Newsletter March 2021

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 2021: Copier Channel news and career advice. Search copier jobs now.

IN THIS MONTH’S NEWSLETTER

The Top 5: Reasons to Hire Managed IT Pros Right Now
News from Marco, Konica Minolta & Samsung
Sound Off: How Has Hiring Changed During COVID?
Monthly Poll: Who is your company currently looking to hire?

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Featured Post

Want to guess who our recruiters are searching for the most this year? Managed IT professionals by a landslide and it’s easy to see why:

1. Increased demand. The Copier Channel has always been evolving to provide increasing sophisticated solutions. The past few years in particular have called for more managed IT services. This has only accelerated since COVID forced businesses to set up remote offices on the fly. While some things may return to normal after the pandemic, the scramble to keep businesses running won’t be forgotten any time soon. Your clients need solutions in place to keep operations running in the worst circumstances. If you don’t provide them, they’ll be looking for vendors who will.
2. Adapt or die. We’ve been talking about the need to add managed services for years now. Box pushing companies are realizing that their window to evolve is rapidly closing. These businesses have to hustle to update their sales, service and management personnel to offer IT solutions. Now is a tricky time to expand so many departments at once but in this volatile environment, it’s sink or swim. These employers might look a bit risky but they also offer exciting opportunities for candidates looking to build their own program.
3. Moving in-house. When the initial IT demand began, many companies chose to use third-party vendors. But we’re increasingly hearing about companies opting to cut costs and increase control of their IT services by providing them in-house. These businesses are looking to augment their existing break/fix service department with MNS technicians and IT-savvy managers. These employers offer opportunities to ambitious candidates looking for seniority.
4. Strengthening existing bench. Companies who are already positioned to sell and provide managed IT services are recognizing the opportunity to expand while others are stuck playing catch-up. They are also aware of the competition they face from dedicated IT companies and are looking to innovate. These employers are the most attractive to candidates who are looking for a company with a future.
5. Candidates are scarce. No matter what type of company they’re at, anyone currently looking for qualified managed IT professionals knows how hard they are to find right now. We’ve been sounding the alarm on the increasing candidate shortage for years. If you know you’ll need to make a hire soon, you need to be looking right now. Even if you’re not, long-time readers know how much we advocate for proactive recruitment. If the right candidate comes along, employers should be prepared to hire them now. Because you never know how long you’ll have to wait for the next one to come along.

Are you looking for managed IT professionals? Copier Careers 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

Marco CEO, Jeff Gau, Retiring

On February 26th, Marco announced that Jeff Gau will retire from his position as CEO at the end of March and take on a new role as chairman of the board. Current Marco president, Doug Albregts, will become CEO on April 1st.

“I’ve known Doug for a long time and he’s absolutely the right leader at the right time for Marco,” Gau said. “He brings a valuable perspective from his prior roles and already has helped make us a better company. I am looking forward to how Marco will thrive under his leadership.”

Konica Minolta Announces Leadership Changes

Patrick Banno will be taking on the role of president and CEO of Konica Minolta Business Solutions USA. Banno’s predecessor, Rick Taylor, is progressing to serve in an independent advisory capacity.

Sam Errigo has been promoted to COO from Executive Vice President. Sam was recently named to The Modern Sale and Collective’s list of the 2021 Top 100 Global Sales Leaders.

“Konica Minolta is focused on advancing our digital transformation portfolio. Our strategic partnerships, All Covered managed IT services and enterprise content management services are key strengths within our portfolio,” said Toshimitsu Taiko, Director, Senior Vice President and Executive Officer & Lead Officer responsible for Business Technologies, Konica Minolta, Inc. “These leadership changes will enable us to continue to grow our business and position us to serve our clients more effectively with their digital transformation initiatives.”

Imprisoned Samsung Heir Faces (Some) Consequences

If this headline sounds familiar, it’s because we’ve been covering the Samsung saga for years now. And while the story changes with each new scandal and revelation, the consequences for Samsung heir, Lee Jae-yong, remain roughly the same. [Read the full backstory]

The Retrial

At the end of August 2019, South Korea’s Supreme Court ruled that the lower court did not correctly evaluate what constitutes a bribe and ordered a retrial of Lee’s bribery case.

The retrial stretched on through the start of the pandemic at the end of 2019, through Lee’s unrelated indictment (case still pending) in September 2020, through his father’s death in October 2020, all the way to January 2021. On the 18th, Lee was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison and was taken into custody.

Surprisingly, the Samsung heir stated he “humbly accepts” the court ruling and declined to appeal the case. It’s expected that he will serve closer to 1.5 years than the full 2.5. Considering that the prosecution sought a nine-year sentence, perhaps he decided to take this minimal jail time as a win.

The “Consequences”

So, Lee is in jail for at least a year. What does that mean for Samsung? Depending on who you ask, not much.

Yes, there is speculation that the South Korean conglomerate will be slower to act and unable to make long-term choices without Lee’s direction. We saw those same predictions back in 2017.

But don’t start wringing your hands for Samsung just yet. As we’ve discussed before, South Korean chaebols have a long history of being run behind bars. So far Lee’s term has only been notable because COVID policies prevented him from meeting with Samsung executives face-to-face for four weeks.

Even then Lee was able to send two tone-deaf messages to Samsung employees in January apologizing for “giving [them] this big burden” but urging them to “maintain their work.”

A few days after his quarantine ended in February, Lee was informed by the Ministry of Justice that he can’t be employed by Samsung. Bombshell, right? Nope.

Turns out, Lee resigned as Vice Chairman from the company’s board of directors between October 27th and October 29th in 2019. He’s apparently been been working without a salary since. Lee’s remaining titles such as “Samsung heir,” “de facto head of Samsung,” and “Crown Price of Samsung” are entirely (and obviously) symbolic.

Since Lee has been running Samsung without any official title for more than a year, it’s difficult to see how the employment restriction will actually be enforced. Even if it is, Lee could be awarded a waiver by the Ministry of Justice.

So far, the only consequence for Lee beyond his short-term imprisonment appears to be his projected removal as Chairman of the Samsung Foundation Board in March.

Sound Off

Last month we discussed the most common ways we’re seeing employers sabotage their own hiring process in the current job market. So we were curious to hear if some of the logistics of hiring changed during the past year’s pandemic. We had a record-breaking 20,862 votes this month!

Most folks (48%) said they are meeting in-person with masks and precautions. A full 25% of you said that nothing has changed in your area. That was closely tied with 24% who said they have a hybrid between remote and socially distanced interviews. And the remaining 3% are completely remote through the process.

Overall it seems that hiring changed moderately on average across the nation. Certain markets have had wildly different experiences, of course. Companies in states with more stringent policies will obviously have significantly different operations than ones in states with no pandemic regulations.

POLL QUESTION: