Hire the Integrity, Not the Skills: Dealers Share HR Paths for Finding the Right Fit

Warren Buffett, the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and a man who has a cursory knowledge in making money, once observed, “In looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence and energy. And if they don’t have the first, the other two will kill you.”

There are several indisputable facts regarding today’s job marketplace. First, it has never been easier to find employees. Due to the wide-reaching ability of social media and job-posting platforms such as LinkedIn, Glassdoor, etc., a company can post an available position Monday morning at 8 a.m., and by 8 p.m., be deluged with a stack of applications. The quality of the candidates, or the likelihood of a potential fit among them, are separate issues.

Secondly, the job market is currently favoring the buyer (i.e., the candidate). According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there have been more positions than unemployed people for 20 consecutive months. Further, the number of unemployed persons per job opening stood at .8 in October of 2019. That figure reached a high of 6.4 in July of 2009 before beginning the 10-year tumble coming out of the Great Recession. Thus, the extreme majority of people in the market for a new position are already employed, but seeking greener pastures—which represents great opportunity to find individuals with marketable talent, but also offers a cautionary tale regarding those already on your employment rolls.

This month’s state-of-the-industry report focuses on one of the biggest challenges confronting not only office technology dealers, but the business community as a whole: finding and maintaining quality people. And what we’ve found is that many businesses place a high value on integrity and cultural fit. With many dealers enjoying the current growth swell that has marked the past three to five years—companies that find themselves positioned to add more human capital as opposed to addressing turnover—a willingness to invest in not only finding but developing the ideal individual begins with ensuring his/her values match those of the company. Skills can be taught; integrity must be inherent.

We have a cadre of dealers who outlined how they sift through the résumé rubble. They offer insight into their hiring process to ensure they are maximizing their investment in time in onboarding, not to mention maintaining, only optimal candidates.

Offix of Gainesville, Virginia, finds its primary markets (Richmond and Norfolk, Virginia; Washington, DC) to be hotly contested from a recruitment standpoint, particularly for sales and accounting positions. Matteo Recanatini, director of marketing for Offix (himself a product of headhunter recruitment), notes the dealership relies on several channels to ferret out new talent, including LinkedIn and ZipRecruiter. Offix also offers what Recanatini believes is a “very healthy” referral incentive for employees who suggest candidates that ultimately join the firm.

“Talent begets talent, and if we give an incentive to our talented employees, we find people like them who are successful,” Recanatini notes.

The dealer’s process begins with the HR department screening candidates on basic criteria. Those chosen are passed to a supervisor who selects those best tailored for a 15-minute phone call; what Recanatini describes as a “skin-deep assessment.” Candidates who survive the cut move forward to a panel interview, which consists of the person that position would report to, along with that person’s supervisor and several other key staffers who are cross-departmentally involved with the position. It is here where Offix also determines the cultural fit, in addition to checking off the job proficiencies.

We do leadership training and process training, and are always focused on making sure employees feel they’re being challenged and not getting bored.

Matteo Recanatini, Offix

Sales hires and other key positions are also tested through third-party tools. These candidates take a timed 30-minute test at any point prior to the panel interview. The varied list of questions helps measure a number of areas. The responses are then generated into a roughly 40-page assessment guide.

“There are a lot of conceptual maps that show where your candidate fits within different criteria,” Recanatini explained. “We use that to ask questions, drill down to areas that may be interesting to us or may be a reason for concern. One of the advantages it affords us is to have a sweet-spot map. Over the years, we have learned which candidates have worked out very well in terms of skill sets, skill gaps and cultural fit. Every supervisor has their sweet-spot map for particular positions, and we use that to overlap the sweet spots with the candidate’s profile.”

Recanatini readily admits it is difficult to find true talent, and notes the company would prefer to have the position remain open rather than “churn through people because we’re desperate to fill it.”

Once an employee has joined the team, the dealer holds weekly one-on-one reviews—30-minute conversations driven by the employee—to gauge how they feel about their experience at Offix and ensure they are not having any issues. This also provides employees the opportunity to freely express any ideas or suggestions. Rewarding and nurturing are key to extended employment tenure, and Recanatini believes employees feel valued as a result.

“We do leadership training and process training, and are always focused on making sure employees feel they’re being challenged and not getting bored,” he noted. “We treat people fairly and consistently, and have very transparent policies and procedures.”

The hiring process for imageOne is executed with a high degree of rigor and a sense of urgency, which enables the company to find great people. Josh Britton, vice president of operations, notes the Oak Park, Michigan-based dealer relies on a host of sourcing methods simultaneously, including online job sites and industry-specific forums. The dealer also taps its strong network across the country—OEMs, fellow dealers, association peers, partners and customers—as a referral resource.

“We’ll supplement our open-market efforts with trusted relationships we have with recruiting professionals, especially when we’re in a high-growth phase—which we’ve been in a couple of times during the past few years—and need that additional muscle,” Britton noted.

We believe that by investing heavily on the front end of the process, we enable both the company and the candidate to make the best decision.

Josh Britton, imageOne

The dealer leaves no stone unturned in its quest to find the right
candidate, and isn’t afraid to conduct a robust amount of interviews, which can be fairly comprehensive in duration and depth. The interviews are supplemented by a number of different assessment tools that evaluate culture, values and organizational fit.

“We believe that by investing heavily on the front end of the process, we enable both the company and the candidate to make the best decision,” Britton noted. “Nothing has been more impactful to our growth and success than having the right people in the right seats.

“There’s rarely, if ever, any element of surprise for our candidates on what it’s going to be like working here. We’re totally transparent. It’s not unusual for us to include a case study, assignment, or day-long shadowing in the overall process with a candidate as part of our transparency efforts.”

One of the keys to help ensure a smooth onboarding for new hires is imageOne University, a four-to-six month onboarding program that helps indoctrinate the new hire into the corporate culture. According to Britton, it covers the rituals, rhythms and foundational tools that transcend the employee’s duties; a playbook that speaks to becoming successful at imageOne.

“This is one of the many culture-driven practices at imageOne that have led to the ‘winning culture’ awards we receive each year,” Britton added.

Given that many of the quality candidates who interview are gainfully employed and looking at multiple job options, timing and expediency are critical to the process for Fraser Advanced Information Systems of West Reading, Pennsylvania. Lauren Christman, human resources generalist, feels that puts the onus on the dealership to provide quality interactions with the candidates.

While Fraser taps the more-popular job-posting channels such as LinkedIn and Indeed, employee referrals continue to produce the most-effective results throughout the process. As such, the dealer revamped its referral program in 2017, which led to a spike in employee participation and had a salutary effect on both the quantity and quality of referrals generated. That has been critical to the company addressing its continued growth.

When a manager presents Fraser’s value proposition to a candidate, it is genuine and supported.

Lauren Christman, Fraser AIS

Fraser works to ensure that its culture and values system are tangible and can be felt by both candidates and the incumbent employees alike, as opposed to a list of core values hidden on a bulletin board in the breakroom. “When a manager presents Fraser’s value proposition to a candidate, it is genuine and supported,” Christman said. “Fraser’s culture is our differentiator, proven by our Net Promoter Score and driven by our core competencies.”

The dealer backs the talk track with perks such as its Sacks of Cash reward for positive customer or peer feedback. Its activities committee hosts a series of fun events, backed by team-building exercises and an annual awards banquet to supplement its compensation and benefits package.

As employment is a two-way street, Fraser also provides opportunities that can help prevent its top producers from being poached, including a generous tuition-reimbursement program and top-flight training for all employees. Other retention tools include its bonus and incentive programs, and a career path that enables team members to grow their roles.

The results speak to Fraser’s efforts. Christman notes that 20 employees have been with the firm for 20-plus years, and three company veterans have logged more than 40 years on the job. “That’s something many companies cannot relate to,” she added.

Finding new employees is a process that begins from the inside out at Eakes Office Solutions of Grand Island, Nebraska. Employee referrals are the preferred starting point, but many candidates are found courtesy of the dealer’s relationships within the communities it serves—business associates, friends and family members. Leads from these sources tend to produce the best employee candidates, notes Kevin Fries, human resources manager.

Social media is a secondary source for Eakes. The dealer’s marketing head populates the jobs throughout the most-common platforms, but while they generate likes, retweets and shares, Fries notes the company doesn’t have any trackable data on its success in this regard.

We’re doing a lot of engagement-type of surveys and touch points with our employees, to get a feel for if we’re doing the right things for our people.

Kevin Fries, Eakes Office Solutions

With unemployment levels in Nebraska hovering near or below the national average, Eakes felt compelled to elevate its game in retaining its quality hires and incumbents. Fries and the executive team developed an employee value proposition (EVP), aimed at ensuring all employees are on the same page. The dealer has aggressively marketed the EVP to the business community and ensures its employees are “living and breathing it here internally,” according to Fries.

“We have a long history and tradition in our communities, but as an employer, we’re kind of an unknown commodity,” he noted. “So we have really ramped up our efforts to market what our employee value proposition is to the rest of the world.”

Eakes has a firm grasp on the changes that have taken place from a human resources perspective during its 75-year existence. Compensation and benefits are only the start; Fries notes the company has branded its benefits package and has performed extensive research into the qualities and traits necessary to maintain the modern employee.

One of the narratives commonly recognized by the business community is the career trajectory of the millennial employee, and the penchant for changing jobs every couple of years. Thus, this enables their careers to remain fresh while avoiding stagnation. That tasks the employer with ensuring its employee pool continues to feel challenged and invigorated with its duties.

Recently, Fries was made aware of a customer service employee who wanted to expand her skillsets and knowledge base, and take the next step in her career. Eakes valued her performance and was able to move her to another division that had an opening. Thus, promoting from within can play a large role in the dealer’s ability to maintain its valued resources.

“We’re doing a lot of engagement-type of surveys and touch points with our employees, to get a feel for if we’re doing the right things for our people,” Fries observed. “We stay engaged with people as much as we can, find out where their pain points are and try to do what we can to fix those, whether it’s adding more benefits or touch points with them so that they feel like they’re a valuable piece of the puzzle here.”

Like many of its contemporaries, Nashville, Tennessee-based Novatech is able to tap into a wealth of personal connections and professional referrals to attract some of the top talent in the industry. The dealer also relies on an active, targeted presence on LinkedIn, which it uses to market the core beliefs and values pertaining to what it means to be a part of the Novatech family, according to Rebecca Graham, human resources manager.

Graham believes one of the dealer’s greatest selling points is its solid reputation within the industry. Promoting that at every turn is critical, and the company is making a considerable marketing push to extol the virtues of its managed office platform. Novatech has invested much time and many resources in perfecting this offering and selling it as a service.

We employ the best in the industry, and we want to make sure we are providing our staff the resources to be successful.

Rebecca Graham, Novatech

“We want to make sure we are promoting managed office solutions at every opportunity,” Graham noted.

Providing employees engagement across the business, offering opportunities for training and development, and actively listening to their needs and ideas are all elements of Novatech’s retention plan. Graham believes it is important that employees feel valued and that they are heard, all the while providing them growth avenues and the tools to be successful.

In the end, it’s all about its team members feeling confident that they have found their career home at Novatech. “We employ the best in the industry, and we want to make sure we are providing our staff the resources to be successful,” she added.