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Copier Careers® Insights℠ With The Cannata Report®

Why is the candidate pool so small?

In a new multi-layered collaboration with The Cannata Report, we tackle challenges for the Copier and Office Solutions Channel. This month, Paul Schwartz, Jessica Crowley and Jenna Humbert discuss the ongoing candidate shortage. Read an excerpt below but be sure to check out the full article in The Cannata Report.

1. Generational Turnover – Most dealers have employees within a few years of retirement or who could retire at any time. “We are talking to employers all the time who are constantly telling us they’re very concerned about the aging of their workforce,” observed Schwartz, who shared a recent conversation with an employer. “He told us that almost 80% of his field service force was over age 50, and something like 60% were over 60. They have an issue because a large percentage of people retiring in the next year or two or three years, and they haven’t done any planning for the future.”
2. A Dearth of Young People Entering the Industry – There’s only a trickle of young people looking to join the industry. Perception may be one legitimate reason, especially with potential employers who are less solutions-oriented and more focused on legacy devices like copiers. How attractive is a copier company to a young, tech-savvy job seeker? Because of this, dealers must do a better job of positioning their organizations as technology companies.
3. Low Unemployment – Unemployment in the United States is currently under 4%, which is considered zero unemployment. According to Jenna Humbert, senior regional recruiter, the percentage is likely less than that in the office technology channel. “How often do we run into, as recruiters, someone unemployed in the channel?” she asked rhetorically. “It rarely happens. Those people are reabsorbed back into the channel, and it doesn’t seem to make much of a difference from the numbers side.”
4. Wage Inflation – “Everyone’s very aware of inflation, but there’s been significant wage inflation too,” opined senior vice president, Jessica Crowley. “Everything is just costing more. So that’s a challenge for dealers and OEMs to deal with because they tend to have a lot of people that they employ, and they pay them a set compensation. Now, they want to bring new people in, and they’re most likely going to have to pay them more.”
5. Competition from Outside the Industry – IT and medical technology companies are poaching employees from the office technology industry, particularly on the service side. And in sales, the entire employment market is a sales rep’s proverbial oyster.

Read More in The Cannata Report®