{"id":8779,"date":"2014-10-31T09:20:31","date_gmt":"2014-10-31T16:20:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=8779"},"modified":"2016-09-15T09:55:47","modified_gmt":"2016-09-15T16:55:47","slug":"how-good-help-in-the-office-imaging-industry-became-so-hard-to-find","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/feature-articles\/2014\/10\/how-good-help-in-the-office-imaging-industry-became-so-hard-to-find\/","title":{"rendered":"How Good Help in the Office Imaging Industry Became So Hard to Find"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"hiring\"<\/a>A few weeks ago I wrote a column about one of the biggest challenges facing the office imaging dealer community\u2014finding good people.<\/p>\n

Shortly afterwards I received an e-mail from Paul Schwartz, president of Copier Careers, a staffing company for the office imaging industry, who shared with me some of his observations about the roots of this dilemma.<\/p>\n

Copier Careers has more than 70,000 people in its database that it tracks every month and what\u2019s happening on the employment front is something it watches extraordinarily closely. From Schwartz\u2019s perch at the forefront of the hiring line at Copier Careers, the current situation is rooted in an interesting combination of coincidences or events. \u201cA couple of things happened the past few years, which are more consequential than anything else in our 25+ years in the industry,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

It all started with what happened with the economy in 2008-2009. The independent dealer channel and the OEMs themselves had no idea where the economy was heading, and because of that Copier Careers noticed that fewer people were receiving additional OEM training something that was more commonplace before the economic bust. \u201cThey stretched the rubber band tighter and tighter with their existing people,\u201d said Schwartz. \u201cThere was this whole [concept] of make do with less. Then all of a sudden they got used to that and it kind of became the norm.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copier Careers noticed that clients who used to hire what Schwartz calls \u201cbench strength,\u201d put on the brakes.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore \u201908 and \u201909 if we had a strong OEM trained technician in their backyard, they hired them because they were thinking they\u2019d grow the business and if they were OEM trained it would save them a lot of money,\u201d recalled Schwartz. \u201cThen theyy started hiring on need, but not future anticipation.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a result Copier Careers\u2019 metrics showed that the average number of calls went up, the average number of hours technicians and sales reps worked went up, and productivity per individual went up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen all of a sudden the economy got better and at the same time, MPS and MNS kicked in and dealers and OEMs looked at it and said \u2018I can go and sign up more devices and organically grow my business by large multiples,\u2019\u201d says Schwartz. \u201cWe had clients who in big years would grow their business, 5, 10, 15 percent, now all of a sudden we had clients growing at 50, 80, 150, 200 percent because of MPS and MNS. At the same time they still had the same service force in place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Complicating matters was the service force had the same skill sets they had before MPS and MNS, which made those skills dated in the job market.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe industry went from a break-fix mentality to an MPS\/MNS mentality,\u201d notes Schwartz. \u201cPlus they hadn\u2019t added to their field force, which exacerbated the situation of not having enough people.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not as if people weren\u2019t available. With layoffs, mergers, and acquisitions there was a pool of talent available, just not the right ones. \u201cThose individuals tended to be break-fix people, not what we call \u2018hybrid technicians,\u2019\u201d says Schwartz. \u201cTechnicians that might be 60% break-fix and 40% some kind of networking skill set or a combination of that. Those three things all came into play\u2014the shortage of people, the evolution of MPS, and the existing field force\u2019s skill set, one that wasn\u2019t always applicable in an MPS\/MNS environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

That brings us to where things are today.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re out there doing what we do and dealerships have internal recruiters doing what we do and the truth of the matter is, there are not enough people out there that are trained in the skill set they have to have,\u201d maintains Schwartz.<\/p>\n

This has created what Schwartz calls the greatest shortage of job candidates that Copier Careers has ever seen. \u201cIt\u2019s not that there\u2019s less people, it\u2019s that there\u2019s less people with the right skill sets for what a modern dealership has evolved into,\u201d points out Schwartz.<\/p>\n

He agrees with my point about recruiting young people right out of school although he\u2019s mostly referring to service techs. \u201cAt some point the option becomes taking people off the street or out of technical school who possess networking skills and teaching them break-fix skill sets or taking those with break-fix skills and teaching them networking skills,\u201d states Schwartz.<\/p>\n

Or a dealership might hire someone who doesn\u2019t have either skill and train them.<\/p>\n

If someone needs a tech or sales rep, Copier Careers, can usually fill that need from its huge database. But the talk track with clients has changed compared to four or five years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf someone was a Canon, Ricoh, or Toshiba dealer, we didn\u2019t have to have a conversation much beyond that,\u201d explains Schwartz. \u201cWe went through our database and pulled people with Canon, Ricoh or Toshiba certifications and made sure it matched. That was a given. A few years ago some of our more forward-thinking clients started telling us that they would be willing to live with someone with break-fix skills who wasn\u2019t specifically trained on the equipment of that dealer\u2019s OEM as long as they had certification on a OEM or some sort of networking A or A+ certification. They at least need the ability to work in a network environment and the ability not to mess it up. That was a tipping point.\u201d<\/p>\n

These days when Copier Careers has that conversation with a client and the client says, \u2018I need a tech who is trained,\u2019 Schwartz adds that it\u2019s a given that they\u2019re looking for a hybrid trained technician unless it\u2019s a production print tech or something more specific.<\/p>\n

Schwartz says there are still good people out there and Copier Careers can find them. \u201cWe\u2019re still able to pull it off, but it\u2019s more difficult and takes longer because there\u2019s less of a group to pick from.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few weeks ago I wrote a column about one of the biggest challenges facing the office imaging dealer community\u2014finding good people. Shortly afterwards I received an e-mail from Paul Schwartz, president of Copier Careers, a staffing company for the office imaging industry, who shared with me some of his observations about the roots of this dilemma. Copier Careers has more than 70,000 people in its database that it tracks every month and what\u2019s happening on the employment front is something it watches extraordinarily closely. From Schwartz\u2019s perch at the forefront of the hiring line at Copier Careers, the current situation is rooted in an interesting combination of coincidences or events. \u201cA couple of things happened the past few years, which are more consequential than anything else in our 25+ years in the industry,\u201d he says. It all started with what happened with the economy in 2008-2009. The independent dealer channel and the OEMs themselves had no idea where the economy was heading, and because of that Copier Careers noticed that fewer people were receiving additional OEM training something that was more commonplace before the economic bust. \u201cThey stretched the rubber band tighter and tighter with their existing people,\u201d said Schwartz. \u201cThere was this whole [concept] of make do with less. Then all of a sudden they got used to that and it kind of became the norm.\u201d Copier Careers noticed that clients who used to hire what Schwartz calls \u201cbench strength,\u201d put on the brakes. \u201cBefore \u201908 and \u201909 if we had a strong OEM trained technician in their backyard, they hired them because they were thinking they\u2019d grow the business and if they were OEM trained it would save them a lot of money,\u201d recalled Schwartz. \u201cThen theyy started hiring on need, but not future anticipation.\u201d As a result Copier Careers\u2019 metrics showed that the average number of calls went up, the average number of hours technicians and sales reps worked went up, and productivity per individual went up. \u201cThen all of a sudden the economy got better and at the same time, MPS and MNS kicked in and dealers and OEMs looked at it and said \u2018I can go and sign up more devices and organically grow my business by large multiples,\u2019\u201d says Schwartz. \u201cWe had clients who in big years would grow their business, 5, 10, 15 percent, now all of a sudden we had clients growing at 50, 80, 150, 200 percent because of MPS and MNS. At the same time they still had the same service force in place.\u201d Complicating matters was the service force had the same skill sets they had before MPS and MNS, which made those skills dated in the job market. \u201cThe industry went from a break-fix mentality to an MPS\/MNS mentality,\u201d notes Schwartz. \u201cPlus they hadn\u2019t added to their field force, which exacerbated the situation of not having enough people.\u201d It\u2019s not as if people weren\u2019t available. With layoffs, mergers, and acquisitions there was a pool of talent available, just not the right ones. \u201cThose individuals tended to be break-fix people, not what we call \u2018hybrid technicians,\u2019\u201d says Schwartz. \u201cTechnicians that might be 60% break-fix and 40% some kind of networking skill set or a combination of that. Those three things all came into play\u2014the shortage of people, the evolution of MPS, and the existing field force\u2019s skill set, one that wasn\u2019t always applicable in an MPS\/MNS environment.\u201d That brings us to where things are today. \u201cWe\u2019re out there doing what we do and dealerships have internal recruiters doing what we do and the truth of the matter is, there are not enough people out there that are trained in the skill set they have to have,\u201d maintains Schwartz. This has created what Schwartz calls the greatest shortage of job candidates that Copier Careers has ever seen. \u201cIt\u2019s not that there\u2019s less people, it\u2019s that there\u2019s less people with the right skill sets for what a modern dealership has evolved into,\u201d points out Schwartz. He agrees with my point about recruiting young people right out of school although he\u2019s mostly referring to service techs. \u201cAt some point the option becomes taking people off the street or out of technical school who possess networking skills and teaching them break-fix skill sets or taking those with break-fix skills and teaching them networking skills,\u201d states Schwartz. Or a dealership might hire someone who doesn\u2019t have either skill and train them. If someone needs a tech or sales rep, Copier Careers, can usually fill that need from its huge database. But the talk track with clients has changed compared to four or five years ago. \u201cIf someone was a Canon, Ricoh, or Toshiba dealer, we didn\u2019t have to have a conversation much beyond that,\u201d explains Schwartz. \u201cWe went through our database and pulled people with Canon, Ricoh or Toshiba certifications and made sure it matched. That was a given. A few years ago some of our more forward-thinking clients started telling us that they would be willing to live with someone with break-fix skills who wasn\u2019t specifically trained on the equipment of that dealer\u2019s OEM as long as they had certification on a OEM or some sort of networking A or A+ certification. They at least need the ability to work in a network environment and the ability not to mess it up. That was a tipping point.\u201d These days when Copier Careers has that conversation with a client and the client says, \u2018I need a tech who is trained,\u2019 Schwartz adds that it\u2019s a given that they\u2019re looking for a hybrid trained technician unless it\u2019s a production print tech or something more specific. Schwartz says there are still good people out there and Copier Careers can find them. \u201cWe\u2019re still able to pull it off, but it\u2019s more difficult and takes longer because there\u2019s less of a group to pick from.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[82,1638],"tags":[148,152,1864,291],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8779"}],"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=8779"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8781,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8779\/revisions\/8781"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}