March 2022

Recruiters for the Copier Channel® for more than 30 years, Copier Careers® has been the only recruiting firm exclusively dedicated to connecting Copier Channel employers with experienced service technicians, copier sales representatives, sales managers, service & operations managers, controllers, support staff, and MPS/MNS experts. Start your month off right with Newsletter March 2022: Copier Channel news and career advice. Search copier jobs now.

IN THIS MONTH’S NEWSLETTER

The Top 5: Steps for Hiring in a Candidate’s Market
News From Konica Minolta
Sound Off: What’s the most important support staff quality?
Monthly Poll: Is your company understaffed? If so, what’s the worst effect?

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The Top 5: Steps for Hiring in a Candidate’s Market

It’s a candidate’s market, we just live in it. The US Labor Department reported employers added 467,000 jobs in January. By mid-February, the US had the lowest number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits since 1970. This comes as no surprise to our recruiters – they’re busier than ever. But hiring in a candidate’s market requires a fundamentally different mindset than before. Hiring managers still operating like it’s the 2000s are getting a rude awakening. Any company looking to hire right now needs to follow these steps:

1. Plug the leaks. The job pool is essentially dry which means the best place for your competition to poach new talent is from you! Stop worrying that your employees might start checking their options and assume that that they already are. Instead, take steps to make sure you are the most attractive employer around – if you offer the best compensation, benefits, perks and career path, they won’t want to leave. As a bonus, you’ll have a better chance at wooing new employees with these exact same steps. Two birds, one stone.
2. Prioritize your hiring team. The current market requires time, focus and rapid response. Your team can’t hire effectively if they’re also juggling dozens of other duties. They have their work cut out for them so make sure they have the dedicated time, resources, and a clear decision-making process so they can focus on the hardest part: finding candidates. And if they come to you with feedback from candidates who pass on your company, don’t bite their heads off – listen to them and take appropriate measures (see Step 1).
3. Keep the ball rolling. This ties in nicely with Step 2, you have to maintain your momentum throughout the whole process. This will be easier if you shorten and streamline that process. But if you still have several hoops your candidates must jump through, make sure you don’t leave them stranded for days between those hoops. Candidates won’t wait around for you – if they feel abandoned, they’ll go elsewhere.
4. Promote your job openings. In a tight-knit industry, word of mouth travels fast. So if your opening isn’t confidential, get the word out! Take the time to write a clear and accurate job description that highlights the many pros to joining your company, then post it wherever you can. Set up rewards for referrals from your employees – if you don’t get any bites that may indicate you’re falling behind in keeping them satisfied (see Step 1 again).
5. Hire for the future, NOW. You can’t hold out for the perfect candidate. If they have some of the foundational experience you need, a good attitude and a williness to learn, you can work with that! You know what you can’t work with? An empty desk. Changing your expectations serves you two ways: it increases your pool of potential candidates and entices these candidates with a career path (once again, see Step 1). Candidates want to be invested in, they want to learn and grow in their careers. As we’ve been saying, this industry is running out of experienced people – you have to invest in folks with less experience now, so they’ll be experienced later. Who knows, perhaps this new sales rep is your future sales manager and that rookie tech is your future team lead! 

Notice how we kept bringing up Step 1? That’s because it’s foundational to everything that follows. If your company doesn’t invest in being the best, most attractive employer, you won’t be able to grow. Sometimes, you can only do that by hiring change-makers. If so, be honest with them about your goals and the investment you’re making to acheive those goals. Tell them you need their help to grow and evolve. That will make you more attractive to ambitious candidates who want a project and who will want to be the change your company needs.

Sound like a lot of work?

We recruit for any role from techs to executives and everything in between. We work to find industry-experienced professionals and bring in new talent from comparable fields. We are dedicated to helping the industry’s top employers grow and evolve in every economic climate. Contact us today to learn how we can help!

In the market for a new job? Our job board features hundreds of copier jobs with top employers, updated daily. Search jobs now.

News From Konica Minolta

Konica Minolta announced several leadership changes at the end of February, most notably in the role of president and CEO. Effective April 1st, the current president and CEO, Shoei Yamana, will take the role of director and executive chairman. Current director and senior executive vice president, Toshimitsu Taiko, will take Yamana’s place as president and CEO at that time.

The Japanese company states that these many leadership changes will aid in accellerating its restructuring plans. The disruption to businesses since 2020 is cited at the main reason as Konica intends to shift into a digital workplace business, “expanding growth in the measurement, inspection and diagnosis fields, centered on its strength of imaging IoT.”

In a statement, Taiko emphasized his dedication to dialogue, sustainability and the pursuit of new value for Konica. “Looking ahead to society in 2030 and beyond, I will lead Konica Minolta’s transformation into a company clearly committed to solving social issues and meet the expectations of our stakeholders by growing and thriving again.”

Sound Off

Last month, we discussed important questions for candidates and employers to prepare before an interview for an office support staff professional. This is part of our ongoing Interviewing Prep series to help you get the most out of your next interview (whether in front of the desk or behind it). So we were curious to hear what you thought was the most important support staff quality. We had a solid turnout of 15,488 votes this month!

Our winning support staff quality was People Skills, taking 27% of the vote last month. Support staff often interface with multiple departments, clients and vendors so their interpersonal skills are paramount for smooth operations. Tied in with our winner is Strong Communication, which took second place with 19% of votes. Time-Management (17%) and Flexibility (15%) were closely tied. These are both very important qualities for roles that often require juggling and prioritizing multiple, competing tasks. Similarly, Ability to Learn (13%) is key for any position involved in updating or reorganizing systems, implementing new programs or integrating new requirments and policies. Our commenters’ favorite quality of Integrity took 6% while the broad quality of Organization took the remaining 3%.

POLL QUESTION: