As more customers turn to their technology solution providers for IT expertise and business savvy, channel partners are revving up their businesses by honing their skills and expanding their technology know-how. In many cases they’re also running classified ads, searching job boards, or tapping into headhunter services looking for talented and trained staff to grow their business.
The task can often be daunting. As exciting as it is for channel partners to watch their businesses swell, looking for new talent poses unique challenges. As Rick Chernick, CEO of Camera Corner/Connecting Point in Green Bay, Wis., puts it, “Finding people in general is not the problem, finding the right people is what’s difficult.”
The distinctiveness of today’s technology channel business means that channel partners look for individuals with multiple technical certifications, field experience, and people skills. It also means that the channel scours the same pool of talent as their competitors, vendors, and the IT departments, in some cases, of the clients they serve.
Partners' methods to find new talent vary from steering the process in-house and posting positions on popular job boards to networking and turning to professional recruiters. Given the gyrations of the IT industry, it’s no surprise to find many solution providers are rethinking their hiring tactics.
Chernick, who operates his family’s 54-year-old, third-generation business, is all too familiar with the hiring process and how exhausting it can be to find the right person for the job. That’s because Camera Corner/Connecting Point has evolved since opening its doors as a camera store in the early 1950 and adding computer sales in the late 1970s.
Today, with 108 employees, the solution provider offers a broad spectrum of audio/visual, computer, and IT business products and solutions, including managed services.
So Chernick did something new. The businessman who’s avoided using headhunters his entire career turned to value-added distributor Ingram Micro’s IT Staffing Solutions when he recently needed to add two engineers to his staff.
Why? Because going it alone had simply become too grueling, sometimes taking six months to a year to fill a single position and stalling business growth in the process. Going through Intermountain Technology Group, a staffing partner for Ingram Micro’s IT Staffing Solutions, Chernick filled two positions in six months. Worth every penny is how he describes it.
Focusing exclusively on the channel, IT Staffing Solutions offers resellers resume search and review, technical screening, background and reference checks, interview scheduling, payroll processing, and ongoing quality control. “We can even get security clearance for the recruit if needed,” says Michael Giambanco, IT staffing manager with Ingram Micro’s Services Division.
Ingram Micro charges a 12 percent staffing fee, about half of the industry average recruiting fee of 20 to 30 percent.
Posting jobs on job boards is the recruiting method of choice for other solution providers. Kevin Studley, president of The Network Pro, a three-year-old IT service provider in Orange County, Calif., uses Craigslist for all recruiting.
In just two weeks time he had 31 qualified candidates for a technical position that required Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) and Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician (CCNET) certifications as a job prerequisite.
Checking the Checklist
Certifications are at the top of most solution provider's checklists when looking for technical engineering talent. Channel partners agree that people with vendor and product certifications are extremely attractive.
Rachel Coburn Johnsen, account executive and senior recruiter at Intermountain Technology Group, says that job prospects without certifications can be a deal breaker for many solution providers. Field experience is also important to prove there’s more to a prospect's technical expertise than a piece of paper.
For many resellers, finding highly qualified IT staff is a must. “Our customers are becoming so IT smart we have to make sure we’re smarter,” says Chernick, who adds that his engineers hone their skills through on-going vendor certification and training.
Giving job prospects a roadmap for future growth and opportunity, such as on-going training, is part and parcel of the most common advice given for netting and, more importantly, retaining an ace recruit: offer a competitive salary with appealing perks and a future. Or, in a nutshell, be creative.
In the current IT job market where there’s a shortage of talent and competitive salaries, it’s not just about the money. “It’s important for VARs to show job candidates a career path, flexibility, and some perks, such as paid time off, gym memberships, or paid meals when on the road, for example,” says Coburn Johnsen. “Those little extras can go a long way.”
That’s particularly important advice for channel partners, who can’t always offer as much compensation as industry or larger corporations.
As channel partners who have a good track record for retention suggest, “Put yourself in the employee’s shoes.” Make the work environment a place they enjoy coming to, let them have input and even shared financial goals. “We succeed or fail as a team,” says The Network Pro's Studley.
Then, once you find the right employee, do everything you can to keep them. “These are income-producing people. The more appreciated they feel, the more they’ll give,” says Coburn Johnsen.
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