Newsletter

November 2022

November 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 November 2022: Copier Channel news and career advice. Search copier jobs now.

IN THIS MONTH’S NEWSLETTER

The Top 5: Reasons to “Just Talk to Them!”
News From Toshiba
Sound Off: Do You Plan to Retire?
Monthly Poll: Do you ‘trust your gut’ when hiring or job hunting?

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The Top 5: Reasons to “Just Talk to Them!”

You may have heard you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but aren’t you supposed to judge a candidate by their resume? They say a tiger can’t change its stripes but what do you do when a company says it’s turned over a new leaf? And what was it they said assumptions would do to you and me? If you’re job hunting or looking to hire, it’s time to throw out the old adages and stick with a new one: “Just talk to them!”

There is so much more to a candidate than their past job titles and employment dates. We’ve had clients tell us there’s no way a candidate will be happy with this job only to end up celebrating their work anniversary years later. A company’s culture and goals can change with new managers or owners. We’ve had candidates swear up and down they won’t work with a company, only to have them swooning after an interview with the new director. In short, you’d be surprised what you can learn from a simple 10-minute conversation:

  1. The practical. Can they call into an appointment on time? Can they show respect for your time by not going over the scheduled 10 minutes? If they have to reschedule, can they do that clearly? Can they think strategically to make sure their phone call was in a quiet place with good reception? Can they deal with technical difficulties with patience? You can easily answer a dozen questions about an employer or candidate within the first few minutes.
  2. The questionable. Can they prepare and ask good questions? Can they engage with your answers? Can they answer your own questions? Can they expand on their answers if you ask? Consider their answers carefully. And remember you can tell a lot about a person or company by the questions they ask – questions reveal their concerns, values and focus for the conversation. While questions left unasked may offer other insights such as their disinterest in you/your company or their ignorance/lack of preparation.
  3. The technical. Do they know much about the company and what it does? Do they understand basic industry terminology? Can they keep up with you if you discuss new technologies or sales strategies? Can they give relevant examples from their experience about common situations? Ten minutes isn’t enough time for a thorough assessment but you can suss out a candidate or manager’s baseline competency fairly quickly.
  4. The personal and personnel. Can they explain what they want out of their job? Can they tell you what they want for their company or department? Can they offer more insight to their job history than names and dates? Can they tell you more about the job than the bare-bones job description? Can they communicate passion, interest or investment in the work you’re both discussing? Can they relate to you and you to them? Can you connect? Do you know anyone in common? Can they describe their company culture? You don’t have to love what you do but liking the work and/or the people you work with certainly helps with job satisfaction and employee turnover.
  5. The “vibe.” Can you see yourself working with this person? When you talk, can they listen? Can you tell if they’re being consistent and forthright? No, this is not an exact science. But there is undoubtedly plenty of subtle or unconscious information you can get from a conversation. Bear in mind that your gut instinct should not be the sole factor considered. If you go with your gut too often, you’ll reveal your unconscious biases. That’s how employers end up hiring 30 people just like themselves because they “have a good feeling about this one.” Our best advice when using your gut is trust but verify.

So what are you waiting for? Just talk to them!

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 Toshiba

Toshiba may be acquired after all. According to Reuters, the state-backed Japan Investment Corp (JIC) has “expanded the size of its buyout fund by 4.5 times to 900 billion yen ($6.11 billion).” The JIC’s purpose is to help boost Japan’s competitiveness in global markets and is heading up a consortium interested in Toshiba. Reuters sources claim JIC is in talks with Bain Capital and MBK Partners, among others to secure funding.

Meanwhile, the private equity firm Japan Industrial Partners (JIP) was “granted preferred bidder status by Toshiba in a second round of bidding last month, though the conglomerate is still open to proposals from others.” JIP proposed to acquire the Japanese giant for $19.13 billion. This is a comedown from CVC’s 2021 offer – especially considering inflation – but is still far better than JIC’s $6.11 billion. Unfortunately for Toshiba, JIC is reportedly struggling to secure “sufficient equity commitments from potential consortium partners.”

Will all this money-shuffling result in an actual buyout this time? Only time will tell!

Sound Off

Last month we discussed the recent return of retired professionals to the workplace. So we were curious to hear about your own retirement or un-retirement plans. We had a solid turnout of 6,153 votes this month!

Most of our readers (71%) reported they planned to retire. 28% said they would retire as soon as they could, 26% said they were currently on-track to retire in their late 60s and 16% were hopeful but said they were behind on their goals.

24% of voters have retired already but 16% of the total vote say they are working again while only 8% of the total report still being retired. This aligns with our expectations as the Copier Channel is a good candidate for a returning surge of “unretired” workers.

If two-thirds of our retired workers are now among the unretired, does that mean the same will happen to two-thirds of our 4,371 hopeful readers? That’s nearly 3,000 people! Are our remaining 5% right to scoff at retirement plans?

Probably not – remember there is a sampling bias at play here. Most of our readers are actively working while retired folks are much less likely to read our newsletter and vote on our poll. Unretired folks are currently reaching out and looking for employment, so they would naturally be more likely to vote.

POLL QUESTION:

Do you plan to retire?

  • Definitely, as soon as I can! (28%, 1,740 Votes)
  • I’m on-track to retire in my late 60s (26%, 1,620 Votes)
  • Hopefully but I’m behind on my goals (16%, 1,012 Votes)
  • I retired but am working again (16%, 1,012 Votes)
  • I’m already retired (8%, 486 Votes)
  • Retire? Ha! (5%, 283 Votes)
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Some comments from y’all:

  • “I’m just waiting for my 401K to bounce back… eventually.”
  • “Nope, I love what we do. I take off when I want.”
  • “I hope I live long enough to enjoy a retirement.  I’ve been working so long it feels like it’s never going to end!  It would take some adjusting to get up and not go the office every day but that is a change I’m willing to make!”
  • “The lack of planning during and after COVID was non existent at my company so I retired. I do plan on working again, if the shortage of qualified technicians causes increases to the ‘Copier’ pay scale.”

Read More Comments!

Newsletter November 2022 Poll

Do you ‘trust your gut’ when hiring or job hunting?

  • Somewhat, I’m often right but I’ve been surprised before (36%, 3,363 Votes)
  • Yes, when I have a bad feeling about someone, I walk away (33%, 3,064 Votes)
  • Not really, I take my gut into account but I rely on evidence to decide (21%, 1,943 Votes)
  • 100%, first impressions are all I need (4%, 374 Votes)
  • Nope, I keep decisions strictly analytical (4%, 374 Votes)
  • Honestly, I don’t really have a system (2%, 224 Votes)
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