Terminations, layoffs, and furloughs have hit all segments of the office imaging industry. Some dealers and OEMs have no problem going on record sharing this information with us. Others would rather not go on record about how their companies have been impacted even if they have not had to reduce their workforce out of concern the situation may have changed by the time we reported the news.
This past Monday, I spoke with Paul Schwartz, president and Jess Crowley, business development manager, senior recruiter, of Copier Careers, the staffing agency for the copier industry. Each of us shared what we have been seeing and hearing in the copier industry during the first two months of the pandemic.
As you might expect, Copier Careers is receiving a lot of résumés from folks who have been terminated, laid off or furloughed. Some of those people who are contacting Copier Careers are seasoned individuals who had no interest in engaging with the firm in the past. Funny what a pandemic will do.
I was surprised to learn that Copier Careers has dealer clients who view this as an opportunity to strengthen their sales and service teams now that an even broader range of talent is available even if they are currently not in a position to bring anyone new on board. These dealerships have their sights set on the future and growing once the pandemic is over.
This is some good news for the dealer channel in the wake of so much depressing news the past three months. Despite all that has happened and is still happening, there still is an underlying sense of optimism about the future of our industry.
I don’t want to go overboard overstating this optimism. Of course, the industry is going to change. Of course, more challenges lie ahead. But just to know that there are dealers who remain committed to growth despite the current downturn in their business, has me feeling pretty good today.
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