership is still embracing a box-sales mentality and they can\u2019t go in and sell professional services or solutions, they\u2019re leaving a ton of stuff on the table and it\u2019s going to affect their income. There\u2019s a direct correlation between the clients\u2019 ability to be progressive and embrace all of these things that can be sold and their ability to attract people. It\u2019s a two-way street.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking ahead Schwartz sees the need for more specialization.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s become the name of the game,\u201d he says. \u201cThe other thing we see in 2013 is just as tight a market. If you have the specific skill sets our clients are looking for there\u2019s zero unemployment. If there\u2019s unemployment, there\u2019s usually a personal issue with the candidate. There just aren\u2019t enough bodies to fill the positions that are available.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, expect to see Copier Careers continue to educate their dealer clients through their salary surveys and newsletters so they have a realistic expectation of what they can help them find out in the industry. \u201cThat\u2019s one of the most difficult things we have to deal with our clients is making them understand how rare these candidates are,\u201d concludes Schwartz.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re looking to get a good picture of what\u2019s happening on the personnel side of the office technology business one of the best people to speak with is Paul Schwartz, president of Copier Careers, a personnel agency for the office technology industry and a company that\u2019s well known throughout the business for its annual salary surveys. Dramatic changes continue to take place on the service end of the business. \u201cThe definition of a technician has evolved and it\u2019s rare these days when we get a call for a traditional break-fix technician,\u201d notes Schwartz \u201cThey have to have the break-fix skill set and the networking, if not certification practical skill set. This affects all aspects, sales, management, everything.\u201d Copier Careers has been doing more managed-oriented searches during the past couple of years than they\u2019ve done in the previous decade. \u201cIt\u2019s because of this titanic shift in the model of the dealership,\u201d reports Schwartz. \u201cIf you stop and think about the arc of a dealership and the arc of management in service and sales, it\u2019s not unusual for the service or sales manager to have been around for 20 years. All of a sudden their role has significantly changed. And because it\u2019s changed they have to make a decision if they want to relearn what they do or if it\u2019s time for them to move on. Sometimes ownership has to deal with that issue. The question for them is, \u2018is the issue my field service or my service manager?\u2019\u201d From 2008-2010 Schwartz reveals there was hiring going on, but not a lot of development of new people because dealerships were afraid to grow internally. \u201cAnd maybe they didn\u2019t necessarily want to send the guy to the next class,\u201d says Schwartz. That seems to have affected the skills that are becoming more important to the office technology dealer community as they evolve more into services. \u201cThere is definitely a shortage of talented people out there and the people with the skill sets, especially with the managed network skill sets specific to the document imaging industry as opposed to generic network skill sets,\u201d states Schwartz. \u201cThat\u2019s a hard thing to find and there\u2019s a premium on their heads right now.\u201d On the sales side, Copier Careers frequently talks to many two-, three-, and five-year sales reps, convincing them to move to their clients. That\u2019s a challenge. \u201cOur clients must have the right environment to recruit these people to them,\u201d says Schwartz. \u201cOur clients have to offer a full array of solutions to attract both the technician and the sales reps because sales reps have become very savvy. They understand that if the dealership is still embracing a box-sales mentality and they can\u2019t go in and sell professional services or solutions, they\u2019re leaving a ton of stuff on the table and it\u2019s going to affect their income. There\u2019s a direct correlation between the clients\u2019 ability to be progressive and embrace all of these things that can be sold and their ability to attract people. It\u2019s a two-way street.\u201d Looking ahead Schwartz sees the need for more specialization. \u201cThat\u2019s become the name of the game,\u201d he says. \u201cThe other thing we see in 2013 is just as tight a market. If you have the specific skill sets our clients are looking for there\u2019s zero unemployment. If there\u2019s unemployment, there\u2019s usually a personal issue with the candidate. There just aren\u2019t enough bodies to fill the positions that are available.\u201d Meanwhile, expect to see Copier Careers continue to educate their dealer clients through their salary surveys and newsletters so they have a realistic expectation of what they can help them find out in the industry. \u201cThat\u2019s one of the most difficult things we have to deal with our clients is making them understand how rare these candidates are,\u201d concludes Schwartz.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[82],"tags":[148,291,318,331],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3392"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3392"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3754,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3392\/revisions\/3754"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}