Finding the Right Fit: Tips for Navigating the Talent Gap
By Justin Rebhun, President, FTG Texas
It has been news since the pandemic that people in every industry are re-evaluating their careers. Some are looking into new fields, long-term employees are retiring early at record rates and some employees are just quitting. The lingering result of what was termed the “Great Resignation” is a labor shortage that is challenging many businesses, and the MPS industry is no exception.
Having been in sales and leadership for more than a decade now, I have seen first-hand the challenges inherent in finding the right people for the many roles that drive an organization and all of them are critical when it comes to achieving cost savings, security and sustainability goals. While I have been most active on the sales side, I know I can only be successful in the MPS arena if our service organization is strong, our account executives are knowledgeable and our implementation specialists are skilled. Today, due to our industry demographics and the education and training that people are interested in pursuing, finding the talent needed may seem a challenge, but not impossible if you look at hiring in a creative way.
In sales, for example, you may encounter a challenge if you are looking for someone with industry experience. However, in my hiring experience, I have not found a direct correlation between past industry-specific experience and future success. Our industry is constantly evolving, which makes it critical to ensure that hiring the right sales professional for your team and your culture goes beyond reviewing resumes and checking industry experience. Skills that were successful in the past may not work today. Hence, hiring requires a deeper understanding of the key traits that drive success—such as coachable individuals who embrace growth, those with a naturally positive attitude and candidates with a strong work ethic fueled by personal motivation. The key traits you are seeking may be something else or in addition, but I think we can all agree that the goal of a good sales leader is to ensure as much as possible that we are not hiring people we have to motivate every day. That should not be our job. Our job is ensuring we create an environment and provide resources that are conducive to self-motivated success.
All of this holds true for the account executives and implementation specialists who have the critical responsibility for building and maintaining client relationships, understanding clients’ printing needs and proposing customized MPS solutions. A willingness to learn about our business and project a positive attitude matters here more than ever. In a job interview, there are the usual non-verbal cues to look for when determining attitude, such as eye contact, a ready smile and open body language. In addition, candidates for these positions should be able to show their focus on growth and the proactive ways they employ strong communication and problem-solving skills. If you are looking beyond the traditional candidate for your next hire, you may be impressed with a person’s attitude in outside situations because it aligns with the positivity and mindset you are seeking.
A good example of looking outside our industry is a golf professional I hired for sales from my golf club because I saw that he showed a consistency that was impressive. He showed up, worked 12-hour days at the club and was always positive in how he interacted with customers. I convinced him to join our sales team and he came on board with zero sales experience. He won Rookie of the Year in his first year and was just recently promoted to be a sales leader in his branch.
In the service arena, the challenge MPS technician managers are experiencing is known as the generational gap. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the average age of workers in the “printing and related support activities” sector is 49 years—which is a few years older than the average across sectors (42 years). As skilled workers age out, we know that hiring, training and retaining talent is an issue in the printing industry as a whole. Many applicants coming out of school today have been exposed to an almost exclusively digital world, so when it comes to the trades, they may be trained more in IT versus the mechanical side of things. While a candidate may look good on paper, we need to uncover if they can “turn on” a screwdriver as well as a computer. The upside here is if you find a person that shows they are good at communicating with customers and have a willingness to understand your business in order to keep customers up to date on all MPS functionalities, you can typically teach the break/fix part of it.
Hiring the right talent for any area of the business requires us, as management, to really dig in and develop the interview questions that will help us get an idea of what the skill sets are, what motivates this candidate and if there is a cultural fit that will lead to a successful partnership on both sides. We know there is a lot of competition for good talent in our industry so it is also important to be clear on what career opportunities your company has to offer in order to attract the right person. There is so much evolution in technology in the print industry with digital printing, sustainable print and now AI, that there is a lot for a candidate to get excited about—and we need to express that in the interview.
Ultimately, bridging the talent gap within MPS requires us to shift our mindset. While the labor market may present challenges, it also creates an opportunity to rethink how and where we find the right people to add to our teams. By focusing on attitude, adaptability and cultural fit just as much as experience or technical skills, we open the door to candidates who might not have been on our radar before but who could thrive with the right guidance. The key is balancing creativity in hiring with a commitment to fostering a work environment where self-motivated individuals can grow, innovate and make meaningful contributions. Our industry is evolving and we must evolve with it. If we focus on what it takes to invest in the right people today, we will be better positioned to meet the challenges of tomorrow.
Justin Rebhun is President of FTG Texas, a Flex Technology Group company, one of the largest brand-neutral managed print services providers with an industry-leading nationwide footprint. Rebhun brings over 10 years of successful sales and leadership experience in a variety of industries, including enterprise SaaS software, managed IT services, financial services and legal.